Posts Tagged ‘training’
4 items.
Part of me feels like I should apologize for today’s strip, while the other part of me can’t stop giggling at its absurdity.
Hey, if nothing else – I sent you into the weekend with an endearing image!
You’ve probably heard by now that New Line is planning on re-releasing the first two installments of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy before the release of Return of the King – the final installment.
The butt-numb-a-thon won’t happen everywhere – just a handful of markets and it is generally considered more of a publicity stunt to generate buzz about RotK than anything else.
That’s a damn shame. I wish more theaters were getting the trilogy in one fell swoop. Sure, it would take endurance. But if there was ever a group of people who could tolerate staring into space, stewing in their own butt juices, it’s Tolkien fans.
That, or Deadheads.
Ooo… I’m gonna get some mail for that one! Just kidding, my little Cherry Garcias!
I’m really looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. Tomorrow I have an afternoon wedding to attend and a bachelor party immediately following!
On Sunday I’m going out to lunch with my parents and dinner with a bunch of friends. Why? Because on Monday, it will be CAMI’S BIRTHDAY! I’m sure I will repeat it on the first, but it never hurts to send birthday greetings ahead of time!
There will also be a few layout changes when you come back to the site on Monday, so get ready for that!
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Sorry about all the ass in today’s comic…
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Having some fun with The Stepford Wives today, but what if the shoe was on the other foot? Vote for Theater Hopper at buzzComix to uncover our more recent incentive sketch – The Stepford HUSBANDS!
So, as you know, Frank Oz’s (ne: Missy Piggy’s) remake of The Stepford Wives hits theaters today. There’s a lot of bad buzz surrounding this picture. Reports of on-set ego flare ups from Nicole Kidman, Better Midler and even Oz himself! Poor audience testing and late-in-the-game reshoots all spell trouble.
Kind of a shame considering the first rate cast they’ve assembled for this pic. Glenn Close and Christopher Walken in the same movie? That’s impressive.
I think Matthew Broderick is miscast, however. Every time I see him in the advertisements, he just looks like he shouldn’t be there. He’s too sweet-natured to play the sinister husband who replaces his wife with a robot.
The original choice was John Cusack, who would have been much better. He pulls off conflicted like no one in the business. And he has a dark streak in him, so I could see that working. Cusack and his sister Joan Cusack (originally cast in the Bette Midler role) had to abandon production to tend to their dying father.
This version of the film is supposed to be dark comedy, which I guess explains why Jon Lovitz is in it as well? Making The Stepford Wives a comedy is a mistake. To me, it will always be a horror piece and a damning piece of social commentary about women’s liberation. I suppose that wasn’t “timely” enough for the producers this go around.
Morbid curiosity might draw me to the theater for this one, but I have a sinking suspicion I would be better off watching my copy of the 1975 version.
No matter. Super-Size Me, the anti-McDonald’s documentary is coming to town today. I think Cami and I are going to catch that after work. A little brain food, as it were!
One bit of site info I wanted to share: We recently did some reorganization in the THorum, so now topics should be easier to find in the categories. It was overdue. Things have been growing in there at such a rate, in needed to be done. Check it out!
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Jan26
I’ll preface today’s comic by saying “No, Cami doesn’t really have me ‘trained'”. Truthfully, she would probably resent the categorization if Theater Hopper were a work of non-fiction. But as it turns out, this little detail is for entertainment purposes only.
The point of this week in the story arc is to fill in any loopholes that might provide Cami and Charlie and easy escape from the women’s restroom. The cell phone doesn’t work and Tom is inept, so what’s left? Could Jimmy possibly be coming to save the day? Well, don’t count on it. You’ll see what I mean Friday.
I’m learning that one of the drawbacks to telling a larger story with a more dramatic bend is that people start to treat it like it’s really happening. As such, they start asking questions like “Why would the women’s bathroom go unchecked for two years? We thought Jimmy was so professional?” So now I find myself in the position of having to answer these questions before getting into the chewy center of the story. Y’know, the one where Charlie finally tells her secret for being back home.
The experience is teaching me a lot, but I can’t help but feel like this gauntlet I’m running is kind of like that episode of The Simpsons where all the nerds are grilling Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless about the inconsistencies in her show.
“Um… Whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it!”
“Uh, yes but…”
“WIZARD!”
The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and looking over the field of candidates, I can’t help but reflect that 2004 was not a particularly good year for movies. Frankly, I was surprised that The Aviator walked away with 11 nominations. But I suppose through the Academy’s filter of “ONLY EPICS SHALL WIN BIG AWARDS!!!” it’s not so surprising.
Sure, smaller films like Sideways and Vera Drake are up for Best Picture, but that feels like lip service to me. It’s just a way for the Academy to show that they’re not out of touch with smaller productions on independent cinema. A token gesture to prove they’re not completely out of touch. You know – kind of like the guy who’s been a hard core Def Leppard fan all his life, but buys then buys a White Stripes record in a feeble attempt to look cool. He doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand it. But dammit, it’s in his record collection, so he must be onto something!
When it comes to the nominations, I usually pay less attention to who receives the accolade than who ∗didn’t∗. People really seemed to notice that neither Fahrenheit 9/11 nor The Passion of The Christ received major category nominations. They were probably two of the most successful and controversial films of the year. But I think it’s that controversy that kept them out of Oscar contention. The Academy isn’t the type of organization with the conviction to endorse anything controversial. They just want to huddle their membership into the Kodak Theater, pat themselves on the back for 4 hours and then drink ’til sunup.
Really, it’s probably moot – at least in F9/11’s case. I think Michael Moore ran himself out of contention by refusing to submit the film for Best Documentary or perhaps broadcasting it on television before December 31 (which neuters his eligibility in the Academy’s eyes) or some such nonsense.
When it comes to snubs, what I can’t understand is why Paul Giamatti wasn’t nominated for Best Actor, while his movie Sideways gets a Best Picture, Director and Writing nominations. It even racked up two Best Supporting Actor nods for Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen.
Man, THAT’S a twist of the knife. The guy who played a half-retarded airplane mechanic in a lousy sitcom and the woman who starred not only in Candyman, but Highlander II: The Quickening are being recognized ahead of the man who has been recognized as one of the best character actors of the last 10 years. Then again, he DOES have Big Fat Liar on his resume…
Another snub I thought was noteworthy was the exclusion of The Polar Express from the Best Animated Feature Film category. Don’t get me wrong. I think the film looked horrible, saccharine and soulless. But despite its failings, the film WAS a technical achievement. Especially in regard to the motion capture technology director Robert Zemeckis probably advanced by five years with his work.
But to be bested by Shark Tale? Ouch! Don’t try to tell me that box office didn’t influence the Academy’s decision in that regard.
Any another thing, I’ve always harbored a little grudge against the Shrek franchise for stealing the very first Best Animated Film Oscar away from Monsters, Inc. in 2002. If Shrek 2 wins out over the VASTLY superior The Incredibles in 2005, then there is no justice in the world.
Some odds and ends…
What’s up with Alan Alda being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in The Aviator. Honestly, I saw nothing outstanding from the performance. Really nothing more noteworthy than what Alec Baldwin did with the same amount of screen time in the same movie.
I was pleased to see Natalie Portman and Clive Owen getting Best Supporting recognition for their work in Closer. I thought it was one of the best movies of the year. It was probably too mean-spirited or too much like a play for the Academy’s taste, but it’s nice to see actors who shined in their supporting roles be recognized over their lead actor contemporaries.
Very surprised to see Kate Winslet be nominated for Best Actress in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She won’t win because the movie came out almost a year ago and most voters probably won’t remember it. But it’s a nice tip of the hat to another wondrous film from ’04.
Beyond that, I don’t know what more to say. I guess I need to study the nominations a little closer. I’m just pointing out the things that really set off alarms in my head.
What are your thoughts about the Academy Award nominations? Y’know, we’re talking about it in the THorum…
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Cami’s comments about the original Clerks comes from real-life around the time we were first dating in high school. With the resurgence of Clerks II, this seemed like the best opportunity to share it with you.
Our relationship was just starting out, but I was totally about sharing my passion for film with her. We didn’t get Clerks in any of the movie theaters here when it first came out in theaters. But I had become familiar with it by reputation and decided to rent it so that we could watch it together. We sat in her parents basement, watched it all the way to the end and when I asked her "What did you think?" she said "Eh, I don’t really like movies about guys who do nothing."
Okay, so I twisted the quote around a little to fit in with the joke of today’s comic. But the spirit is still the same.
Afterwords, I went home and left the video at Cami’s house asking if she could return it (since she lived closer to the video store and was going to run errands the next day). Before she could return the video, her DAD got a hold of it looking for some kind of entertainment on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Cami came home from her errands and he gave her the old 20 Questions about this boyfriend of hers and what kind of entertainment I’m picking out for her.
My now Father-in-Law never confronted me about it, but Cami told me the story once and it made me pucker, that’s for sure!
The moral of the story? Don’t leave rented copies of Clerks laying around the house for your future Father-in-Law to find! Incidentally, Clerks is the only Kevin Smith movie I don’t own. I mean, I own Clerks: The Animated Series, but I don’t own the original movie that bears it’s name. Oh, and one of Cami’s favorite comedies is Mallrats. Go figure.
Judgemental Father-in-Law’s absent from our shoulders, Cami and I went to see Clerks II this weekend and loved it. I’m glad that it turned out as well as it did. I think the movie had a real capacity to be horrible. Combined with the failure of Jersey Girl, if Kevin Smith couldn’t get Clerks II to sell to audiences, I think it would have put his career as a filmmaker in serious jeopardy.
Is he returning to the well? Sure, but as Smith has freely admitted, these are the kind of stories he’s best adept to tell. Let him tell them!
There were parts of the movie that I felt were very stagey, blocked awkwardly by the actors and very talky. But after a while, it occurred to me how much in love I am with Smith’s sense of dialogue. By the end, the subtle commentaries the film makes about arrested development and "starting your life" in your 30’s kind of hit home for me.
Personally, I never suffered from the same wage-slave malaise as Dante and Randal, but I empathize with their situation. I think all of us are concerned with leaving some kind of legacy in one form or another. But sometimes if you stop to really take stock of what you have, things aren’t that bad.
On a subject related to that of making a mark, I mentioned on friday that copies of my first book "Theater Hopper: Year One" are in stock. If you haven’t ordered on yet, I strongly encourage you to do so soon!
That is all!
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