Posts Tagged ‘Ghost Rider’
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Ghost Rider comes out today and I’m excited for it. I would go so far to say that I’m looking forward to it.
I know that this is the unpopular opinion. People have been ragging on this movie for months now and who can blame them? Everything about it seems to have been bungled in some way. It was originally slated to be a big summer tent pole release in 2006. Then it was pushed back to the studio dumping ground during the latter part of February.
Bad sign.
There were rumors that star (and unrepentant comic book nerd) Nicholas Cage was doing bizarre improvisations on set, even adding sections to the script he wrote himself. People complained he was too old or too much of a fanatic for the material. Don’t get me started about that IMDB item that reported that it took 3 hours every day to apply Cage’s hair piece.
There was a botched marketing campaign that inexplicably centered around an overweight goth girl being interviewed about the Ghost Rider and a movie poster that showed a burning motorcycle tire tread and nothing else. What’s this movie about again?
And, of course, there is fanboy punching bag director Mark Steven Johnson at the helm. The man who ruined Daredevil. The critics were licking their chops.
I recognize all of these incredible missteps, but here’s the thing: I don’t care. I am genuinely excited for this movie.
You know me. I’m a comic book nerd. So right there, this movie gets a pass. But added to that, Ghost Rider was one of my favorite comic book characters when I was coming up in the world. I didn’t read Ghost Rider in the ’70’s when Marvel was trying to capitalize on Evel Kinevel’s cool factor. I read it in the ’90’s when it was all angst and supernatural doing’s. Trust me – when you’re 12 or 13 and still carving out a niche for a personality, an authentic biker from hell leaves an impression. Skull on fire, bad-ass motorcycle, spiked leather jacket and gauntlets, sentient chains swirling around – Ghost Rider looked like a prison tattoo come to life. Visually, I always he looked as cool as Spider-Man, The Punisher or Iron Man. I was infatuated.
Fast forward about 15 years or so and I still don’t have a motorcycle, or any tattoos or even a length of chain lying around my garage. But I still think Ghost Rider is awesome and I can’t wait to see this movie.
The only thing that matters to me is that they got the look of the character right. And, from the stills I’ve been seeing, it appears pretty spot on. The look of his new “hellcycle” leaves a little bit to be desired. It looks like a left-over from Spawn’s garage sale. But so long as they keep G.R. on screen, they’ll be fine. I know Nic Cage is the star, but I don’t care. This is a film where I don’t mind looking at CG effects for the majority of the running time. If Nicholas Cage is on screen more than 40% of the time, THEN we can call the movie a failure!
I want to give a quick shout out this week to David Buist for his guest strip on Monday and Jerry Holkins for his guest essay on Wednesday. From the sound of it, you guys got a kick out of both of their efforts this week. It means a lot to me that they would both take the time to contribute, so thanks guys!
By the way, how is this working out for everyone so far? Two guest strips and then a new comic from me on Friday? I think it’s been a good compromise. Let me know you’re thoughts in the comments! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! You guys remember those 5 samples of a new t-shirt design I was working on from earlier in the week, right? Well, I made a decision and there is a new shirt available in the store:
The shirt is currently available for pre-order through February 28 and all current bundling discounts apply. So if you want to pick up this shirt with one of our other shirts or maybe one of our books, you can!
To place your pre-order for “Junkie” click here!
Oh, and for those of you who are on “Baby Watch ’07,” no news for you yet. Cami is extremely uncomfortable, but that’s about all. We have our fingers crossed for a baby this weekend! I’ll be sure to let you know if it happens!
Have a great weekend, everyone. SEE GHOST RIDER! Piss off one of your movie snob friends!
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Well, Henry is a week old, he lost his umbilical cord and I’m going back to work today after a week off. Will I live to tell about it? Who knows.
This is probably the last week of guest strips before I return to a regular Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I question if I’ll be able to do them in color. It’s not so much finding the time to draw and ink the comics. It’s the coloring that takes the most time. So, if push comes to shove, you’ll get the comics in black and white. I just have to play it by ear.
At any rate, sincere thanks to Josh Anderson for his guest strip. Josh does his own work with Man in a Box Comics. Go check it out. I really liked his treatment of the “gabbing girls” in his comic. I miss the Tex Avery level of cartoon violence I used to have in Theater Hopper. I need to get back to my roots.
A quick programming note – I’m going to try and participate in our weekly talkcast The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 p.m. over at TalkShoe. I wasn’t able to make it last week for obvious reasons. I’d really like to be there tonight so I can talk with my good budies Joe and Gordon about The Oscars. If I can’t make it, Gordon will be running the show. I guess he ran into technical difficulties last week – NOT HIS FAULT – so hopefully this week will go a little smoother for him if I can’t make it. Anyway, check it out!
Speaking of the Oscars, I decided to try something a little different – LIVE BLOGGING DURING THE TELECAST. The concept is simple. I jot down whatever comes to mind during the show. Without further ado, here they are. I hope you get a kick out of them!
LIVE BLOGGING – OSCAR’s 2007
7:34 p.m. – Kind of interesting opening montage of nominees from the acting and technical categories – even though I keep waiting for the guy from the Macintosh ads to show up.
7:38 p.m. – Henry just had a massive poop. Thank goodness for TiVo.
7:43 p.m. – Nice suit, Ellen. *cough*
7:47: p.m. – Alright, I’ll give Ellen points for the J-Hud / Al Gore “America voted” joke…
7:51 p.m. – First award goes to Art Direction? What happened to the Best Supporting Actor leading off the ceremony?
7:56 p.m. – Will Ferrell with a giant ‘fro smelling a rose. He had me laughing right away. Add Jack Black and make it a musical? Brilliant. “Ryan Gosling. He’re hip and now. I’m going to break your hip, NOW!” “Mark Wahlberg? Actually, I’m not going to mess with you. You’re pretty bad ass.”
Wait! John C. Reily? Aw, yeah.
8:01 p.m. – Pan’s Labyrinth is sweeping the Oscars! I know that won’t be the case a few minutes from now. I just wanted to say that.
8:03 p.m. – Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith presenting an Oscar? Say what? At least their line flubbing is an authentic moment.
8:08 p.m. – Henry needs a diaper change and to be put down to bed. TiVo to the rescue again.
8:22 p.m. – I’m back. I’m going to have to fast forward to catch up! Sorry Best Live-Action Short Film!
8:23 p.m. – Holy crap! Pause that! Is Jack Nicholson bald during the Best Live-Action Short Film acceptance speech? He pulled a Britney!
8:24 p.m. – Back from commercial. Still fast forwarding. Sorry Sound Effects Film Choir!
8:27 p.m. – Best Sound Editing falls under the digital blade of TiVo’s fast-forward technology. Best Sound Mixing, too.
8:28 p.m. – Alan Arkin wins Best Supporting Actor! The Movie Gods have spoken and they hate Norbit.
8:34 p.m. – Can someone please explain why Randy Neuman’s song from Cars was nominated instead of Sheryl Crow’s? Fast forward. All caught up now!
8:44 p.m. – Happy Feet wins Best Animated Feature Film? Booooo!
Look, I know Cars wasn’t the best movie Pixar ever produced, but giving Happy Feet the Oscar awards it’s box office take and nothing else. I would have been happier if Monster House had won.
8:45 p.m. – “Academy award winner for Best Screenplay Ben Affleck.” Uh oh.
8:53 p.m. – William Monahan wins Best Adapted Screenplay for The Departed! Are things shaping up for a Best Picture win? Maybe too early to tell…
8:56 p.m. – Chris Connelly is a complete tool with that Parcheesi board he’s trotting around. Tom Hanks responded in absolutely the right way.
8:57 p.m. – Man, I love that Wes Anderson American Express commercial…
8:59 p.m. – Ellen’s Oscar Bjorn. I probably wouldn’t have found that as funny a week ago and if I weren’t walking around the house in Henry’s Baby Bjorn earlier in the day.
9:05 p.m. – Apparently it’s a big deal that Tom Cruise is presenting Sherri Lansing with the Oscar’s Humanitarian Award. Both she and Cruise were ousted from Paramount by Sumner Redstone last year. I heard it’s supposed to be kind of a thumbing of the nose that industry people are supposed to get excited about.
9:11 p.m. – Clint Eastwood came off a little senile at first, but he’s doing a good job keeping up with Ellen’s request for a photo from her MySpace page. Asking Steven Spielberg to take it? Great timing!
9:20 p.m. – Nice bit of self-deprecation from Robert Downey Jr. In the Best Special Effects introduction. Dead Man’s Chest wins and rightly so. Davy Jones is probably the most startling CG creation put to film.
9:31 p.m. – Whoa! Pan’s Labyrinth LOSES Best Foreign Language Film to Germany’s The Lives of Others? SHOCKER!
9:33 p.m. – I thought those dancers making the shadow puppets were pretty lame until they busted out the Snakes on a Plane logo. Nice.
9:35 p.m. – Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress. The upstaging of Beyonce is now complete.
Hudson climbing from the American Idol reject pile to Academy Award winner is an impressive story. But that’s all it is: A story. Let’s be honest. We’ll never hear from her again. Can you really say she’s a better actress than Kate Blanchet?
8:46 p.m. – Jerry Seinfeld is delivering an excellent bit during the Best Documentary Feature introduction about movie theaters wanting you to pick up to yourself and I desperately wish I had thought of it.
9:52 p.m. – Clint Eastwood having a little trouble reading the prompter during the tribute to Morricone. Kinda shameful, Clint.
10:17 p.m. – I feel like I haven’t commented in a dog’s age. A lot of awards in technical categories, I guess. Interesting that Little Miss Sunshine won for Best Original Screenplay. So, at this point, I’m thinking it’s got to be between Little Miss Sunshine and The Departed for Best Picture – which is how I would prefer it. If Babel wins at this point, I would be shocked. But there have been lots of nice little twists tonight!
10:37 p.m. – Henry needed another diaper change during the Best Original Song award. What did I miss? Melissa Etheridge? Hmm! Not feeling so bad about missing Dreamgirls in theaters now.
10:46 p.m. – And now the sad portion of our evening, remembering those who have died. I had forgotten about Bruno Kirby and Don Knotts passing away last year. Joe Barbarra, James Doohan, Peter Boyle, Jack Pallance (although I already thought he was dead). Of course Robert Altman. A sad year.
10:54 p.m. – The show is running long. Helen Mirren wins Best Actress for The Queen. Very much deserved. An elegant woman to be sure and an excellent performance.
11:04 p.m. – Forest Whitaker wins Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. Expect a lot of “King and Queen” headlines on Monday morning.
11:06 p.m. – “The Original Three Amigos” George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola presenting Best Director… and Martin Scorsese FINALLY WINS! YES!
Man, I was going to say – if you pool those three icons of 70’s film making together to hand over the award to Best Director, it better go to one of their contemporaries! Standing ovation? HELL YEAH!
Funny that Lucas was relegated to the bitch seat for being the only one never to have taken home an Oscar. I don’t think too many people are crying into their Cheerio’s about that.
11:14 p.m. – The Departed wins Best Picture. I will sleep soundly tonight.
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So that’s my Oscar’s ’07 live blog. What did you guys think of the broadcast? I thought Ellen DeGeneres did a pretty good job as host . Better than I anticipated. Were there any surprises for you guys? Anyone you think was robbed? We you entertained by the show? Who had the best speech? Who was the worst dressed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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