Archive for December, 2008
13 items.
If you’ve been listening to The Triple Feature for the last two weeks, then you know – in no uncertain terms – how I feel about Marley & Me. Specifically, how the film adaptation of John Grogan’s best seller is being marketed toward children and the timing of it’s release on Christmas Day.
I’ve obscured the spoiler Jared mentions in the first panel. But, if you’re curious, here’s a link to the article he references. OBVIOUS SPOILER TERRITORY AHEAD!
I’ve aligned myself with these taggers because (if you’ve read the book and know how it ends), it seems particularly cruel to market this film to the family audience over the holidays. I see them being particularly blindsided by the revelation.
Imagine if you will a happy family gathering for the holidays. The children tumble down the stairs early in the morning screaming in delight at the bounty Santa left under their tree. The family exchanges gifts while the children tear paper in tornadic glee. Grandpa quiets sips his coffee. The present-opening done, the family lazily starts to gather around the kitchen for holiday snacks before sitting down in front of a glorious meal. Stories are exchanged and everyone is laughing. People are happy.
“Hey, I have an idea!” exclaims one of the family members. “Let’s go see a movie!”
The family piles in the car and drives to the local movie theater.
“What do you want to see, kids?”
“I wanna see the movie with the puppy in it!” “Yeah, the puppy!” “Puppy! Puppy!” “WOOF! WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!”
The family buys tickets to Marley & Me.
Cut to two hours later. Mom and Dad are trying to calm down their hysterical children down as they try to salvage what’s left of an otherwise perfect holiday.
Aaaaaaand SCENE!
Maybe I’m being a bit pessimistic to assume an Owen Wilson is going to ruin a family’s holiday. Well, at least at a higher likelyhood than your AVERAGE Owen Wilson movie. But I used to work at a movie theater. I had a mother come back to the ticket counter and demand a refund for Serial Mom because it was too violent for her 8 year-old.
For starters, it’s callled SERIAL MOM! It’s about A SERIAL KILLER MOM! Second, it’s a John Waters movie. Even if it wasn’t violent, his track record should tell you that there probably isn’t going to be a lot in his film that would be acceptable for an 8 year-old.
People don’t research the movies they see.
Originally my good friend Joe suggested that I go whole hog with my critcism of Marley & Me and spoil it six ways from Sunday. Although I know that’s more likely to follow Jared’s commandment of not spoiling a movie before it’s time, he was seeing the feedback we were getting during The Triple Feature broadcasts and saw that people were on the same page. It would have been a great opportunity to generate a little controvery for the site.
But I guess the holiday spirit got the better of me. I didn’t want to Scrooge people the same way I expect the movie to.
Sure, I could claim I was falling on my sword to protect people. But, ultimately, my actions make me no better than the movie itself. And, who knows? I could be totally wrong about the film. It might end up resolving itself differently than the book or with different emphasis on specific events. Then I would look pretty stupid.
Even though I have no interest in the film, Joe’s laid down an interesting challenge. He challenged me to see the film and judge it on its own merits, not on the book that preceded it. At this point, I almost feel obligated to do so. Truthfully, for as much chest-thumping I’ve been doing over this film, I need to either put up or shut up. So, stay tuned.
Real quick, I wanted to give you guys the heads up that there will be no new strips next week. There are two reasons for this. The big one is that I won’t be in town! Cami, my sister-in-law and myself will be going to California at the end of the year for a well-deserved break. We’re leaving Henry with my in-laws and skipping town for a few days. I’m really looking forward to it. This will be our first honest-to-goodness vacation since May of 2006. We’re due.
The second reason is because I plan on releasing a redesign of the website on Monday, January 5 and I need to make sure that everything is lined up appropriately to make sure the transition occurs as smoothly as possible. I’m not only introducing a new look and feel to the site, but I have also switched over to WordPress, so the back-end operates COMPLETELY differently.
I think you guys are really going to like the changes. I’ve been working on this design on and off since October of last year. Polishing it as I went along. I’ve had a lot of people help me along the way and I think it’s been refined to the point where I’m ready for it to set sail!
So be on the lookout for that in the New Year!
I the meantime, be sure to listen to The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 PM CST. We’ll see you there!
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Maybe it’s just fatigue setting in, but I’m getting kind of cranky about the holiday releases. I affectionately refer to this season as “The Holiday of Death” due to the number of films where characters buy the farm being released this month. That’s grim, but I know a trend when I see one.
Fifteen films is not a number I drew out of a hat by the way. I had an inkling of what was going on, but this article from Jeffery Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere confirmed it. Careful, he spoils a few films over there, but he names each of the fifteen films if you’re curious. Read with caution.
I don’t want to suggest that movies need to be happy all of the time and certainly a lot of Oscar bait gets released this time of year. Quickest way to pull on emotional heart strings? Kill a lead character – Instant Oscar!
But I don’t know… 15 films feels disproportionate.
That’s kind of a down note to lead you into a message wishing you and yours a safe and happy holiday this week. But despite my curmudgeonly ways, I still wish the best for you. Take care of yourselves.
One more comic for the year on Friday before I’m off next week for vacation. When things ramp up to full speed on Monday, January 5, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The new site design is going to blow your socks off. I’ll also have an important pre-sale to announce then as well. I can’t wait. It’ll be like Christmas in… January?
Okay, bad analogy.
See you Friday!
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And with an awkward pause, we inch quietly away from 2008. That’s the note I leave you on.
Today will be the last comic of the year. I’m going on vacation with Cami and my sister-in-law starting Sunday and there will be no guest strips to pad things out while I’m gone. Don’t forget about me! You’ll want to be sure and check out the site again in 2009 because I’ll be introducing a new site design as well as announce the pre-order for Theater Hopper: Year Three! Big news all around!
As for today’s comic, it’s somewhat based in truth. Cami *did* in fact get me a Blu-ray DVD player, but for my birthday, not Christmas. And it’s true that we put it through it’s paces by watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It’s probably not the first movie you’d think of when it comes to testing out the picture quality of a Blu-ray DVD player, but I have to admit — I did notice a distinct difference in picture quality!
It’s funny, because I was talking about receiving the Blu-ray player for my birthday during Monday’s night’s Triple Feature podcast and I was riffing on how you have to find a movie that’s worthy of the technology because it’s cost-prohibitive to buy every single DVD you want in that format. Specifically, I think I said “I’m not going to get Step Brothers on Blu-ray so I can see Will Ferrell’s jacked up teeth in 1080i resolution.”
Oh, but Jason Segel’s wang is perfectly acceptable!
I should point out that I tried to get something cool, but Cami nixed The Dark Knight because seeing in the theater bummed her out and she didn’t want to watch it again. Also, pathetically, I couldn’t find any copies of Iron Man at my local Best Buy. LAME! I did grab Wall-E, though. We haven’t watched it yet because we actually watched it a few weeks ago in the inferior “regular” DVD format.
I think I have a clever idea about replacing some of my old DVDs with Blu-ray editions, though. I had the idea to sell them on eBay with an original sketch of the title character. So you guys out there can bid on one of my old movies and get something a little extra to boot. It might be fun! We’ll have to see how it works. Stay tuned for that in the future.
Anyway, Forgetting Sarah Marshall was great. A lot funnier than I remembered it! There’s a lot going on in that movie. Lots of different plots and character points to keep up with. That’s a good thing! Gives a comedy dimension rather than it being a catch phrase machine.
I’m kind of kicking myself that I didn’t pick it up on DVD earlier, but now I’m kind of glad I didn’t so we could enjoy it on Blu-ray. The extras are crazy. There are literally dozens of them. Good stuff.
That does it for me today. I hope everyone who celebrates the Christmas holiday had a happy and safe experience.
Remember, no new comics next week and that includes taking a break from The Triple Feature as well. So if you’re a fan of the show, we’re not recording on Monday.
I’ll be sure to post a reminder of the hiatus to the front page on Monday as well as ways you can be notified when the new site design goes live on Monday, January 5th. You guys are going to love it. I’ve shown it to a bunch of my web comic buddies and they’ve been very supportive. If these guys can’t find anything wrong with the layout, than that means you guys are going to LOVE IT!
Have a safe and happy New Year and I’ll see you again in 2009!
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