Posts Tagged ‘thermos’
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Sex in the City comes out this weekend and seems to be as hotly anticipated by the fairer sex as every comic book movies is ready to be embraced this summer. Unlike most men who seem to be operating from a database of "I won’t watch this movie because I don’t have vagina" zingers, I’m not psyched out by this proposition. It’s been a while since there was a romantic comedy with any real pedigree. Seems to be you had to wait for some kind of Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan vehicle to come along before you could permit yourself to feel confident about the genre.
Cami is a big fan of the shoe, so I’ve seen enough episodes of the show to know what’s going on. I even went to a Sex and the City finale party when it ended. I bought her that huge pink velvet book that collects the entire series for her birthday a few years ago, so the occasional Sex and the City marathon is not a rare occurrence in our house.
These are all things MAN LAW tells me I should be ashamed to admit. But I’m not. What can I say? It was a good show and I can certainly understand why the power fantasy was so attractive to women.
Since Sex and the City went off the air a few years ago, every romantic comedy since then seems to extrapolate from it’s formula. Smart, career-minded women who can HAVE IT ALL! The Job, The Clothes, The Man. Think about it. Think about all of the romantic comedies that have come out just this year that share this formula. 27 Dresses and Baby Mama, for example. Nevermind all of the television shows that try to capture lightning in a bottle. Lipstick Jungle, Cashmere Mafia… even Gossip Girl, Dirty Sexy Money and Grey’s Anatomy try to capture this to a degree. Why needs men, right?
Ah, but therein lies the rub. Box office for romantic comedies has been down in the last few years not only because they’re all operating out of the same playbook, but because these movies and television shows almost entirely exclude men from the equation.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, men enjoy romance from time to time. But when the movies tell you over and over that you’re a prop for a successful woman, no wonder men lose interest.
I’m trying to avoid categorizing this in sexist terms. Certainly movies for men have been using women as props for years. Most, if not all of them, in fact. A little turnabout is fair play.
BUT for a genre that is supposed to be all about UNIFYING the sexes, does anyone else find it curious that it is so thoroughly alienating one half of its audience?
In a social climate where there are so many pretenders to the throne, it’s interesting to me to see if Sex and the City can return to the big screen and not feel completely stale. And, if it fails, what will become the next flavor of the month when it comes to romantic comedies?
A little food for thought over the weekend. Take care and I hope you guys have a good one. I’ll see you back here on Monday.
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I don’t know if the punchline for today’s comic justifies the delay, but I was really enamored with the idea of an Away We Go lunch box. So, there you go.
About that delay, sorry everyone. Couldn’t be helped. I was away from home all day Sunday celebrating my sister-in-law’s birthday and didn’t get home until late. By the time I had an opportunity to work on Monday’s comic, Henry decided to have a total fit and basically wouldn’t sleep. By the time I had been upstairs two or three times to help settle him down, it was 2:00 in the morning and I had to call it a night.
I would have had the comic finished earlier this morning, but we keep Henry home from day care on Mondays and I watch over him. He’s taking his nap now. I actually have to wake him up in about 15 minutes, so I’m running this one kind of close.
As you probably heard, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen racked up a little over $200 million in 5 days making it the second-largest opening weekend haul since The Dark Knight. I can’t say I’m surprised. In our little Top 10 of Summer 2009 wager between Joe, Gordon and myself, I picked Transformers: ROTF to be the summer’s biggest film, projecting a $400 million box office haul. Even if the movie loses half of it’s audience this weekend, it’s already more than half way there with probably two more months in theaters to make up the difference.
Incidentally, I did have the opportunity to see Away We Go this weekend and it was the perfect antidote to Transformers: ROTF. I liken the film to Stranger Than Fiction or Last Chance Harvey – the kind of film that wears it’s idiosyncrasies on it’s sleeve and is maybe a little too precious for its own good, but is ultimately an enjoyable film that makes you feel good about your own personal journeys. In that regard, it’s probably the LEAST Sam Mendes-like movie directed by Sam Mendes that you’re ever going to see.
The performances were good, too. John Krasinski is a little more extroverted than normal, but plays the same sweet and nurturing notes he does with Jim on The Office. Maya Rudolph is a revelation, though. A completely formed character played with nuance and sensitivity.
You kind of don’t expect the chemistry between these two actors to work as well as it does and I can’t decide if it’s success of the actors or the script that makes it convincing. I mean, if you sat down and thought about it, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph probably wouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s list to star in a romantic comedy.
Away We Go isn’t really a romantic comedy. I’m just using that for lack of a better term. But the movie is funny and sweet, so it kind of fits. If you have the opportunity to see the film, I highly recommend it. It’s a nice breather during the summer blockbuster season. The more I think about it, the more it has grown on me. Good stuff.
Quick Reminder: Don’t forget to tune in to The Triple Feature tonight where we will most likely spend time talking about Transformers: ROTF. We record live at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com.
I hear Henry sneaking down the staircase. I guess he woke up from his nap on his own. So I gotta wrap things up. Have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon!
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