Posts Tagged ‘disappointment’
3 items.
Even though I mentioned it in Tuesday’s blog, I want to cover this again really quick right off the bat in case you didn’t read the old stuff.
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Today’s comic is pretty close to real life. In fact, it’s exactly like real life.
People know I’m a movie nut. I advertise it pretty loudly. They also know I run this site and my brain is host to a buzzing swarm of useless movie trivia and knowledge. Just try to beat me at Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! It’s can’t be done, I say!
Regardless, whenever I get into a situation where friends or family ask me what good movies I’ve seen when poor selection has me avoiding the theaters like the plague… well, it’s awkward.
“I haven’t seen any good movies lately. There hasn’t been anything I’ve wanted to see.”
You should see their faces drop. It’s like someone let the air out of their tires. Then they give you that “Well, then what are you good for?” look. As if I couldn’t carry my own weight in a conversation if it wasn’t about George Clooney’s latest team-up with The Cohen Brothers. I can talk about lots of other things.
Television… for example…
It’s true, however, that August is a notoriously arid month for new releases. This is the time of year when Hollywood takes a breather after blowing their load during the summer. A small time to reflect and turn a blind eye on all the turds that will never get an advance showing for reviewers. Hasn’t anyone stopped to question why Marci X even made it to theaters? It should have gone straight to video. Do not pass “Go”. Do not get $200.
When things are lean in the theaters, it forces me to switch my mode of thinking when it comes to the strip. That’s why you haven’t seen my tackling specific films or much in the way of the now obligatory goofy dress-ups.
It reminds me a lot of when I started Theater Hopper in August of last year – probably the worst time to start a movie-related comic strip when there is so little source material to goof on.
I’m amazed we’ve made it this far.
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So since today’s comic was about unemployment and also since the season premier of The Apprentice 2 was broadcast last night, I decided to do a little homage to that narcissist we all love to hate – Donald Trump! It’s today’s buzzComix incentive sketch. Click here to view it.
So Jimmy has lost his job. This is part three of the potentially 9 part story. Depends how well it’s being received I suppose. It’ll go on at least until next Friday. If you have thoughts about it, you can always share them in the THorum.
Jimmy’s always been the optimistic one of the bunch. You can see it reflected in Monday’s strip and the third panel of today’s comic. Kinda sucks that he’s getting the short end of the stick, don’t you think? All he wanted to do was work hard!
Where will Jimmy go? What will he do next? Check back on Monday for the exciting… continuation!
Still not much to talk about movie-wise. The theaters aren’t serving up much that I’m interested in. Pretty much the only new films of interest this weekend are Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Cellular.
I know a lot of people are probably going to hate me for this, but I think the RE franchise looks pretty stupid. I haven’t seen the first one all the way through. I caught part of it on cable and had to turn it off because it was so dumb. The sequel doesn’t look that much better to me. I’m not bolstered by the fact that the original’s director and writer Paul W.S. Anderson came back and wrote the sequel (it’s being lensed by first-time director Alexander Witt). Anderson should just have the work “HACK” tattooed across his forehead and be done with it.
I don’t really care much for star Milla Jovovich, either. Model-turned-actress isn’t one of the more inspiring job transitions in my book. I think she’s pretty effective in comedies like Zoolander and Dazed and Confused. Maybe because her screen time is limited to a few minutes.
But for most of you, it won’t matter. She’s hot, right? And it’s all about hot babes killing zombies with big explosions. I’ve never been a fan of zombie flicks (Romero’s Night of the Living Dead notwithstanding, of course) and the whole Eastern Block, sunken-eyed model look of Jovovich doesn’t light my fire, either.
The only other new movie to mention this week is Cellular. I think the advertisements for this flick make it look incredibly dumb, but I guess it’s been getting good reviews. Both Ebert & Roeper seemed to like it, although I don’t know how much faith to put in them. Supposedly they keep that action moving at a fast enough clip that you don’t stop to think about the glaring plot holes.
I just find it funny that writer Larry Cohen’s last writing credit was the Colin Farrell thriller Phone Booth. I’m beginning to think this guy must be on the payroll of the telecommunications industry…
So, anyway. That’s what the weekend looks like. I’m probably going to avoid the theaters altogether this weekend. I’m just pretending that the same world-ending zombie virus has infected all the movie houses in town. It makes them easier to avoid and dulls the heartache just a little bit.
See you here on Monday!
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I think today’s comic makes a pretty good point about resuscitated franchises. But, truthfully, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the trend if The X-Files: I Want to Believe and The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor weren’t released one week apart.
By the way, do you guys notice that sequels don’t have a number behind them anymore. You never see "X-Files 2" or "The Mummy 3" in any advertising or promotional materials. There’s always a subtitle to suggest that these stories are episodic and not the same old plots and characters being rehashed for a quick buck.
Originally, I wanted to make a joke about how long it was taking to bring these sequels to theaters. The punchline would have been somewhere along the lines of Jared sarcastically suggesting that Hollywood spit out their lame retreads at a faster rate so we can get on with our lives. “Don’t make us wait so long next time!” It would have been a little wordy.
I don’t mind sequels, but I appreciate the films more when they service a larger story. The Lord of The Rings or the Harry Potter movies immediately spring to mind.
Of course, there are those movies that are kind of a one-shot deal, prove popular and then expand into a larger mythology in their sequels. You could put Star Wars, Back to the Future and The Matrix in that category.
But X-Files, The Mummy and – yes- even Indiana Jones are all naked money grabs. The fact of the matter is, if you had a larger story to tell, you would have told it by now.
There are degrees to how critical I am towards some of these movies. Like the comic explains, Indiana Jones was a movie people wanted to see. There was demand for it after two decades. We may not have gotten the movie that we hoped for, but we held out for a pretty long time.
I can see some people who would be excited for another Mummy movie, even though The Mummy Returns was kind of stupid and it’s spin-off The Scorpion King was half-baked. I admire them for taking it another direction with the Chinese terracotta warrior angle. Although I wonder if Arnold Vosloo is pissed. Remember when the media made him “the next big thing?”
But what’s up with X-Files? Where was the demand for this? The last movie was 10 years ago, the television show ended 5 years ago and the last two seasons were crap. I could understand revisiting things further down the line if they answered some of the lingering questions from the established mythology, but from what I’ve heard, they went in a completely different direction and produced what is – in essence – a mediocre, two hour television episode. Whatever.
Lingering doubts toward The Mummy aside, I’m still kind of curious to check it out. It’s August already and summer is slipping through our fingers. I could go for one more lap around the Brainless Romp Amphitheater. Let’s go on a ride.
I don’t know if that’ll happen, though. Cami has no interest in the movie. Henry might be spending the night with my in-laws on Saturday, though and we’re going to have to find a way to fill the time. Cami thinks Swing Vote looks good. She’s a Kevin Costner fan. Personally, I think it looks like Hollywood pandering to NASCAR dads.
But I could get into that on Monday as well.
That’s all for me. It’s been quite a week. I hope you enjoy the weekend and I’ll see you here on Monday!
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