Posts Tagged ‘naked’
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The big crossover between Theater Hopper and Movie Punks is still going strong. If you haven’t checked out Part 2 at Carrington’s site, well, you won’t have to because I’ve already saved it to our bonus materials page.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be standing in line first thing Thursday morning at Movie Punks to check out Part 4.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. For Part 4 to make any sense, you’ll have to read Part 3, my strip, which has also posted today in the bonus section. Don’t forget to check it out!
Today’s strip calls to the fore a basic subtext of movie-going motivation in our household. Sure, Solaris will probably be a fun movie to see. George Clooney and director Steven Soderberg have done so many movies together, by this point they’re sharing the same brain. I have no question to its quality.
But at the same time, Cami has a major crush on Clooney and won’t object in the least to the reported ass shots he has committed to celluloid.
I like George Clooney. I like him a lot better now than I did in his old ER days. I think Clooney has used a lot of the power behind his celebrity to do some good within the industry. And I really respect him for not taking flack from that right-wing pinhead Bill O’Riely after then whole 9/11 benefit thing.
Clooney is also keenly aware of his appeal versus studio interests. In a recent interview, he commented on the leak about his derriere making a cameo appearance in Solaris. He cited the film’s distributor Fox as the source of the leak. He basically made comments along the lines of how Fox doesn’t know how to properly market and film for adults, so to generate interests, they let it slip that there was going to be some Clooney tush-action going on.
From a purely marketing perspective, you can’t blame Fox for the move. Look how people are talking about it. The news HAS generated buzz. But kudos to Clooney for calling them on their “marketing of least resistance”. It would have been more refreshing to watch a good film pitched at more refined levels.
I don’t know if Cami and I will get a chance to see Solaris this week, what with all the holiday shenanigans (we still haven’t caught Die Another Day), but I plan on making time. Even when Soderberg is off his game, he’s still 90% better than anyone else out there right now.
Last thing I’ll mention: Rick Brose of The 2econd Opinion was kind enough to review our site. It’s fair and balanced and well worth your time to read. If not for his take on our work, but for the very thorough collection of reviews he has assembled on other topics far-flung as video games, movies, music and DVD’s. It’s a real treat. Check it out!
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Sep02
GUEST STRIP – PAUL SPENCER
September 2nd, 2005 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 6.60 out of 10)
Beacoup thanks to Paul Spencer for his excellent guest strip. His will be the last this week as I plan on returning to the fold on Monday. Incidentally, Paul has his own comic called Make With The Funny that delivers just that. I think he has one of the better site designs out there, too.
If MWTF sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because we’ve been running Paul’s ad for the site here the last 3 weeks or so. If you’re interested in advertising with Theater Hopper, we have spots opening up soon! Check the calendar for details!
I’ve been “out of the office” (as it were) attending a business meeting in Ohio as part of the duties of my 9 to 5, so being available to update the comic has been difficult. Thanks for your patience and understanding in the matter.
Thanks, too to Jim Burgess and Kidnemo for their contribution this week. I sincerely appreciate it, you guys. The rest of you? Visit all of these fine artists’ sites and support their work! They deserve it!
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If you’re offended by Oscar’s nudity, you really shouldn’t be. There is a perfectly good reason for it.
I hope you guys are enjoying this arc. From the feedback I’ve gotten, you seem to be. People have told me that they hope Oscar becomes a permanent addition to the cast. It seems so obvious! I wish I would have thought of him sooner!
Today’s comic has more of an action squence vibe going for it. I don’t get to do that very often in a gag-a-day set up. But since the storyline is little longer on this one, I’m free to play around. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how that overhead swing was going to look in the last panel. Tricky!
A few people have written me encouraging me to go see Munich. "It isn’t boring. It’s very well done." And so on, and so forth…
In the back of my head, I know this. Speilberg is at the top of his game. Even if he heaps on the sugar toward the endings, he is a master director and will always deliver something composed beautifully in an easy-to-swallow entertainment package.
But it’s just… I can’t. I can’t muster the enthusiasm to go see it. I don’t know what I’m waiting for. Will I see it when it comes out on video? Maybe, but probably not.
Even though I know this would be a clensing cinematic enema, I just can’t buy in.
It’s frustrating, because I can understand the frustration YOU guys must have trying to explain to me why I need to see this movie. I do that with my friends all the time. When you get the brick wall treatment, you wonder why you bothered in the first place.
I guess I’ll say… Thank you for your concern. I know you want what’s best for me. But, for me, avoiding Munich is like avoiding vegetables. I know they’re good for me, but I’m not going to eat them unless I’m really, really hungry. I think I’m just too busy right now to make it a priority.
Hey, today is an important date. Today marks ONE WEEK LEFT on the shirt pre-sale going on in the store. The clock is winding down! Better submit your order soon!
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A lot has been made about Viggo Mortensen and his naked knife fight in Eastern Promises. I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know if it fits within context or not. It could be wholly gratuitous. Who knows? Typically you don’t see man-meat on screen unless it’s a sex scene so maybe that’s what all the talk is about. It seems somewhat out of place for an actor of Mortensen’s caliber to be running around nude for the sake of it.
Unless of course, you know… he’s a freak.
I talked to Cami about this movie and she wasnt interested in seeing it after we caught Mortensen and director David Cronenberg’s last collaboration A History of Violence on cable a few months ago. I consider it to be one of the more mild Cronenberg movie and it thoroughly disgusted her.
I *ahem* dangled the proposition of a naked Viggo on screen in Eastern Promisies and she didn’t take the bait. "I’m sorry," she said. "But girls don’t find that part of the male anatomy attractive." I’m glad she shared that with me. Now I know she’s only married to me for my money.
Just kidding. I’m poor.
Not much else for you at the moment. But I do want to encourage you to come to the site tomorrow. I have a DVD review for the John Cusack / Samuel L. Jackson haunted hotel room horror flim 1408 that I’m posting. Coincidentally, the 2-disc extended edition of 1408 comes out on DVD tomorrow. So it’s good timing!
I don’t know if you guys have noticed that I’ve been sneaking reviews into the archives recently. Last week I reviewed 30 Rock – Season One and that went over… okay. I’m hoping to do more and more of these as the weeks go on. Who knows? I might be able to turn out a couple of reviews a week if I’m lucky. Stay tuned!
I guess I haven’t been making a big deal out of that fact that I’ve been outputting comics three times a week just like I used to. Part of me feels like I need to go out there an promote it. But the other part recognizes that the transition has been somewhat sloppy. So it’s probably best to say "I’m back!" and leave it at that.
See you in the funny pages!
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In the fine animation tradition, Wall-E is a children’s movie featuring a protagonist on screen who refuses to wear pants throughout the film’s running time.
Oh, Donald Duck. What have you wrought?
I’m pretty pumped by the cinematic choices this weekend. Although, admittedly, I’m more excited about Wall-E than I am Wanted. I’m a huge animation nerd and all of Wall-E’s previews have been hitting the right mix of emotion, humor and wonder. There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s going to be excellent and well worth seeing multiple times on the big screen.
That said, I still think Wanted looks very good. In fact, I’m kind of surprised that I’m anticipating it. I didn’t read the original graphic novel written by Mark Millar (who is, incidentally, one of my favorite comic book writers). I guess the movie has very little in common with the comics, so maybe that’s a good thing. And, despite my grand disinterest in the heartthrob status of James MacAvoy (The Last King of Scotland excluded) and Morgan Freeman in what appears to be his fourteenth consecutive “wise man leading the guileless white boy” role) the effects and the action sequences I’ve seen so far look promising.
Oh, yeah. And you see Angelina Jolie’s backside for, like, two seconds.
Probably from the waste up.
The few advanced reviews I’ve read suggest that the plot device of an unassuming nobody who becomes a secretly-powered somebody should be enough to tweak The Wachowski’s and their set up for The Matrix – especially during a cubicle-exiting freak out on behalf of MacAvoy’s character. The main idea of the film being “do you accept complacency or do you reach for something greater?”
I’ve also read that Russian director Timur Bekmambetov comes from the more-is-more Michael Bay school of film and that Wanted is positively dripping in burly, chest-thumping Russian machismo. That can either be a good or a bad thing depending on your proclivities. But the point is that the movie does not let up.
As I mentioned last Friday, I will be at Wizard World Chicago this weekend – At Artist Alley table #4308! – and with the friends I attend the convention with, part of our tradition every year is to go out and see a movie together. We have two great films to choose from, but I kind of hope we see Wanted just so I don’t get in trouble with Cami back home. She’s as big of a Pixar nerd as I am and I know she’d be disappointed if we couldn’t see the movie together.
Wanted, on the other hand. She will never want to see. So we’ll have to see how that one shakes out.
In the meantime, be sure to listen To The Triple Feature podcast tonight at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com. We’ll be talking about Get Smart and the savage beating The Love Guru took at the box office this weekend. How bad was it? People are already predicting the end of Mike Myers career. Ouch! Wasn’t this guy supposedly invincible 6 year ago?
Call in live and share your two cents! See you then!
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It’s not often that you open up your e-mail to a picture of documentary director Morgan Spurlock nearly naked. But that’s what I received yesterday when Sony Pictures Classics sent out a press release announcing the poster for Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.
Soak it in, ladies…
Gotta give credit to Spurlock on the premise of his new film. I think it will be very interesting to pull back the curtain a little bit and take a peek at the lucrative business of brand sponsorship. Sponsorships have been going on practically since media was invented. But marketers are getting more savvy and less overt with their product placements.
As a marketer myself, I don’t find their maneuvers particularly sinister but, instead, highly fascinating. Especially when it comes to steering consumers toward their products when they might not be fully aware of the effort.
Spurlock will walk the talk in this film, so to speak. According to the press release, the film was FULLY financed through product placement from various brands, all of which are integrated transparently into the film.
“While using brands in film promotion is not new for Hollywood,” says the release “it certainly is new territory for the documentary format. Spurlock exploits the phenomenon to new heights, with everything from branded pizza boxes and in-flight film promotions to branded-everything in-film.
Should be interesting. The movie hits theaters April 22. What do you think? Leave your comments below.
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