Posts Tagged ‘Gary Oldman’
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Jun17
A PERFECTIONIST WITH ACCESS TO THE NECRONOMICON
June 17th, 2005 |
(7 votes, average: 8.71 out of 10)
When people go to see Batman Begins this weekend, there will be rave reviews of how the undead Laurence Olivier knocked it out of the park with his cameo appearance. Mark my words.
Quick note: Be sure to place your bids on the auction I’m having for an original piece of artwork over on eBay. There are only 2 days left, so be sure you don’t miss out on the action. I was really pleased with how this piece turned out and hopefully it will make one of you very happy to own it.
Now, onto the comic!
Is it relatively clear that the angry director in today’s strip is Christopher Nolan? I’m always a little paranoid when it comes to my celebrity caricatures. Especially when it comes to celebrities people aren’t very familiar with. EVEN MORE ESPECIALLY when it’s a director with only 3 films under his belt.
That’s why I’ve included this handy picture for reference. That, kids… is Christopher Nolan, director of Batman Begins. See? We learn something new every day!
It’s insane the level of talent Nolan has attracted to his relaunch of the Batman franchise. Who cares if Morgan Freeman admitted to taking the role strictly for the money? This film has Oscar winners and nominees littered all over the place like used bubble gum.
I suppose Nolan’s pedigree directing and writing the extremely intelligent Memento and his confident handling of the remake of Insomnia would inspire some confidence. But wouldn’t David S. Goyer’s name on the script raise a few eyebrows of suspicion? Let’s face it – Blade: Trinity was not Bridge of the River Kwai.
Of course Goyer brought us good films like Dark City, but I would say that was more a success for director Alex Proyas, whose amazing visuals sold that film to me lock, stock and barrel. Meanwhile, Goyer’s credits are more bad than good. After all, this was the man who penned the Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV movie starring… wait for it… David Hasselhoff. So Goyer has some sins to answer for.
Still, from the sound of things, his Batman Begins script is very strong. All the feedback I’ve been hearing since it opened to $15 million on Wednesday has been positive. MORE than positive, actually. “Enthusiastic” would be more like it.
This has been pure torture for me, though. Because I am trying to stay away from spoilers. I accidentally read a preview that gave away the ending shot between Gary Oldman’s Detective Gordon and Christian Bale’s Batman – naturally setting the stage for the sequel. But even with that nugget of information, I’m far more interested in the unfolding of the mythology – just to see if they get it right.
The reason I haven’t seen the movie yet is because Cami is pursuing her MBA and started her summer semester this week. She’s taking a condensed course that will rocket her through her workload in something like 7 classes. The bad news is, she’s been out of the house most of this week. An evening class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5PM until 10PM, plus an ALL DAY class from 8AM to 5PM tomorrow, then back to the evening class routine next week and she’ll be done.
In the meantime, she’s too exhausted to go out and see movies. Understandably so! So I am left patiently waiting from her to come down from her education O.D.
She’s told me to go ahead and see the movie without her. And even though I will probably see Batman Begins multiple times, I don’t roll like that. I’ll wait. For me this isn’t a movie that it would be nice for her to see. I think it’s a movie she SHOULD see. If it’s as good as everyone says it is, maybe it’ll open the door a little wider for her to understand my adolescent admiration of these characters.
And a little understanding between husband and wife never hurts, right? ;D
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This comic is a little bit mean. I don’t think it’s exactly fair to bust on Cami for wanting to see Twilight with the argument it’s for teenage girls. Look at all the dumb crap I’m into! I really just wanted an excuse to show Gary Oldman in that crazy wig from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Man, that was a messed up movie.
In real life, Cami doesn’t have an interest in seeing Twilight. Although she has read the book for her book club. Incidentally, they’re talking about it tonight, I think! Small world. But she is not swayed by Edward Cullen’s charms (or his off-putting trapezoidal head). She’s taking the day off work Friday, so I asked her if she planned on seeing the film. She described such activity as “a waste of time.” Ouch.
My wife’s indifference to the movie aside, Twilight is one of those phenomenon like Pokemon or Queer Eye For The Straight Guy that caught me completely off guard because I’m not the target demographic. I had no idea how popular the books were or even that a movie was being produced because I am not – as pointed out in the second panel – a teenage girl. That’s fine. I’m just saying that I’m a little bit ashamed of myself for being so unaware. Call it willful ignorance, I suppose.
We were talking about a recent crop of videos that popped up on YouTube featuring a bunch of screaming girls losing their minds in Philadelphia last Thursday when Cullen showed up to promote the film in a mall appearance. I don’t understand this. They can’t be going so crazy for Cullen? What has he done. Nothing. The movie isn’t out yet. He could be totally awful in it. I guess they could be responding to his looks or maybe just excited that the lead character from their favorite book now has a physical form they can direct that energy toward. Whatever it is, it’s scary.
Joe made the point on Monday’s Triple Feature that Twilight is posed to become the next Harry Potter. That makes sense considering the supernatural aspects of their stories. But at the same time, I kind of doubt it’ll be around that long because Twlight doesn’t appear to work on the myriad of different levels that the Harry Potter movies do. I feel they touch on more universal themes and the more complicate politics of the adult world as much as they do on budding teenage romance and fantasy elements. I guess we have to wait and see.
Quick sidebar, today is the 900th Theater Hopper strip. Nine hundred. I say that out loud and I hear Jeffery Jones as Principal Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in my head. “Nine tyyyyyymes.”
I’m not going to make a big fuss about it beyond the fact that I appreciate a nice, round number like 900 and that it makes me excited to cross that 1,000th strip milestone. It’s not far off now. After that, I’ll really feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Then, nothing. Not until Theater Hopper celebrates its 10 year anniversary. Speaking of which, congrats to Mike and Jerry for reaching the big 10 over at Penny Arcade yesterday!
One last thing before I forget: To celebrate the release on Wall-E on DVD yesterday (c’mon – how many of you bought the film and ran home to watch it last night?!), I’m passing along all kinds of fun stuff from the movie that you can check out online.
Today it’s Space Fun Facts!
Just who is this Wall-E? And what is an Axiom? The Character Guide gives the low-down on all of the bots and even the human Captain! Wall-E and Eve take an adventure across the galaxy. Go beyond the Earth’s atmosphere with these Space Fun Facts!
I’m linking to the document as a PDF, so you’ll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. Click here to check it out!
That’s all for now. Have a great Wednesday!
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The inspiration for this comic hit me like a lightning strike. I wish I could figure out where it came from. My best explanation is that the most immature part of my brain was feeling neglected, sparked off and said “Hey! Pay attention to me!” Please enjoy the schoolyard limerick it conjured up for you.
I told Cami about the joke in today’s comic and she said she had never heard the phrase “He Who Smelt It, Dealt It.” At first I was surprised. But then I remembered she was never an 8 year-old boy and would have no context for such things. Nor the immaturity to appreciate it’s linguistic simplicity.
There’s something regal about the phrase, don’t you think? I wouldn’t be entirely surprised to find it as a passage in a joke Bible, for example. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.
I do find it curious that The Book of Eli has been dumped in the middle of January. Usually the post-holiday months are where studios jettison the projects they have the least amount of faith in. So why have Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman been relegated to the trash heap?
Apparently the critics aren’t on board with it, which is a shame because it’s directed by The Hughes Brothers – The guys who brought us Menace 2 Society and From Hell. Can you believe From Hell came out nearly a decade ago? That was the last time The Hughes Brothers had a movie in theaters. Wild.
Part of me wants to see the movie based on pedigree alone. That’s pretty much what convinced me to walk through the door for It’s Complicated. But at the same time, I kind of want to gather consensus from friends who have seen it to determine if it’s any good. I have kind of a natural avoidance to movies set in post-apocalyptic future because they all look alike to me. If I’m going to see The Book of Eli, I need to be given some hint of a twist.
What about you? Any plans to see The Book of Eli this weekend? What’s attracting you to this film? Is it the story, the characters or the actors? What was the last movie you saw based on the casting alone? Leave your comments below!
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