Posts Tagged ‘costume’
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Sep09
GUEST STRIP – PAUL SOUTHWORTH
September 9th, 2009 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(20 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10)
Today’s guest comic comes to us from Paul Southworth, formerly of Ugly Hill and currently from You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer.
Paul was a total rock star putting together this comic. He was quick to respond when I asked if he could help me out and was really excited about it along the way.
Before submitting it to me, he asked if I had anything planned for 9 and I had to admit I did not. Within a couple of hours, he sent the finished comic and I was blown away! I seriously need to pick his brain about how to do backgrounds. He only throws in a couple of details, but does a much better job of giving the characters a believable space to operate in than I do.
Oh, and the joke is funny, too! ;D
Be sure to check out You Are Dead over at Crispy Gamer and don’t forget to look up Ugly Hill while you’re at it. Paul isn’t updating Ugly Hill anymore, but the archives are still online and well worth your time.
If you have a Twitter account, I suggest following him there as well. I find his updates consistently hilarious and a fun addition to my Twitter feed.
Thanks again, Paul, for the excellent guest strip!
As for 9, I keep forgetting it’s in theaters today. I don’t know if it’s because it’s coming out on a Wednesday or because I haven’t seen ads for it or what. But it feels like it’s off my radar.
I want to see 9, but I don’t feel as excited for it as some people seem to. It looks interesting, but it doesn’t look like a must-see to me.
The movie is being billed first as “Produced by” Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov which doesn’t reflect the awesome team-up potential those names together might inspire. Basically all it says is that they liked the source material and put up some money to see the movie made. Shane Acker is the director and is essentially an unknown quantity with a handful of credits to his name.
I would say that I was impressed by the voice talent in this movie – Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly and Elijah Wood all star – but, truthfully, voice over work is such an easy paycheck for these actors, it’s hard to get excited about the movie on name recognition alone.
Basically I’m expecting to see a movie unlike anything visually put to screen before. But in terms of story and plot… well, the jury is still out.
What are your thoughts about 9? Are you going to try to see it today, or is everyone staying indoors to play Rock Band: The Beatles?
Happy 9.9.09, everyone! Remember: this will never happen again! Well, until 10.10.10 – which is basically the same thing.
Cheers!
[ 14 Comments ]
The Michael Jackson concert documentary This Is It comes out today for a limited two-week run. Without getting into the sticket-wicket of commenting on the singer’s personal life, I will say that I’ve always enjoyed Jackson’s music and obvious talent. But as an “event”, This Is It doesn’t feel like something I need to participate in.
The movie is a compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage assembled as Jackson was preparing for a series of sold-out shows in London. That’s great – I mean, who wouldn’t want to see the behind-the-scenes footage of what was meant to be one of the largest concert spectacles of the last 20 years. But from a narrative standpoint, what exactly is going to be the payoff?
I mean, it’s not like we’re going to see the result of all this hard work and preparation. We’re not going to see Jackson on stage in front of tens of thousand screaming fans, pouring his heart and soul into the music and delivering the performance of a lifetime. We’re going to see him on stage at the Staples Center standing in front of a bunch of backup dancers wearing wifebeaters and track pants.
At least, that’s my impression of it.
From an entertainment perspective, I’m not sure what the audience is meant to take away from This Is It. At the end of the day, the man is dead. We’ll never know what could have been. So is the movie meant to memorialize him in some way or are the producers counting on some kind of morbid curiosity on the audience’s part to investegate Jackson’s last recorded performance.
There is a stop-and-look-at-the-car-crash element to this that I am skeptical of.
But to each his own. If you plan on checking out This Is It during its theatrical run, I’d love to hear what you thought about it!
As for the movie’s release, so precariously close to Halloween? I don’t really think anyone would show up at the theater dressed up like Zombie Michael Jackson. But if you’re going to any Halloween parties this year, I bet you’ll see more than one.
To a certain extent, it’s unavoidable. Certainly Jackson himself didn’t help matters any by setting the template for a zombiefied “look” with his video for “Thriller” over 25 years ago. Of course there is the bigger-than-life persona of the man himself. A celebrity of his stature is simply going to attract this kind of weird homage.
But if you take the macro view, it’s kind of weird dressing up as a dead celebrity for a holiday, isn’t it? I mean, how many people are going to go to a Halloween party dressed as Ed McMahon or Farrah Fawcett? Maybe they’re just not as iconic. Food for thought, I suppose.
What about the rest of you? Any ambition to see This Is It this weekend? What about Halloween? Going to any parties? What about your costumes? Share your comments below!
I have to live vicariously through you this year because we’re staying at home on Beggar’s Night. Immediately afterwords, I will be watching the live 7-hour lockdown of the Ghost Adventures crew on The Travel Channel – because I am a nerd.
[ 15 Comments ]
I was beating my head against the wall yesterday trying to come up with an idea for today’s strip and was really strained for ideas. Between This Is It (which I covered Wednesday) and Boondoock Saints 2: All Saints Day, Gentlemen Broncos and The House of the Devil were the only other new releases this week.
Feeling those last two movies were too thoroughly obscure to reference, I decided to settle on Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day.
Of course, your enjoyment of today’s comic is completely reliant on whether or not you’ve seen the first Boondock Saints. So, if you haven’t… sorry about that.
If it helps you at all, here’s a picture of Willem Dafoe running around in drag. I won’t spoil the reason why. You should probably see it for yourself.
Check out this link as well to help further paint the picture. There’s audio, but don’t worry. It’s safe for work.
The Boondock Saints was a movie that people have told me for years to check out. But by the time it had really taken off as a cult picture, I kind of stopped renting movies. I finally got around to watching it earlier this summer, and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t find it to be the cultural phenomenon that others have.
I think it’s a question of timing. I wasn’t really there when the movie took off on DVD, so I didn’t experience that sense of discovery that is so key to making something like this feel like it was “mine.”
Does that make sense? I don’t mean to sound like a jerk about it. Think of it like being the last one to hear the story behind a particularly delicious inside joke your friends are all sharing. By the time you get clued in, everyone is on to something else and looks at you like an idiot for making any references to it. That’s what The Boondock Saints is to me.
I think if I were a freshman or sophomore in college in 1999 and not graduating from school that year, I probably would have been all over this. As one with Irish heritage, I instantly felt a kinship with The MacManus Brothers. But the depravity, gunplay and violence liberally sprinkled throughout the movie kind of made it feel like a Pulp Fiction knockoff to me.
Ironically, I had seen Overnight, the documentary about the making-of The Boondock Saints long before I saw the actual movie. If you haven’t seen Overnight, I strongly suggest you check it out. The movie is about writer-director Troy Duffy who came from nowhere, sold his script to Miramax and then promptly imploded in a nuclear blast of egotism and arrogance.
Watching that film makes you wonder how Boondock Saints 2: All Saint’s Day ever got made. But Duffy himself explains the situation quite well in this interview with Movieline (thanks to Mike Russell at Culture Pulp for the link). As always, it boils down to money.
“The fans made Boondock I successful. Whether they know it or not, they got the sequel made, because at a certain point these [studios] are like, ‘It’s financially irresponsible not to make this movie.’ Boondock I has been a financial juggernaut since Day… One, and it’s put up numbers every single year for a decade. How many films are even viable after 10 years to make a sequel at all? Boondock just never… died. It just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And finally the powers that be went, ‘We gotta make this thing.’”
So, on the one hand, it’s pretty cool that the support of a dedicated fan base over the course of a decade led to a sequel being made. But on the other hand, if money is the primary motivator for everyone involved, can it be a genuine experience.
Granted, the movie has reassembled its principal cast and the majority of it’s crew who – according to Duffy – are working for very little money. But like I said, in the end, it all comes down to money and I’m curious if the fans who made the original film a cult sensation are going to pick up on that. I imagine it would be a real turn-off.
If you’re excited to see Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day, I don’t mean to be a buzzkill. All I’m saying is keep your expectations in check.
That’s it for me today. I’m looking forward to tonight. We’re taking Henry out for trick or treating. Wanna know what he’s going as? Lightning McQueen from Cars and it was totally his idea.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it’s a Disney thing, but Cars is a movie, by George. So I can’t help but feel like I’m putting him on the right track toward a proper pop culture obsession.
Leave your thoughts about The Boondock Saints, Overnight, Troy Duffy or anything else that might be on your mind in the comments below.
Cheers!
[ 14 Comments ]
The costume from Kick-Ass would be a lot more disturbing in real life.
Howdy, everyone. Another Kick-Ass comic for your enjoyment. Still trying to stay ahead of the curve this week and producing comics ahead of C2E2. I think I’ll be able to get a comic for Friday done before I leave, but Monday’s comic might be a little late because I probably won’t get back from Chicago until late in the evening.
I was hoping to stay ahead of things a little better, but I’ve been busy putting together all of the stuff I hope to sell at the show. If you’ve been following the Theater Hopper Facebook page, you’ve already seen the artwork, packaging and display of the 1″ badges I’ll be selling. I’m really proud of these. Hopefully, once I get back, I can sell them through the site as well. We’ll see what the demand is like in Chicago.
I don’t know how many of you will be in Chicago this weekend for C2E2, but if you are, there’s an opportunity for you to see Kick-Ass before everyone else.
Lionsgate, IGN and C2E2 are hosting a special premiere right before its nation-wide release on April 16th and are giving away tickets. Check out the full event and contest details on IGN and learn about how you can make yourself eligible for tickets. See link below:
C2E2 Contest on IGN: http://movies.ign.com/articles/108/1081846p1.html
In other non-Kick-Ass, non-C2E2 related news, I had a really interesting exchange on Twitter the other day that I wanted to share with you.
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the work of Tom Tomorrow, but he’s the writer and illustrator of a political comic called This Modern World. I’ve been reading his stuff in alternative weeklies for years and it’s no stretch to say that his work helped shape my personal politics.
I follow Tom Tommorow on Twitter and read a couple of posts he made in reference to reader reaction to his comic “If Real Life Were Like The Internet.”
“A reader argues that I *should* be grateful for increased attention via internet,” he tweeted. “Even when it means declining $, eventual end of strip?”
He continued “Not that I intend to go away any time soon. But if I’m eventually working for free, I’m not sure I’ll continue in the current format.”
Being an online guy, I replied “You don’t want to put advertising on your site? Sell merchandise. You can still monitize your work even if it isn’t syndicated.”
To my surprise, Tom replied, “no disrespect , but these are not new ideas. Not too many ad $ these days, and not a huge demand for political cartoon merch.”
After that, we went back and forth a little bit and I told him basically that I sympathized. I told him about Theater Hopper and how my own ad revenue is suffering and suggested (tongue-in-cheek) that he wouldn’t have to work for free. Just this side of free!
Afterwords, I guess Tom checked out Theater Hopper and sent me this message:
“@tombrazelton and it looks like a funny cartoon. damn you, now I have something else I have to read. http://www.theaterhopper.com/”
And now, against all odds, Tom Tomorrow is following ME on Twitter! This has put me over the moon.
Now, I understand there’s nothing really at stake for Tom Tomorrow to say “Hey, I think you’re comic’s funny” and then following me on Twitter. But it for someone like myself, who has been a fan of his for so long, it feels like validation.
When I was 8 years old, I sent a letter to Garfield creator Jim Davis. In return, I received a letter on custom stationary with a bite mark taken out of it and an illustration of Garfield on top chewing on a piece of paper. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. It wasn’t until years later that I learned what I received was essentially a form letter that Davis’s company, Paws, Inc., sends out to everyone. But it didn’t take away from the feeling of validation I received from an artist I admire.
Talking with Tom Tomorrow in this way is infinitely better because it’s so much more personal and instantaneous. I tweeted about putting Pearl in her bouncy seat while I finished up today’s comic and he replied to that! He doesn’t know me from Adam but how cool is that?
And they say the internet is bad. Baloney. Under no other circumstances would I have a conversation with Tom Tomorrow, let alone be the recipient of his validation.
Anyway, that was something cool that happened to me this week. I just wanted to share.
If you want to follow ME on Twitter, you can find my account here. You might enjoy following me over the next couple of days as I plan on posting a lot of updates from C2E2 on Twitter and the Theater Hopper Facebook page as well. Start following me now so you don’t miss a thing!
Thanks again for stopping by and there will be a new comic for you on Friday!
[ 11 Comments ]
Hey, guys.
Not much movie related to talk about today as I have actually written this blog entry a few days ago in preparation for my attendance at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo – or C2E2 this weekend.
Typically, it’s been a tradition for several of us web comic guys to go see a movie together while we’re in town. I don’t know if we’ll get the opportunity to see Kick-Ass this weekend but I hope we do.
If you’re in The Windy City, be sure to stop by my booth in Webcomics Pavilion. I’m at table WC-N in the same area as Brat-halla, Shortpacked!, Erika Moen and Lucy Knisley.
I will be selling shirts, books (Including Theater Hopper: Year Three), buttons and original sketches.
If you aren’t able to join us in Chicago this weekend, be sure to follow my Twitter and Facebook accounts. I plan on posting several updates throughout the weekend to let you know how things are going.
That’s all for now. Like I said, I wrote this two days ago. So, right now, I need to go to bed so I don’t nod off on the road between Des Moines and Chicago. I have a 6 hour trip ahead of me. Or, had a 6 hour trip ahead of me.
…because I’m in Chicago now.
But I wrote this… two…
WISH ME LUCK!
[ 18 Comments ]
I have to say right now that the response to the last few comics has been phenomenal and I really wanted to thank you guys for the comments and suggestions you’ve been leaving.
A lot of you have been trying to guess where the story line might be going and I LOVE that. It tells me you’re invested in what’s going to happen next. That’s good, because this week was pretty much all exposition – getting all of the characters “in costume,” so to speak, so we can kick the action into high gear next week.
Someone wrote me on Twitter the other day asking if Cami would show up wearing a cardboard Black Widow costume. And while I think the visual gag would have been hilarious (if somewhat difficult to pull off), I decided to play it straight and put Cami in the sexy catsuit instead. I honestly believe this is one of the best renderings of her I’ve ever drawn.
Besides, I think the contrast of a hot babe running around with a couple of dorks in cardboard costumes is still an effective visual gag. It gives you some eye candy, at least!
I was writing on Facebook about how much I’ve been enjoying this story line. Both in terms of what I’ve already accomplished as well as what is lying in store for the weeks ahead. I’m feeling really enthusiastic about it and I hope that enthusiasm is translating for you guys.
I think it boils down to authenticity. I’m a crazy Iron Man fan in real life, so now it’s working it’s way into the comic. I actually consider it a point of pride that I’ve haphazardly “branded” myself as the crazy Iron Man fan. It seems like there isn’t a week that goes by that I’m not talking about Iron Man to someone on Twitter, trying to convince them to pick up Matt Fraction’s recent run on Invincible Iron Man.
When the first movie came out, things were so crazy because people were sending me Iron Man cups from 7-11, stickers, theatrical posters… One guy even sent me a full-sized Iron Man theater standee! It was wild!
All I’m saying is that I appreciate all that stuff but what I appreciate more is that you guys are zeroing in on my passion for the character and are echoing that same enthusiasm. It’s personally very satisfying for me. So, thank you.
As a side note, I’ll mention that a few of you living outside of the United States have already seen the movie and are talking about it. That’s fine, but I’m in total lockdown mode now. I’m not reading any reviews and I’m not watching any more clips. I saw a clip with the briefcase armor and I felt like I had already seen too much. I don’t want to accidentally ruin something else.
That said, I do know some things about the general consensus regarding the film as a bi-product of simply being online and absorbing things. I’ve seen a few headlines raving about it and a few headlines saying its a disappointment.
In my mind, that brings me back to an even keel. It’s not important to me that the critics or blogosphere unanimously love the movie. What is important to me is that I control my expectations walking into the theater and – for once – just enjoy the film while freezing out all of the hype.
I don’t do this very often because, typically, I find the marketing of a film as interesting as the movie itself. But this one is for me to savor. I am greatly looking forward to it.
Not much more for me to say at the moment. If you have thoughts or reactions about today’s strip or the developing story line, feel free to leave them in the comments section. I always welcome your feedback!
Have a great day and enjoy the weekend!
[ 16 Comments ]
I apologize for the delay on Monday’s comic. I was absolutely stymied by how to draw the interior of the bus in the last panel. Paralized, almost.
I kept telling myself “This is a good thing” because, as I explained to myself, this kind of fear meant that I was operating outside of my comfort zone. I’m evolving my style – if only incrementally. You have to embrace it. I think, so long as people are reacting favorably to the recent story line, I might as well go for broke.
Although, I worry that it was a lot of stress and effort for not a lot of payoff. I wish the joke could have been stronger. I think the crazy guy barking at Cami is cute, but not laugh out loud funny.
Oh, well. I suppose if push comes to shove, it’s the nesicary transition piece to move the story from the exposition to the action. Look for more of what you loved about the first three strips in the next few strips.
The good news is that I have everything plotted out at this point and envision this arc going on for at least two more weeks. I don’t want the story to wear out its welcome, but I think I have some good gags coming up, so stay tuned for that.
Switching gears, you might have noticed that the site has undergone another redesign. It’s not quite finished, yet. There are some tweaks to make here and there. But the functionality is in place and that’s what matters most.
The design is all mine, but you have to give credit to Tyler Martin and Phil Hofer from ComicPress for stringing up all the bells and whistles. Phil has been especially invaluable these last few weeks. Be sure to visit his site at Frumph.net
Along with the new coat of paint, there is a TON of functionality behind the scenes that I think is going to make your experience more entertaining. I haven’t even explored all of the options yet, but a few I can tell you about off the top of my head are things like the new “RANDOM” button in comic navigation as well as links to similar comics at the bottom of the blog. Hopefully, you will use these to explore more of the site and maybe take a trip down memory lane.
Other advantages of the souped up back end will be a special members area for people who donate to the site and also the option to BUY PRINTS of you favorite comics.
Selling prints is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. So I am very excited by the potential of this. I plan to keep the cost low (and hopefully the quality high) and really push that in the future.
But, like I said, there a few things I need to put in order first. The Theater Hopper storefront chief among them. I’m testing out store management systems like Magento and Open Cart and will hopefully have something put together soon. There are also pages under the ABOUT, LINKS and CONTENT areas that needed to be added back in.
If you have thoughts or ideas about what features or improvements YOU’D like to see on the site, now is the time to suggest them! We’re cleaning house, so anything you can suggest that would make your experience better, please let us know.
You can either leave your comments after this blog or on the recently reintroduced THORUM.
This is the third time around for our little forum community. The first two utilized the phpBB software package and were taken down by relentless spamming. This time around, we have a far more simplified system utilizing bbPress – which is kind of an extension of WordPress. Hopefully, it will be a lot less buggy and allow us to carry on the kind of sustained conversations that comment under the blog do not.
Anyway, lots going on right now. I appreciate everyone’s patience waiting for today’s comments and I can’t wait to read your comments, feedback and suggestions about the new look and feel!
Cheers!
[ 19 Comments ]
I think most of you figured out pretty early on that this little dress-up adventure was going to bring Tom, Jared and Cami into conflict with Victor dressed up like Whiplash, the newly introduced villain of Iron Man 2.
It makes sense. Whiplash is a muscle-bound Russian scientist who wears orange pants. Victor is a muscle-bound Ukrainian movie theater manager who wears a red bow tie. The parallels are obvious.
The big question is why does Victor’s costume appear to be a fully-functional and lethal weapon as depicted in the movie? We’ll get to that later. But, for now, dig that crazy electricity! Looks good, right?
Iron Man 2 is only 3 days away and it is getting harder and harder to ignore coverage. TV spots are in full rotation now. Most of the footage I’ve already seen from earlier spots. But once in a while they’ll throw in a shot of Iron Man swooping down out of the sky and I’ll think to myself, “Dammit! Stop looking at the screen, you idiot!”
I don’t know if it makes that much of a difference if I see 2 seconds more that I hadn’t seen previously. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be over the moon for this film regardless of how pristine I manage to keep myself before walking into the theater.
In fact, I’m seriously considering buying tickets for the midnight showing – something I probably haven’t done since Star Wars – Episode III
If I do decide to go to the midnight showing, Friday’s comic will most likely be delayed. I’ll try to work ahead on things, but it’s usually my habit to work on a comic the night before it’s due. I’m “No-Buffer Man!”
I seriously need to plan ahead better.
Switching topics, Cami sent me an interesting e-mail the other day. She said she wants to see the documentary Babies this weekend.
In case you aren’t familiar with the plot of the film, Babies follows around four, well… babies from around the world – Tokyo, Mongolia, Namibia and San Francisco – essentially prompting replies of “Awwww” for 90 minutes. It’s a perfect piece of counter-programming against the hype surrounding the testosterone and AC/DC-fueled experience of Iron Man 2.
Shamefully on her part, I had to remind her, “Honey, Iron Man 2 is coming out this weekend.”
“Oh! Oh! I want to see that, too.” But you could tell she had momentarily forgotten about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see Babies, too. The trailer for it is brilliant and it gets me every time. Watch it right now if you don’t believe me.
But here’s the thing… we have a 5 month-old at home. We’re kind of LIVING this movie right now. So finding a babysitter so we can go and watch a documentary about babies seems kind of backwards.
Although maybe I shouldn’t complain. If we manage to see two movies this weekend, that would be amazing. I should probably try to play the lottery if that happens, because I doubt I’ll ever get that lucky again.
Are you guys getting worked up for Iron Man 2? Has anyone else entered “lock down” mode? How successful have you been.
What about Babies? Is anyone else kind of excited to see it. I’m curious what the reaction to the film is between people with kids and people who don’t have kids. I probably would have rolled my eyes at a film like Babies a few years ago. But watching the trailer now actually kind of makes my heart swell with pride. I can’t tell if it’s because the trailer is well made or if it’s just pushing the Parent Button.
Leave your comments below.
Also, don’t forget about the recently reintroduced THorum! If you’re interested in having more long-term conversations and talking to other readers from the site, create an account and submit a topic! Let’s get talking!
[ 27 Comments ]
Every time I do a long story line, I always feel like I’m pouring a lot of effort into the artwork. I don’t know why I feel the need to experiment when these plot lines that usually attract more attention to the comic. I should be trying to sneak more of this stuff into my day-to-day work. ‘
But, then again, there usually isn’t a call for laser whips in an average comic. So “strike while the iron is hot,” I suppose.
Speaking of iron, as you know, Iron Man 2 comes out today. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying away from reviews and spoilers. That is, unless you count the comments I get from readers in the UK who have already seen the film telling me how great it is. I don’t really count those as spoilers, I guess. It’s good to know the fans are liking it, though.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that I need to stick around until after the credits. But considering the bomb they dropped on us with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in the first one, I think that was kind of a foregone conclusion.
Still trying to figure out how we’re going to squeeze both Iron Man 2 and Babies into the same weekend that our families are supposed to get together for Mother’s Day. But Cami and I are crazy like that. We tend to stack these kinds of things.
Head’s up for next week… I have a fairly lengthy paper I need to finish for one of my college courses and it’s due on Tuesday. As a result, Monday’s comic might be late. I don’t want to do that if I don’t have to because I’m sure you guys want to read my reaction to Iron Man 2 in Monday’s blog. But this paper is supposed to be North of 25 pages long and (shamefully) I haven’t started it yet.
I’m not panicked, though. I can run off at the mouth for quite a while if I have to (which longtime followers of this blog can attest to.) I’m lucky that the paper is mostly an opinion piece. It doesn’t really have to be researched – although it does need to make some references to what I’ve learned over the semester.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t want to push off Monday’s comic if I don’t have to. But the option is on the table.
In the meantime, I’m just waiting for my opportunity to see Iron Man 2 with Cami. It’s like the calm before the storm. I don’t know what else to say. So much anticipation has built up to this point, I can scarcely believe that the sequel is actually happening. To say I’m looking forward to it would be… I think, the understatement of the year.
Feel free to post your reactions to Iron Man 2 in the comments below. I might stay away until after I have a chance to see the movie myself. But I’ll be checking in over the course of the weekend to discuss things. Try to stay away from spoilers if you can.
Thanks – and have an Iron-riffic weekend!
[ 11 Comments ]
So you guys can probably guess what’s going to happen in Wednesday’s comic, right? Let’s say it all together…
SUITCASE ARMOR!
Stay tuned for that…
So, like most of the free world, I saw Iron Man 2 over the weekend and felt pretty good about it. I know a few of you are dying to get my official review, but I don’t think today is going to be the day. To be frank, I’m working on a paper for one of my Master’s classes that’s due Tuesday. So pretty much 90% of my brain is dedicated to that right now.
I might have something for you Tuesday or Thursday. I’m thinking about publishing it on an “off” day for the site because I know there’s going to be a lot of spoiler territory I want to cover. I’ll assume the majority of you who are interested in my review are comfortable with that. But with the odd chance that someone who hasn’t seen the movie and isn’t aware of my relationship with the character were to stumble upon it… Well, I don’t want problems.
I can give you an overview – although, take my comments with a grain of salt. I’m heavily biased in favor of the franchise.
I thought Iron Man 2 was much more polished than it’s predecessor, but it glosses over some important story elements that I wished it would have spent more time on.
Most prominently, I wish the movie did more than give lip service to the Iron Man technology and how it changed the world. We see news clippings about Iron Man helping to bring peace in the Middle East and how he’s Time’s Person of the Year. But the movie never really SHOWS us the ways in which Tony Stark’s involvement in geo-politics has transformed the global landscape.
I’m not asking for a 15-minute montage, or anything. But seeing the suit in action in a few different locations would have added some texture and made the plot point revolving around Garry Shandling’s Senator who wants the Iron Man technology turned over to the government a little more meaningful.
That’s probably the biggest thing the movie gets wrong. The biggest thing the movie gets RIGHT is it’s depiction of Tony’s ego and how it gets in the way of his genius.
Iron Man has always had a very weak rogue’s gallery. Whiplash’s inclusion in the sequel is evidence of this. That’s because Iron Man’s greatest opponent has never been some advanced tech-wielding mercenary. Iron Man’s greatest villain has always been Tony Stark.
There are more than a few scenes that sell this point magnificently, although they don’t always leave the best taste in your mouth. I think in the context of a super hero movie (and it’s limited running time), people aren’t interested in the hero being a jerk for 60% of the movie. So I think they took a gamble by amplifying those aspects of Tony’s personality. But, for me, they worked brilliantly.
I could very easily keep going and going about Iron Man 2, but I think I’ll stop there for now. Keep checking back on the site for a full review in the near future.
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’ll probably be Thursday before you see it. I’m contemplating a second viewing of the movie on Wednesday night. Not for review purposes exclusively, mind you. But because I genuinely enjoyed the film and am very eager to see it again.
That probably doesn’t carry a lot of weight with you, but I don’t often see movies in the theaters twice. I didn’t even see the original Iron Man in the theaters twice. So that I’m willing to see the sequel more than once should serve to reflect my overall enjoyment of the film.
There are nitpicky criticisms to be sure. But ultimately, I think most people are going to enjoy the film and leave it having been entertained.
Care to dispute me? Leave your comments below. Let’s talk shop!
I’ll talk to you soon!…
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