Posts Tagged ‘Robert DeNiro’
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I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about this comic from the old days of my buddy Mitch Clem’s strip, San Antonio Rock City. Whenever I think of Al Pacino doing his thing from Scent of a Woman, that’s the visual I imagine.
I’m not really as critical of Righteous Kill as I depict myself to be in this comic. In fact, I’m kind of excited to see it and will probably sneak out of the house Saturday night to catch a late showing (Cami has no interest in seeing it).
But one can’t help but feel that at the age of 65 and 68 respectively, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino might be a little long in the tooth for this kind of gritty crime drama. I mean, this movie co-stars 50 Cent. What’s up with that? Was DMX busy, or something?
I need to admit to the resentment I feel after watching Heat, which promised great things from the duo in their first on-screen meeting. I’m sorry, but a five minute exchange in a diner is not the great meeting of the minds I had hoped for. Heat’s a great movie, though. So you can’t be too mad.
My friend Joe Dunn had a good point about DeNiro and Pacino. They should have been making movies together every 5 years since 1977. But he also reserves judgment and points out the reason DeNiro and Pacino have managed to stay relevant is because they’re damn good actors.
Righteous Kill probably won’t be the movie we want it to be and it certainly won’t tarnish the careers of either actor. But it’s frustrating that the stars didn’t align earlier so audiences could enjoy these two bouncing off of each other in more movies. It’s not right that DeNiro has shared the screen with Pacino the same number of times as he has with Billy Crystal. It’s just not right.
Short blog post from me today, guys. Have a good weekend and I’ll see you here on Monday!
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Drawing Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver for today’s comic kind of gave me a queasy feeling. The character has become synonymous with a deranged world view. Its like drawing Charles Manson.
That said, I think you guys will be impressed by the incentive image I cooked up for Top Web Comics. It’s my rendition of a classic Bickle pose. You’ll recognize it when you see it.
I tried something different with this sketch and made a conscious effort to loosen up my inking style. I think it fits really well with Bickle’s unhinged nature. Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to see it.
I’ll take this opportunity to mention that Theater Hopper has been hovering around the number 15 spot on the list since we reinstated our relationship with Top Web Comics at the beginning of the month. Thanks so much for voting. Let’s see if we can crack the Top 10!
Back to the topic at hand, Observe and Report comes out this weekend and it sounds like people are on guard for this one. Paul Blart 2 this is not.
While star Seth Rogen was making the promotional rounds on all of the talk shows last week, he kept mentioning over and over how he couldn’t believe how a major studio let them get away with making a comedy this dark and disturbing. It was Rogen himself who I heard spit the comedic Taxi Driver reference (although didn’t DeNiro already cover that territory with The King of Comedy back in 1982?)
But I digress.
Some people might accuse Rogen and the producers of trying to distance themselves from the surprising success of Paul Blart: Mall Cop and it’s family-friendly tones by focusing on the subversiveness of Observe and Report and I think that’s a smart strategy.
I think it was an unfortunate coincidence that two comedies that focus on mall security guards happened to come out within months of each other and certainly no one wants their picture to be viewed as sloppy seconds.
But what’s possibly most unsettling is that Observe and Report was going for the jugular from the get-go. Writer/director Jody Hill knew he wanted to film something disturbing and – from the sound of it – Rogen’s character was a fully-formed sociopath from the word “go.”
Does the film go to far? Some people are already complaining that it does. Read this article from New York Magazine that asks the question Does Seth Rogen Rape Anna Faris in Observe and Report?
Yeah, duck and cover, kids.
With this kind of buzz swirling around the movie, it’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the competition. I don’t think anyone has a chance standing up to the juggernaut that was Fast & Furious last weekend. Even if it loses half of its audience in the second week, it’ll still land with $36 million in box office.
But because of it’s reputation, I wonder how strong of a showing Observe and Report can make.
Cami has told me she has no interest in seeing the film and steeled her resolve when I told her how dark the film was supposed to be. Dark comedies have a hard time finding audiences. Look at The Cable Guy or even Donnie Darko (to a degree). I think the people who love those films love them.
While most people who are on the fence about those films can appreciate what makes them entertaining, I think most of the audience would not prefer to see them ever again. Will Observe and Report suffer a similar fate once the curious onlooker quotient moves on? Once the shock has worn off, will the movie become a simple cult film? Time will tell.
Personally, I think the climate might be right for a subversive comedy like this. After a string of non-offensive comedies capped by the much-loved (be pretty much toothless) I Love You, Man, Observe and Report might find a niche.
What’s your take? Will you see Observe and Report this weekend. How do you feel about a film that plays date rape for laughs? Are there some subjects that just aren’t funny? Where do you draw the line?
Leave your comments below!
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So here’s the comic from Wednesday that I owe you. If you were keeping up with the blog, you’ll know the reason the comic was delayed was due to a job interview I wanted to prepare for. I also wanted to make sure I got the proper amount of sleep.
I’m pretty sure most of you don’t know what my schedule is like. Frankly, you don’t need to know because it’s boring and self-serving to share it. But in this case, I’ll make an exception because I want you to understand.
Typically, I produce the comic the evening before it goes live on the site. Sometimes I’ll be able to get ahead of it a little by doing the pencils and inks over my lunch hour at my day job. But when I get home, it usually isn’t until after 8:00 that we manage to get Henry and Pearl settled down for the night. When you consider the everyday household chores that need to be done after that, there’s actually a very small window that I can work on the comic.
On Tuesday nights, I have night classes, so that window is even smaller. Instead of beating myself up trying to get a comic done for Wednesday, I thought it made more sense to prepare for my interview and get a good night’s sleep.
I didn’t receive any complaints and you guys have been more than supportive, so thank you. I just wanted to explain because, well, I felt like I owed you at least that much.
As for the job interview… How did it go? Frankly, I thought it went great. It really couldn’t have gone any better.
I don’t want to get into details because I don’t want to jinx it. Plus, as a rule, I don’t like to talk about work-related things online. You can’t be too careful.
Let’s just say it went very well and I’ll let you know how things turn out. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Now, let’s talk about the comic!
I was really pounding my head against the wall on this one because I didn’t know how to build on what I had established with Monday’s comic. Complicating matters, I came up with a great idea for a comic that I could use on Friday. So I was kind of caught between and a hard place.
I have to admit I was surprised by the feedback I received on Monday’s comic in the comments area. I expected some push back from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fans. That’s fine. What I didn’t expect where the people who were saying “Thank you! I’ve felt this way about Burton and Depp for years, but couldn’t find the words.” That’s kind of a weird feeling.
I try to address certain truths with my humor. After all, what generally makes something funny is when several people recognize the same truth that they don’t typically address. The ol’ “He’s saying what we’re all thinking!” formula. I aim for that, but it manifests itself in the relationship humor I explore with Tom and Cami. Usually it doesn’t crop up in this kind of commentary about actors or directors. So it caught me a little off guard.
It sparked a debate, though – which I like. But I felt like if Tom was going to take the “anti” Burton/Depp stance, Jared needed to be the counter balance.
And, so, I did some research.
Check out this Wiki of director/actor collaborations. It’s mind-boggling. Some of them get tossed out because the pairings worked together on a string of sequels. Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, for example. But some of these partnerships appear very genuine.
Of course, my complaint with Burton and Depp isn’t that they’ve collaborated so many times. Just that there is a sameness to what they’ve produced. But, being fair, can I really argue that John Ford and John Wayne didn’t do the same thing? Or Scorsese and DeNiro, for that matter. It’s food for thought.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed today’s comic. If you have anything you’d like to add, feel free to leave your comments below.
Until then, be sure to come back tomorrow for a brand new comic!
Thanks again!
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First things first, see that little graphic to the left? That’s a button you can use to vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics. As a reward, you get an incentive image that I’ve drawn. I polled my followers on Facebook and Twitter for ideas and someone thought it would be interesting to see a Muppet version of Cami. So that’s what you can expect to find if you click on that link.
I’ve flirted with Top Web Comics several times over the years and I’m giving it another spin for a couple of reasons. I was probably prompted by nostalgia since I’ve been busy adding transcripts and cleaning up the archives lately. I’ve been neck-deep in posts from 2003 and there are a lot of references to Top Web Comics from that time.
I also saw Paul Taylor from Wapsi Square pointing his readers to Top Web Comics recently and it made me a little homesick.
I’m not necessarily under the impressing that we’ll make much of a dent in the Top 10 especially since I’m only updating once a week now. But I like the ritual aspect of it. Drawing the comic, then drawing something ancillary to it. I have a stack of these sketches left over from the last time I attempted this in 2009 and I’m thinking I might add them to the Theater Hopper store soon. If someone wants to buy them, great. If not, no big loss, either.
By the way, Storenvy, my storefront generator recently announced some new discount and promotional options built into their site. So keep an eye out for some good deals there in the future. I’ve got way too much inventory right now that I want to get rid of. I’m prepared to get drastic.
Anyway, onto the comic.
First, I have to apologize for the comic being late this week. But I have good reason. The reason is two feet tall with pigtails.
Pearl turned 2 years-old on Saturday and (as I am wont to do on my children’s birthdays) I wanted to share a picture with you here.
I had mentioned Pearl’s birthday on Twitter over the weekend and I received several messages from people who couldn’t believe how fast time had gone by. Lots of people commenting on how it was like I just announced she was born yesterday… and now she’s 2!
Believe me, I empathize. The time has gone by very fast.
We had a great time celebrating with Pearl over the weekend and I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes.
The birthday fun didn’t stop there, though. Oh, not at all! On Sunday, we celebrated my father-in-law’s birthday. So between the two of them, I didn’t have much time to think about anything else. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, I was shot.
BUT THE COMIC!… We still haven’t talked about the comic, have we?
I knew when I put director Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve in my sights, I wanted to do something to the comic I did about his previous film, Valentine’s Day. That comic was very well received and – to be truthful – it’s a blast coming up with the oddball celebrity choices to list on the fake IMDB page.
My problem, however, was not wanting to recycle the same joke. I didn’t want to be guilty of plagiarizing myself. So, I went to Twitter with my problem.
Most people said the same thing: “The producers of New Year’s Eve didn’t show any originality with their new film. Why should you?”
But I got to give it up to Josh Anderson from Sketch Layer who came up with the idea to have Tom show up as a cast member in the film.
I decided to ad a little bit of a paranoid spin to the concept and sneak the cameraman into the last panel. But the genesis of the idea was all Josh. So thanks, Josh!
I don’t know if I have much more to say about the comic than that. But talking about the comic last night on Twitter gave me some ideas going forward. We’ll see what happens.
In the meantime, I would really appreciate it if you used the li’l old ShareThis links below this post to help spread the comic around. Since it was late, it helps to let people know that the site’s been updated.
Thanks again for your patience. See you soon!
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