Posts Tagged ‘yelling’
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I’m not going to lie to you – this is one of those times where I just had the hardest time putting the comic together. Everything from the set up, to the punchline to sitting down and drawing the characters. I actually had to sit down and draw this one twice because I wasn’t liking how it turned out. I think I must have written the punchline five times. Truthfully, the only panel I’m happy with is the third one. I just like the idea of time looking over the back of his chair earnestly and then WHAMMO!
Cami and I went to see Catch and Release on Friday night and this confrontation actually happened. We were sitting near the back of the theater and there were a group of teenage girls – probably no less than 10 – taking up most of the back row. They chatted INCESSANTLY. I had to say something. So, I flipped around in my chair and very loudly said “Are you guys going to talk through the whole movie or are you going to shut the hell up.” I wish I could have been a little more witty in the moment, but it’s hard to be clever when you’re blood is boiling. I got the end result I wanted. Cami said the girls looked pretty shocked. It was kind of funny, actually. She actually had to touch my arm in an attempt to try and “reel me in.” I got the “Okay, honey. That’s enough.” tap on the shoulder.
Look, a little cross-talk is fine. I can handle that. But I’m not exaggerating when I say they were having full-on conversations for more than 20 minutes. I’m talking like leaning over two or three chairs to talk to someone down the row. Take it outside! My attitude is, if you buy a ticket to see a movie in a theater, you have entered into a social contract that dictates you NOT act like an idiot! I have to wonder what must have been going through the heads of the couple sitting next to these girls. They didn’t appear to be with them. Why didn’t they say something? You have FULL clearance! If someone is being loud in a crowded theater, shame them into behaving! I would expect no less in return!
I know I’m kind of mining the same territory as a previous comic (even using the same character designs for the chatty girls). But I feel like every time this occurs to me in real-life, I need to address it in the comic. I know the people I admonished in the theater will never read this, but I want it to serve as a reminder. Or maybe a warning to someone else. If I’m in your theater, WATCH OUT!
I gotta wrap this up because I’ve stayed up way too late. But before I forget, I want to remind everyone to check out our weekly installment of The Triple Feature talkcast with Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex and myself at 9:00 pm CST. This week we’ll be talking about the recently announced Oscar nominations. Tune in and participate! We’d love to get your feedback! Quick shout-out to Joe, by the way, for referencing Theater Hopper and my Sean Bean Death Theory in his January 22 comic. Thanks, Joe!
Talk to you soon!
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Apr09
For those either old enough to remember or for those with access to Nick At Nite, The Cone of Silence is actually a reference to the 1965 television show Get Smart.
(and that’s an old version of The Cone – the more commonly recognized version was kind of two domes that hovered over a desk, but this was the only picture I could find)
I suppose, to that end, it would have made more sense to use Tom’s literal interpretation of The Cone in reference to June’s big screen remake of Get Smart starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway – not Iron Man.
Yeah, I’ll have to take a mulligan on that one. I guess I just got it in my head that it would be funny for Tom to yell into a megaphone labeled “SILENCE” and call it The Cone of Silence. I didn’t completely think it through.
Still, the genesis for today’s strip came from an authentic place. I am in lockdown over Iron Man.
Joe and I have talked about this a lot. He’s actually the one that stated he was entering lockdown first. After the release of the second trailer, he didn’t want more information poluting his enjoyment of the film when it comes out May 2. I understood where he was coming from, but didn’t share the same opinion until a recent clip of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark showed up online featuring him testing out the Iron Man suit with a unique inside-the-helmet perspective.
I didn’t watch the clip! I resisted! I only know what it’s about from the stills I saw and the description I read. Yeah… that’s not much of a lockdown. BUT I DIDN’T WATCH THE CLIP! That has to count for something, right?
Watching trailers are one thing, but I worry a little bit when it comes to watching these clips out of context. At this point, my expectations for Iron Man are sky-high. I don’t want anything casting a shadow of a doubt before I go and see the movie in theaters.
This is not how I typically operate. Normally I devour every piece of information about a movie that I can get my hands on. Unfortunately, what usually happens is that I go to see the movie and am let down because I know about 20% of the plot. There are no surprises. I sabotage myself like this all the time. Consider it hazards of the job.
But the stakes are too high for Iron Man. So no more Iron Man content before the movie comes out! (please note that doesn’t mean there won’t be more Iron Man comics!)
Thanks for swinging by the site today, folks! See you again on Friday!
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I was kind of surprised to read this story about a recently unearthed Marilyn Monroe sex tape sold for $1.5 million. Not so much because Marilyn Monroe had a sex tape. Marilyn Monroe was ALL ABOUT sex. It was her image. She entered into film history with the persona she created.
More shocked because… I don’t know. I guess because celebrities did a better job keeping that stuff under wraps back in the day. Or maybe the media was just more respectful.
I’m also shocked that someone would cough up $1.5 million for 15 minutes of 16mm footage. I thought I was crazy for collecting Iron Man stuff. This guy takes the cake!
Thank goodness she’s not alive anymore. It would be like finding out your grandmother made a sex tape. Blech.
Then again, if she were still alive, the footage probably wouldn’t have found its way into the hands of a wealthy memorabilia collector.
The whole story is quite fascinating to me. The footage was filmed in the 50’s, but wasn’t discovered until the 60’s when an informant turned it over to FBI top brass J. Edgar Hoover. Turns out Hoover was trying to prove that the gentleman on the other end of Ms. Monroe’s… *ahem*… affections was either John F. Kennedy or Robert F. Kennedy. Meanwhile, the informant kept a copy for himself (who wouldn’t?) and this was the copy sold this week.
This completely tweaks the conspiracy theory quadrant of my brain. Think of what a great story you could tell about this footage? I mean, not only for the salacious parts, but for the historical context. I bet you could even do it for laughs. Did you guys ever see Dick with Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams? A very under-appreciated comedy set during the Nixon Watergate scandal. They had a pretty humorous take on Deep Throat and the missing 18 and a half minutes in the Watergate tapes. Netflix it if you haven’t seen it.
What’s really kind of making me think is how the guy who bought the footage came into possession of it. I mean, beyond the monetary transaction. Like, are their weird underground circles for wealthy businessmen who trade in antiquity and obscure pop culture artifacts? Do they have access to some kind of creepy eBay that I haven’t been made aware of? What’s this guy’s story?
The mind boggles.
Not much else for you today. Have a good one! I’ll see you here on Friday!
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Sorry, guys. Today’s blog post will be somewhat delayed as my brain is total mush.
I’m at home right now on a “staycation” that requires me to lug furniture up several flights of stairs, rearrange rooms and clear out storage areas. Cami and I are basically JUST NOW getting around to our Spring Cleaning and it’s killing me.
It’s probably what lead me to reference a near 60 year-old Jimmy Stuart movie in today’s comic. Don’t as me why. I know for most of you, this joke is going to go right over your heads. But it’s my hope that people who know a little bit of film history will get a kick out of it.
What I would really like to do is talk in depth about The Dark Knight. Cami and I got to see it on Monday and I was blown away.
The performances were all great, as to be expected. But I was really caught off guard by the excellent questions the film presented in regard to humanity’s true nature and what one must do to battle evil – both inside and external to oneself.
Spider-Man 3 made a big deal about "the enemy within" but Sam Raimi only wishes he could conjure up a fraction of the moral quandry Christopher Nolan boxes Batman into during the course of The Dark Knight.
Anyway, like I said, my brain is mush right now, so I don’t feel like I can go much more into it. But if you’re looking for a little insight in the meantime, download Monday night’s episode of The Triple Feature podcast. The crew gets into a pretty good discussion about The Dark Knight that I think you’ll enjoy. Check it out.
Oh, and for those that wrote in Monday with suggestions about whether to see The Dark Knight in IMAX or a regular theater, thanks for you input. The vote was pretty evenly split. Cami and I decided to see it in a regular theater mostly because of the bad experience we had seeing Superman Returns in IMAX.
Plus, our regular movie theater is five minutes from our house. So convenience won out!
Take care. I’ll talk to you soon!
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First things first. The Kickstarter fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three. You know the drill. I really, really, REALLY need your support! We have less than a month to raise $2,000, so please pledge today!
As an extra incentive, I am giving away my DVD copy of Monsters, Inc. along with some custom artwork to one lucky person once we cross the $1,500 milestone and right now we’re $50 away from that goal! That means if you pledge $50 right now, you have a 1 in 40 chance of winning! Those are good odds!
If you would like to see what the finished artwork looks like, check out this update I posted on the Kickstarter campaign site. I also threw a camera over my shoulder and shot a time-lapse video of me creating the artwork. So, if nothing else, you can spend a couple of minutes watching that. I threw in some very relevant, very peppy music with the video to help keep you entertained!
Again, I can’t stress this enough, I REALLY need your support on this book. Even if it’s a dollar. If everyone who visits the site each day pledged one dollar, we’d have this campaign in the bag. Please pledge today!
Now, back to your regularly scheduled blog!
Yesterday, Paramount Pictures released the teaser poster and four publicity stills for Iron Man 2. If you haven’t seen them yet, let me get out of your way so you can take a look.
Niiiiiiiiice.
I’m loving this teaser poster. It’s such an improvement over the teaser poster for the original Iron Man. Which, if you remember, kept much of the armor in shadow to whet our appetites for what we would see on screen.
Well, now we have a pretty good idea what the armor looks like from the first movie, so why not put it front and center in glorious color on the second one?
Oh, what’s this? You’ve brought a friend? He’s a little bit shy, isn’t he? We’re only going to get to see the side of his face? That’s okay! I know who you are, War Machine, you rascal!
I can’t tell you how excited I am to see War Machine on the poster for this movie. It let’s you know right off the bat how prominently the character will be utilized in the second film. That’s good news for die-hard Iron Man fans like myself. I just hope the focus stays in that realm. Because, frankly, I’m a little worried that they might be packing too much into the sequel.
Between Scartlet Johansen as Black Widow, Mickey Rourke as Whiplash and Sam Rockwell as Tony Stark’s business rival Justin Hammer, I hope there is enough time left over for a big throw down between Iron Man and War Machine. This, of course, before the eventual team-up that takes down the big bad guy.
As a director, I think Jon Favreau has a pretty keen sense of what fans want to see. I’m optimistic. But Sam Ramii knocked it out of the park with Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 before the major let down that was Spider-Man 3. So anything is possible.
Paramount releasing these images now lends strong support to the rumor that the teaser trailer for Iron Man 2 will appear in front of Sherlock Holmes when the movie is released December 25. Things will be crazy for me around that time since the baby will be born on the 10th. But I’m hoping maybe Cami and I can leave the kids with grandma and grandpa for a couple of hours so we can sneak out to see it.
If we manage to do so, my next concern will not be succumbing to a lack of sleep in a darkened theater!
Speaking of the baby, as I said, she’ll be here in a little over a week. Obviously, we’re over the moon about it. Originally, the idea was that I would take all of December off to give us time to prepare and then (of course) attend to the baby once she’s born.
I have a bunch of guest strips ready to go, but I think I’m going to put off posting them for just a little while longer. We’re pretty much ready to go on the home front and it makes more sense to build in a little extra time off after she arrives. So look for those guest strips in the next couple of weeks!
In the meantime, let’s talk about Iron Man 2! Are you guys as excited for this film as I am? Since the movie doesn’t come out until May 7, how long do you think you’ll be able to tolerate the marketing push before going insane? Does anyone have the number for a psychologist that can help with unhealthy obsessions?
DISCUSS!
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Trailers are popping up all over the internet this week, signaling the oncoming rush of summer blockbusters. Once Thor hits theaters next week, all bets are off.
Case in point, the new trailer for Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Or, as I like to call it, HP7.2 (so geeky!)
I have a history of “Meh” when it comes to the Harry Potter films. It’s always been kind of peripheral to my interests. I never read the books, I never got swept up in the hype. I’ve seen the majority of the movies, but DEFINATELY lost interest after the sprawling mess that was Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.
I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in the theater, but I don’t remember it. I waited until Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince came out on DVD, but I don’t remember it. I didn’t bother seeing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 at all.
I’m not curmudgeonly about it. I want to care. I just… don’t. For some reason, these films fail to connect with me. Maybe because they feel so repetitive? Or maybe they’re too British? And yet, that hasn’t stopped me from enjoying nearly a half century of James Bond films? What gives?
At any rate, here’s the new trailer. It’s… confusing.
Have you figured out what has me confused? Why did the people who cut this trailer together feel the need to include the same audio clip of Ralph Fiennes yelling “NYYYAHHHHHHH!” five different times? FIVE! What’s up with that? This is your last movie, people. Let’s go out with some class, can we?
Fiennes’s performance as Lord Voldermort has been the only interesting thing about the last 4 movies. The way this trailer is cut makes me kind of hate it now.
What’s your thought to the the new HP7.2 trailer? Are you prepared for the franchise to end? Leave your comments below.
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Cami and went to see Bridesmaids this weekend and at one point before the movie started, Cami actually leaned over to me and said “Thank you for seeing this movie with me.” I thought it was kind of odd at the time because 1.) I was already excited to see this movie and 2.) When do we ever get to leave the house to do ANYTHING together anymore?
Then again, she might have also been thanking me for letting her drag me around to a couple of department stores to look at blouses and shoes between our dinner and showtime.
* insert sound of whips here *
That said, I really enjoyed Bridesmaids and think it’s wholly deserving of the praise and strong reviews it’s received. If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to check it out.
Produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Paul Feig, Universal Studios has marketed Bridesmaids as the female response to films like The 40 Year-Old Virgin or The Hangover. If you’ve seen the TV spots, they all seem to be preoccupied with a scene where the girls contract food poisoning. It leads you to believe that you’re in for an outrageous, scatological good time.
As bombastic an hilarious as that scene is, I’ll go on the record right now and let you know that Bridesmaids is NOT that kind of film. It’s not interested in strictly using shock tactics to generate laughs. It has a lot more on its mind than that.
There’s a lot of needless controversy in comedy circles (mostly driven by sexism) about whether or not women are funny. For the record, I think women are hilarious. That said, Bridesmaids clearly has a different temperament than most big studio comedies. The audience is the benefactor from this shift in tone because the humor frequently derived from character motivation rather than misunderstandings or unfortunate circumstances.
That’s not to say that Bridesmaids don’t lean on these tried and true comedic devices. But the humor is amplified by our familiarity with the characters, their needs and limitations.
As Annie, Kristen Wiig has created a great comedic punching bag – a tragic character who lost her cake shop in the recession and has been falling further and further behind ever since. But catharsis doesn’t come easily for Annie because she is truly the architect of her own misery. She can’t be free of it until she confronts her role in it.
Of course, it’s Melissa McCarthy as the bawdy Megan that wakes her up to her reality. In an excellent exchange near the end of the film, Megan gleefully slaps Annie around. Encouraging her to “Fight! Fight for your crappy life!” McCarthy is a comedic powerhouse in this movie and practically steals it out from under the rest of the ensemble.
I guess if I could register any complaint against the film is that it doesn’t fully take advantage of the talent it has at its disposal. Wiig, McCarthy and Maya Rudolph all get sufficient screen time. But Wendi McLendon-Covey from Reno 911 and Ellie Kemper from The Office are almost completely squandered. In fact, I think Rebel Wilson and Matt Lucas as Wiig’s inconsiderate roommates get more time on screen. So the film is not quite the ensemble piece it bills itself to be.
But overall the film is smart, honest and touching. On the surface, Annie’s problems and her reaction to them felt more akin to a directionless 20-something rather than how a former small-business owner approaching 40 would handle them. But, in context, it indicates how hard Annie has been thrown for a loop. Annie is an anomaly among female comedic archetypes, but a welcome one. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bridesmaids became a game-changer for chick flicks, which I would celebrate.
Look, a little bit of Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson is fine. But their movies fail to take risks and avoid any suggestion that the lives of their heroines (who, for some reason, always seem to be marketing executives) is anything less than perfect. Bridesmaids takes those risks and should be rewarded for it.
Did you see Bridesmaids this weekend? If so, what were your thoughts? Leave your comments below!
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