Posts Tagged ‘Tim Burton’
5 items.
For those of you concerned that today marks the last appearance of Goth Jared, fear not. His lack of planning and available resources see to his continued status as a member of the living. Click here to learn his fate.
I hope you don’t find today’s comic too macabre. I’m certainly not aiming to make fun of suicide. But think of it this way – If your kids can handle the concept of an animated Johnny Depp marrying the rotting corpse of woman while cavorting around town with a bunch of dead people (Ala Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride), then they should be able to handle today’s comic. After all, how many times have we seen Tom and Jerry inflict mortal harm upon each other?
All in good fun people!
No really commentary for today except to say that Cami and I are planning to paint the afternoon red when we catch a matinee of Just Like Heaven on Sunday. After that, expect a full week of strips continuing to have fun with The Corpse Bride.
Not ∗that∗ kind of fun, you sickos.
In the meantime, if you have a LiveJournal account and would like to add the Theater Hopper feed to your friends list, I would be much obliged. You’ll get all the latest comic and blog postings delivered directly to your friends list. Can’t be that kind of service with a stick.
Or a corpse.
Or whatever.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
[ No Comments ]
Poor Jack Skellington. He just wants to be found attractive. He’s even tried to find a cover-up for that balding problem of his. No luck. Some girl’s hearts you just can’t win.
As excited as I am to see The Corpse Bride, my true feelings actually mirror closer to Cami’s in today’s strip. I used to love The Nightmare Before Christmas back when it came out in 1993. It was like nothing I had ever seen. Or at least nothing like anything I had seen in a long time.
Over the years, I think it has been co-opted for it’s visuals, repackaged and resold into something I don’t enjoy anymore. There was a time for a few years where you couldn’t walk into Hot Topic or Suncoast Video without seeing some variation of the Nightmare Before Christmas repurposed as a t-shirt, backpack, snow globe or salt and pepper shakes. Eventually the merchandise watered things down for me so badly, I began to kind of resent the film.
This is totally 5th grade of me, but it’s like latching onto a band. It’s your favorite band for the longest time. Their album has been out for a year and you’re listening to it on repeat every day.
Then, out of nowhere, radio picks up one of their singles. They start playing it over and over. Other people start cluing in to their sound. Then radio picks up another single. Then another. After a while, every track on the album is turning up in car commercials and McDonald’s jingles. Everything you fell in love with and thought was unique about that band is gone. You don’t even recognize it anymore. Not long after, hearing those songs you used to love makes you kind of sick.
Same goes with The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Usually I’m not this selfish. But when you see kids in strollers wearing Oogie Boogie jumpers, it’s gone too far.
Mark my words: The same thing is going to happen with Napoleon Dynamite. Hot Topic alone sells over 150 pieces of Napoleon Dynamite merchandise. I think there’s even Napoleon Dynamite lip gloss. Right now, I still love that movie. But I bet in a few years I’m gonna hate it. Jon Heder is smart for striking when the iron is hot. He has seven films lined up through 2007. Better remake your legacy fast or you’ll be Napoleon for life.
At any rate, my displeasure with Nightmare Before Christmas aside, I’m still looking forward to giving The Corpse Bridge a chance. If for nothing else but to see what kind of advances they’ve made with the animation technique and process. Here’s hoping there’s a good story to back up all the visual wizardry.
[ No Comments ]
…and, of course, everyone remembers that Tim Burton and Mark Wahlberg last collaborated with each other in 2001’s disastrous remake of Planet of the Apes.
Before I begin with this rant, let me say that I love Tim Burton and I love Johnny Depp. I think they are two of the most interesting and idiosyncratic artists working in Hollywood today.
That said, regarding their myriad of collaborations, I think Depp is the one who is going to walk away with his reputation in tact when it’s all over. Because, unlike Burton, he actually works with other people from time to time. He’s still a risk-taker. He’s still viable.
Meanwhile, Burton has been stuck in a loop for almost a decade. Big Fish was the last time Burton worked with anyone who wasn’t Johnny Depp and that was in 2003. He’s made 4 films since then and each of them feature Depp as a pasty, googlely-eyed weirdo.
I mean, it makes sense that Burton would continue to the well so many times. The formula works. When Burton and Depp last collaborated in 2007’s Sweeny Todd, it resulted in huge box office receipts and Oscar nominations. It’s hard to turn your back on that. I understand that.
My problem with the pairing is that Burton has branded himself as an inventive Hollywood outsider whose singular vision and creativity simply cannot be contained. But his track record reflects and artist who has become complacent and predictable. Not only is this exemplified by his partnership with Depp, but with his reliance on Helena Bonham Carter and Danny Elfman as well.
Certainly I understand the value of a director who prefers to work with specific artists. Scorsese had DeNiro (now, DiCaprio). Steve Spielberg uses John Williams’s music in nearly every movie he makes. These elements become part of a director’s style and help audiences to easily identify their work.
But when it comes to Burton, I don’t look forward to his movies anymore because they all feel exactly the same.
I think if you had told me Burton was going to do a version of Alice in Wonderland 10 years ago, I would have been over the moon. The subject matter fits perfectly inside his wheelhouse. What is Burton if not a modern-day equivalent to Lewis Carroll? A fanciful dandy bursting with imaginative visions trapped by insecurity? Burton has carried Carrol’s flag for a long, long time. There is no other living director that could possibly do Alice in Wonderland justice like Burton could.
But now, with so many “dark” and “twisted” fairy tales under his belt, I feel like Burton is incapable of bringing anything new to Alice in Wonderland. Certainly not to the extent that it could overcome what is probably most widely considered the strongest visual reference point for the book – that being Disney’s 1951 animated version. At least, that’s what I first think of when I first think of Alice in Wonderland.
At this point, any addition arguments I make would just be me circling back on myself. Like I said, I GET why Burton and Depp continue to work with each other. There’s clearly an audience for it and I understand why audiences would be invested in it. Who hasn’t felt like an outsider at some point in their lives? Burton and Depp speak to this explicitly.
All I’m saying is that Burton’s brand as an inventive film maker doesn’t really hold water under scrutiny because he makes the same movies over and over again.
So, in my opinion, he should either stop adapting the work of others and go back to telling original stories or he should work with different actors to at least create the ILLUSION that he’s branching out.
Because if you aren’t growing as an artist, what’s the point? If it’s just about the paycheck, you might as well be McG.
What are your thoughts about Alice in Wonderland? Are you looking forward to it? Am I wrong about Burton? Leave your comments below!
[ 43 Comments ]
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!
[ 11 Comments ]
Sorry for the lateness of this week’s comic. Originally the comic was delayed because I was clubbed upside the head by a killer cold that I picked up from Pearl. I guess being around a sick baby for 5 days will catch up with you eventually.
Pearl’s been a challenge for us lately because she keeps getting ear infections. Last week, she was waylaid by double ear infections and some kind of bronchial issue that resulted in her being prescribed a nebulizer. On top of that, we’re pretty sure she was cutting a few molars.
So she couldn’t hear, had trouble breathing and wasn’t eating. It was a blast. Add into the mix Henry’s fourth birthday and a trip to the germ farm known as Chuck E. Cheese and it all caught up with me.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my kids. Sometimes it’s just hard to keep up, y’know?
We are particularly motivated to get Pearl well because this Friday she is having tubes put in to deal with her chronic ear infections. So the gauntlet has been thrown down in front of me to be a helpful, engaged parent while simultaneously staying out of my daughter’s face out of fear we’ll get her sick before the operation. Stressful.
Anyway, I hope today’s double comic makes up for all the drama in my life. It actually would have gone up late last night, but the Theater Hopper server kept returning 500 errors. Such is life.
The path to this comic was kind of an interesting one that started on Twitter. Thinking about I Am Number Four, I came up with a comic rather quickly. Specifically, I intended to make some kind of poop joke or allude to how childish making a “number two” reference would be – similar to what Cami does in the second panel here. “Number Four,” “number two…” It writes itself.
Anyway, I alluded to my punchline on Twitter and people pretty much predicted right away what I was planning on doing. What unfolded was a unique bit of crowdsourcing that transformed today’s comic into the monster you see today.
Originally, my webcomic buddy Brandon J. Carr chimed in with the Riker reference from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He quickly followed that up with a Johnny Number Five reference from Short Circuit.
A little latter, Phil Hofer – otherwise known as Comicpress genius Frumph – tossed out the idea to include 9 from the movie 9. The rest, as they say, is history.
I’ll give myself a little credit, though. The “Disassemble?” punchline – that was all me.
Yeah, so what if other people practically wrote 90% of the comic?! THAT PUNCHLINE IS MINE, BABY!
Anyway, credit where credit is due. Thanks to Brandon and Phil for the assist. It was a lot of fun going back and forth with them last Friday on Twitter. I don’t work in a big fancy studio with a bunch of creative types that allows me to brainstorm genius ideas. Twitter is the next best thing.
As for I Am Number Four… well, I guess you can discern from the comic that I really have nothing important to say about it. Sometimes it’s just more fun to go out on a tangent. But if YOU saw the movie this weekend, please feel free to leave your comments below!
Thanks again for your patience and understanding regarding the tardiness of the comic. Be sure to check the Bonus Materials blog during the week for more movie-related updates!
[ 25 Comments ]
