Posts Tagged ‘Wolverine’
6 items.
Am I aware that everyone and their brother will be making references to X-Men 2 this week? Yes. Do I care? Nope.
I’ve gotta say that I’m more jacked up for this round of mutant mayhem than I was for the first. I always had a mental block against the first picture because Brian Singer was at the helm. “Wrong choice”, I thought. It was confirmed when, in several issues, Singer confessed to have never been a read the comic books. “Oh, snap!”, I thought. “We’re doomed.” The fact that he kept pushing that Martin Luther King Jr. VS Malcom X ideology in regard to the relationship between Professor X and Magneto only exacerbated matters.
I always felt like the first movie was good, but flawed. It delivered in many regards – most notably bringing Hugh Jackman to the role of Wolverine, who slam dunked it. Kudos also for bringing aboard Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan as the aforementioned Professor X and Magneto.
But the remainder of the film felt cobbled together. Like they tried to make more of it, but just couldn’t.
James Marsden as Cyclops was a dud. Ditto for Anna Paquin as Rouge. Ray Park, Tyler Mane and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as villains Toad, Sabertooth and Mystique were gimmicky additions at best. Darth Maul, a pro-wrestler and a supermodel? Please.
Halle Berry, of course, was the worst casting possible for the role of Storm. It should have gone to Angela Basset, if you ask me. She was offered it, but I guess she turned it down. Can anyone name the last movie she was in? Supernova? The Score? Yeah… good work, Angie.
But I have high hopes for the sequel. I know this is probably the most naive statement I can make considering A). It’s a sequel and B). It’s a comic book movie. But for some reason, I have a feeling it’s going to turn out more polished. I know they definitely had more money to spend. My wish is that it will make me turn around and appreciate the first a little more. Kind of how The Two Towers did for The Fellowship of The Ring. I think that will be the case since they don’t have to waste time on exposition and can just jump right into the action.
We’ll see.
Good news. Selling more posters. We’re inching ever closer to the half-way point of what’s left in the series. I don’t think you want to be left without one, do you?
I gotta give props to all the fine lads who have helped me pimp the wares as of late. Many thanks to Zach of No Pants Tuesday, Brian of Briworld, Carrington at Movie Punks, Aric from Fish Strips and Mark with Jayhoo and Jawhoo for spreading the good word.
Speaking of good ole Jay and Jaw, you need to check out this strip and look in the background of the second panel. See how cool these posters are?! Even THEY get cameos now!
I think this is going to be a pretty busy week for yours personally. I’m going to try and bring a forum to the site in the next week or two because I want those who have bought posters to have a place where they can discuss their experiences. Oh, and talk about movies.
I’ll also have an announcement regarding a new affiliation I’m considering. But the details will have to wait until later.
Thanks.
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I can tell you this – and I don’t think Jared will mind (evil snicker) – but when Jared was a wee lad, he used to run around his house in a pair of light blue pajamas (with footies!), hands outstretched, imagining that he was creating ice bridges as the ever-loving Iceman.
Picture how secretly thrilled he must have been to learn the young Bobby Drake is featured prominently in X-Men 2.
It may also interest you to know that X-2 will receive the largest international opening in movie history on March 2nd when it is released in 93 countries simultaneously. That’s more countries at once than Spider-Man or either Harry Potter movie.
Media spin would have you believe that X-2 is such an IMPORTANT movie, so VITAL to the fabric of the world culture, that there was no alternative BUT to release it in so many countries. But the real truth is that Fox is just trying to put a tourniquet on illegal pirating. “E” for effort, guys.
Onto more pressing matters.
It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally decided to shack up with Top Web Comics. For those of you who have been long time readers, you may be aware of my stance toward the organization has been negative for quite some time.
But I’ve also expressed great hope since the boys from True Nuff took over not long ago. I’ve seen lots of changes since Fruitad’s reign – which I believe was the root of a lot of the negativity surrounding the site. As such, I’ve decided to take advantage of the exposure TWC provides.
Since starting the whole thing with the posters (only 60 left, by the way!) I’ve come to realize how much Theater Hopper means to a lot of people. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support. I would never want to lie to you or make it seem as if my word was no good. You may all be strangers, but if you’ve read the site at least once, I consider you a friend. I would hate to do anything to sully that relationship.
That said, I want to take the positive aspects of my work and bring it to a wider audience and, having all but exhausted alternative advertising (link exchanges, crossovers, forum participation) believe firmly that the TWC is what can take Theater Hopper to the “next level”.
I liken it to using the Yellow Pages to advertise a service. You may think that you’ve got the best widget factory in the world, but who is going to find out about you if you don’t advertise? Tossing aside the competitive nature of getting your site voted into the Top 10, I look at TWC like the Yellow Pages of web comics and now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is.
Of course, the realization of my goal will be decided by you, the reader. And if you can lend your support, I would be eternally grateful.
I promise not to bombard you with requests for votes or pull stunts that blackmail you into a response. If I’m going to do this, I want to be honest about it. So the banner beneath the comic is the only places you will see me beg for your approval. And don’t worry, I’m going to do something about that standard banner and whip up something with a little more personality.
If anyone has issue with this decision, please feel free to e-mail me and I will discuss it with you at length. Those of you who have been coming here from the beginning are the lifeblood of this operation and you should be commended for it.
Thank you so much for your support and here’s to the continued success of Theater Hopper!
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First off, let me apologize for being late with the strip. Due a freak electrical storm that fried my ethernet card on Wednesday night, I’ve been without access to the internet.
I thought things would be hunky-dorky since I bought a replacement card last night and installed it, but I still can’t connect. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve done something wrong, or if it is my woefully inconsistent local service provider. My card appears in my Network Connections window of my control panel and it says it’s enabled, but it just can’t make that leap to connecting to the internet. If anyone has any ideas, please contact me.
With that out of the way, how many of you are seeing X-Men 2 tonight? I should see EVERYONE raising their hands. That’s right. Even you in the back. I can see you.
The early reviews look to be pretty positive, so I’m excited for a good result. It’s been reported that Brian Singer was given a budget upwards of $157 million – and it shows.
Usually I’m of the persuasion that throwing more money at a picture makes things worse, not better. But, if anything, the first X-Men was sorely lacking in the amount of effects it could have exhibited. A healthy dose of greenbacks could be the only solution.
Personally, I’m pumped to see Nightcrawler on the big screen and I think the casting of Alan Cumming was brilliant. His addition to the cast, I feel, will be much better received than if they had introduced Gambit or Beast. (Extra points for them sneaking Colossus into the mix!)
I’ve always been an old-school Nightcrawler fan. I don’t like the direction his character has taken in the comics – that of a priest (I prefer his swash-buckling days) – but I always appreciated the dynamic of a man who outwardly looks like a demon, but inwardly is devoutly religious. The irony is palpable.
And, of course, the ability to teleport just kicks ass.
*BAMF!*
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It occurred to me that I forgot to upload the incentive image I normally use to bribe you into voting for me over at Top Web Comics. So it makes sense that I should maybe get on that. I’ve uploaded the image and you can view it when you vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics.
For those of you who felt hoodwinked by Monday’s incentive “surprise,” you’ll be pleased to know that Wednesday’s incentive image is just a straight-up action shot of Wolverine. Scout’s Honor.
I’ve created an image to go with the blog that will help the link to Top Web Comics stand out more. The idea will be to change the image behind the check mark for each new incentive sketch so you get a little preview when it updates.
Top Web Comics has an option to use a text link that displays the comic ranking. You can see I’ve made room for it on the image but I haven’t figured out how to code that in just yet. Here’s the link if anyone is interested: http://topwebcomics.com/rankimages/plaintext.aspx?comicid=6537 I’m trying to figure out if size, color and placement of the rank number can be controlled with CSS. If anyone has any bright ideas, leave your comments below!
Thanks!
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Something I wanted to mention in my review, but couldn’t find a way to fit in was the opening credit sequence and first 20 minutes of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This was the best part of the movie.
In a credit sequence that shows Wolverine and Sabertooth fighting in nearly every war from the last 100 years, we get a sense of their camaraderie as well as Wolverine’s concern and condemnation of Sabretooth’s growing blood lust and violence. Fast forward a few years to when the two are part of William Stryker’s elite mutant black ops team, they’ve done a good job of setting the stage for conflict while succinctly introducing a lot of supporting characters.
It should be mentioned that Ryan Reynolds steals the show in these opening scenes and it’s positively criminal he wasn’t given more to do.
At any rate, before I de-evolve into more criticism, I wanted to make mention of the curious phenomenon going on with 20th Century Fox’s super hero movies. It seems like they’re able to knock it out of the part in the first 20 minutes, but totally lose traction after that. Exhibit B? Watchmen.
Another film with a brilliant opening credit sequence and strong opening scenes. Then, a handful of screwed up details later and you’re left with a big steaming pile of “Oh, well.”
What’s going on over at Fox that creates this? Are the executives so busy they only have time to watch the first 20 minutes of their films and the crew knows they can phone it in after that? Or maybe the just have EXTREMELY unfocused editors who only have enough stamina to maintain the narrative in the first reel? In any case, I thought it was worth mentioning.
Something else worth mentioning is The Triple Feature, the movie podcast I host with Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex.
There’s no doubt we’ll be talking about X-Men Origins: Wolverine tonight. But we’ll also be talking about something else…
Joe issued an interesting challenge last week – To predict the Top 10 Box Office earners between now and the end of August. The victor will be judged not only by how many correct movies he has on his list, but by how many movies he correctly places within the Top 10.
All three of us have put together our lists and will be sharing them on the show tonight. So be sure to tune in at 9PM CST so you can listen live and chat with us in real time.
If you need a reminder, follow my Twitter account. I usually send out a notice 15 minutes before we start recording.
Be there!
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Gotta give a shout out to Joel Watson from Hijinks Ensue who pulled me out of bog with some great suggestions for this comic.
I was painfully stuck on an idea Sunday night and couldn’t make it work. The original set up had Jared pointing out that Thor was an American comic book about a Norse God who was portrayed by an Australian actor in a film directed by an Irishman.
And then it just kind of died on the vine. I couldn’t think of anything more. No ying to the yang, so to speak. The punchlines that I did come up with were so bad, I scarcely remember them now. I think I was trying to tie the movie to the Swedes and their reaction to their Viking heritage being co-opted by Hollywood so poorly. At one point it was going to be something like “My Chinese sneakers are more Swedish than this film.”
Yeah. It was clumsy and bad.
Joel took the original comment and kind of steered it in another direction. He also came up with some of the more clever definitions for “Aussie Washing.” My particular favorite is “The old Vegemite paint job.”
So kudos to Joel for the assist! I appreciate it, buddy! Please be sure to visit Hijinks Ensue immediately after you finish reading this blog! 😉
I didn’t get a chance to see Thor over the weekend because I was pretty busy with a couple of other social engagements on Friday and Saturday evening. By the time Sunday rolled around, it didn’t sound like a particularly bright idea to see Thor on Mother’s Day. I’ll probably see the film sometime tonight.
I’m looking forward to Thor, but was kind of surprised that it only did $66 million over the weekend. I guess general audiences aren’t that familiar with the character. Iron Man managed to pull down $98 million in it’s opening weekend and the only thing people talked about for months before the movie hit theaters was how obscure and unknown Iron Man was.
I guess the other thing that kind of has me wondering is the reaction I measured online this weekend. Everyone seemed to agree that Thor was entertaining – and funnier than they expected it to be – but no one seemed to be over the moon about it. Apparently is was very adequate. People didn’t have much to complain about, but they didn’t have much to celebrate, either.
Did you have a chance to see Thor over the weekend? If so, what did you think? Leave your comments below and let’s all talk about my raging xenophobia against Australians while we’re at it!
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