Posts Tagged ‘Vince Vaughn’
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So the new Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story comes out this Friday. Despite the catatonic state I depict for myself in today’s strip, I’m actually quite looking forward to this movie.
Frankly, I’m surprised no one came up with the idea for a dodgeball movie before now. The unsuspecting school yard activity is social Darwinism in its purest form. It’s like Lord of the Flies with monkey bars. There is sure to be a lot of comedy to mine from that.
Is it wrong to admit that I’m more interested in the supporting cast of this movie than the leads? Well, maybe not ALL of the leads. I really like Vince Vaughn. He’s found himself a tidy niche as the scheming wise-ass. He was great in both Old School and Starsky & Hutch. That mellow exterior… he steals almost every scene he’s in – and that’s no small feat when you’re set up toe-to-toe with Will Ferrell.
It’s Ben Stiller I could care less about at this point. He slaps on a stupid wig and glues on a silly mustache and we’re supposed to laugh? Personally, I refuse to roll over on this. At this point, Stiller has become like an annoying uncle trying to make you giggle by making stupid faces and talking with a goofy voice. Only problem is you’re no longer 3 years-old, but now your 11 years-old and he doesn’t seem to notice.
I’m more interested in the bit players they’ve assembled for this picture. Rip Torn, Stephen Root, Justin Long, Jason Bateman, Hank Azaria, William Shatner, David Hasselhoff… heck, even Stiller’s wife Christine Taylor can throw a subtle laugh better than her husband.
That’s all I can think of for the moment, but I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts on Dodgeball this Friday. I have another tale of pre-pubescent anxiety to unveil in comic strip form! Stay tuned!
Do you have a dodgeball story to share or maybe reflections on the upcoming movie? Share your thoughts in the THorum!
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As you may have noticed, there hasn’t been a newspost on the front page for a couple of days. The reason behind this was due to a server outtage with our hosting company. As I understand it, a hardware problem and not a software problem and much more difficult to fix. The GOOD news is that there was no data loss, just interrupted service. So I can’t be too mad about it.
Still, this stuff always seems to happen when I have a bunch of news to share. As such, I’m going to hold off on some of that for tomorrow’s update when more of you are checking the site. For now, I’m just going to talk about Monday’s comic.
Making fun of The Wayans Brothers is a little like shooting fish in a barrell, so I thought I would extend the metaphor by rendering them as bottom feeders. I’ve never found The Wayans Brothers particularly funny. I mean, I respect Keenan Ivory Wayans for his success as a director. I still think I’m Gonna GIt You Sucka is one of the most inventive parodies ever. I even like some of the stuff Damon Wayans has done. And, of course, you can’t overlook the success of In Living Color for bringing a new perspective to sketch comedy.
But as far as I’m concerned, both Marlon and Shawn Wayans are complete hacks. The take the concepts that appeal to the lowest common denominator and then find ways to debase them further. I saw the trailers for Little Man and immediately found new respect for White Chicks. At least there you could say that the concept of a couple of black guys wandering around in "whiteface" was satirically absurd or hovering around the "so bad, it’s good" category.
Little Man comes off far worse because I can’t think about it without remembering that Bugs Bunny cartoon where a similarly tiny buglar lays low with the "wrascrawly wabbit" until the heat dies down after a heist. Baby Face Fenster was his name, I think. The sight of him shaving in the bathroom mirror with an electric razor, a tatto of an anchor brazenly displayed across his arm is one of those "WTF" pop culture moments from my childhood. An image I’ve yet to shake. I tried finding screencaps of the cartoon online, but couldn’t turn anything up. If you guys find anything or know what I’m talking about, let me know.
So Little Man becomes worse than derivative. It becomes plagiaristic.
As a side bar, if you guys disagree with me about Talledega Nights, you’d better get used to it right now. In my mind, Will Ferrell is bulletproof. I can admit that I’m a Will Ferrell apologist and I make no excuses for it. Talledega Nights is probably the one movie registering strongest on my radar for the summer and I can’t wait to see it.
I suppose that should make me more sensitive to the reasoning behind why others find The Wayans Brothers hilarious, but, well… it doesn’t!
Sorry that the art for Monday’s comic couldn’t have been a little better. An area that I’ve been trying to develop is celebrity caricature. I figure "What good is a comic that riffs on celebrities if I can’t draw them worth a squat?" But the truth is, I was painfully short on time.
Between finishing Monday’s comic and taking the weekend to prepare for Wizard World Chicago, I was also putting the finishing touches on a guest strip for my main main Joe Dunn and his site Joe Loves Crappy Movies. Joe is getting married on the 22nd and deserves some time off. Drawing 15 comics a week can be taxing!
I was also finishing up my contribution to the 2006 Web Cartoonist Choice Awards presentation. I was selected to present "Outstanding Comic," which I was very honored to do. There’s been some controversy about the winners being announced before the presentation could go on line. I don’t know much about it. But you should keep your eye on their site as well as Comixpedia for news when the show goes online. I had a chance to see some of the other contributions on a test site and there are some really funny presentations in there.
I meantioned Wizard World Chicago. I have some news about that and wanted to share it last Friday. Due to the server outtage, I couldn’t. So everyone be sure to come back to the site tomorrow for all the details of where you can find me and who you can find me with. Also, if you plan on being in the Chicagoland area this year, I’m putting together a big book release party and you’re invited! More details on that soon!
Until then, don’t forget that our t-shirt sale is still going on until July 31. All shirts are $9.99 (plus shipping and handling) and every order comes with a free poster! I’m prepping envelopes now and will be sending shirts out soon, so get your favorite shirt while you still can
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I don’t know why I insist on drawing strips where people blow chunks on Thanksgiving, but I guess that’s how I subconsciously interpret the holiday – Stuffing your face until you puke.
I should add that I do not speak from experience in this matter. Carrot sticks only for me, please!
In advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, a bunch of movies have landed in theaters today. Four Christmases is among them. I certainly don’t begrudge an Academy Award winner from taking a straight paycheck movie from time to time. Certainly we all have to pay the bills. But it does seem a tad wasteful to have FIVE Academy Award winners in a movie that is tantamount to Fred Clause 2. Personally, I think they should play up the fact that they have this level of talent in their movie with the marketing. “This holiday season, see the movie with five Academy Award winning actors… A movie that will tug at your heartstrings and teach you the importance… of family… FOUR CHRISTMASES! Hey, hey, hey, hey!”
That said, Vince Vaughn is really the only draw on this movie for me. I guess I’m just a sucker for that whip-smart improvising he does from movie to movie. He’s really a unique brand. When you think about how he launched this fast-talking smart aleck persona in Swingers over 10 years ago and how he tried to bury it in movies like A Cool, Dry Place, Return to Paradise and The Cell it really makes you think about what a dumb move that was since he decided to bring it out of mothballs for Old School and crystallize it for Wedding Crashers. The dude has never been more successful! You’d feel cheated if you went to a Vince Vaughn movie and he didn’t act like that!
So, yeah. I’m a Vince Vaughn fan.
Not much else to talk about today. If you’re here in the states, have a safe and happy holiday and I’ll see you here on Friday!
Happy Thanksgiving!
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