Posts Tagged ‘The Paper’
3 items.
Just when you think you’re through the thicket, there is always another snag.
I have to admit that when I first saw the posters for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, I thought it was a re-release of the 1998 original Elizabeth that introduced Cate Blanchette to American audiences with her Oscar nominated performance. I thought it must have been a director’s cut or extended edition. It never occured to me that it could be a sequel. A sequel to Star Wars you expect. A sequel to Jurassic Park you expect. I don’t think there are that many people looking for sequels to historical dramas. It would be like doing a sequel to Joan of Arc. “Ooo! What happens next?”
Of course, when you look at the cast for this film, it becomes clear how they got it off the ground. In addition to Blanchette, it boasts Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Geoffrey Rush and Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh. Impressive, to say the least.
So maybe Tom’s reaction in the comic is a bit extreme. It’s not like he’s being asked to sit through Rush Hour 3.
You guys have been listening to me squawk about a special mailing-list only DVD giveaway in this space for a couple of days now. I wanted to finally let you know what the fuss was about.
Evan Almighty was released on DVD yesterday and I have one copy on DVD to giveaway to subscribers to the mailing list. A message with a special clue has already been sent to subscribers. Those interested in being eligible need only reply with their name and mailing address. All entries will be thrown into a hat and a winner will be selected at random. The contest ends this Friday.
From the press release: “Funnyman Steve Carell (The Office) is at his hilarious best as Evan Baxter. When his simple wish to change the world turns into a baffling request from God (Academy Award® winner Morgan Freeman) to build an ark, Evan’s seemingly perfect life is turned upside down. With the help of his family and a comical cast of animals, Evan’s unbelievable adventure becomes a life-changing experience filled with laugh-out-loud moments. Co-starring Lauren Graham (The Gilmore Girls), John Goodman (Cars), Wanda Sykes (Monster-in-Law), Jonah Hill (Knocked Up) and Molly Shannon (Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby).”
Bonus features on the disc include:
And, for giggles, here are a couple of exclusive clips from the movie for your enjoyment:
As I said, the message to subscribers of the mailing list has already been sent. So if you weren’t on the list before reading today’s comic, you missed out.
But don’t worry! There will be more mailing list exclusive giveaways in the future. To be eligible, all you have to do is sign up! In exchange, one little e-mail from me at the end of the week recapping all the goings on here at Theater Hopper. A small price to pay for free stuff!
That’s all I have for today. Have a great Wednesday everyone!
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I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing with the punchline of today’s comic or why I decided to throw in a very timely reference to Cool Hand Luke. I think I’m trying to maintain a level of wackiness and randomness that is simply not sustainable. If you want to read a funnier comic about Hancock, check out Joe Loves Crappy Movies. Their comic has references to Kate & Leopold, Themla & Louise AND Mallrats! View it here.
Oh, well. At least The Paper looks kind of good rendered like that.
Hancock was the big box office winner over the 4th of July holiday with a $66 million take. I kind of rolled my eyes when I heard the news. For the reason why, read my anti-Will Smith rant from Friday.
This is completely petty, but I was kind of hoping it would fail. Or, in the very least, not outpace Wall-E by two to one. Wall-E took in $33 million, down almost 50% from it’s opening weekend.
Cami and I finally had an opportunity to see Wall-E on Friday and I am over the moon about it. Without a doubt one of the smartest Pixar movies to date. I don’t even feel like I can review it properly because I’m still kind of processing it.
The film is a visual feast and looks almost photo-realistic in parts. If you go back and compare Wall-E against Toy Story, it makes Pixar’s first attempt look absolutely plastic by comparison. And, yes – I know the movie is about toys made of plastic, but you know what I mean. It looks lifeless. Even roaming around on a dead planet, Wall-E’s environments look more thorough, alive and immersive than anything Pixar has done to date.
I question whether the movies themes about environmental responsibility, personal accountability, the over-reliance of technology and the threats of mass consumerism run amok goes over the head of children. I don’t meant to marginalize Wall-E with the stigma of being “a chlidren’s film” The success of Pixar’s formula has always been scripts that pitch their concepts a little higher than your average animated fare. But with Wall-E, have the overshot the target completely?
Kids are smarter than we give them credit for and understand much more than we recognize, but I still think an adult will find Wall-E more cinematically nutritious than a child would find entertaining. There are LARGE gaps in the story where there is *no* dialogue being exchanged and 20 minutes of nothing happening can feel like an eternity to a kid.
All I know is, Wall-E is a movie that I’m going to have to see twice because I was getting to lost in the universe director Andrew Stanton created, I fear there were details that I missed. Any movie that creates a world as epic as Wall-E and entices you to come back to revisit it deserves a second look. Never mind the fact that Pixar basically got me to become emotionally invested in robots. Inanimate objects! AGAIN! How do they do it?
We neglected to share too many specifics when Gordon and I talked about Wall-E last week on The Triple Feature. We wanted to hold back a little bit until both Joe and I had seen it because we mutually felt that we’d be on the same page with our reactions. With a week and a holiday under out belt and recovered from Wizard World Chicago, I think we’re ready for the deep dive this week.
Be sure to listen to The Triple Feature tonight at 9:00 PM CST at TalkShoe.com as we talk more about Wall-E, Wanted and, of course, Hancock.
See you there!
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This week has been a weird amalgam for me. I haven’t quite shed the trappings of a story line, but have succeeded in omitting most of the dialogue. It’s been a fun little exercise in writing visual gags.
Truthfully, after Monday’s comic, I just went where my imagination led me and I like how things turned out. I like this comic a lot for the pacing, the action and the overuse of blue – which hardly seems to appear in Theater Hopper, now that I think about it.
I probably could have been making more jokes about Watchmen, but I was more entertained by the idea of people having a fight using spray paint instead.
Speaking of Watchmen – and I know I said I was all Watchmen’d out – have you guys seen this? It’s a letter from Watchmen screenwriter David Hayter begging people to see Watchmen in the theater a second time this weekend.
Long story short, it’s basically a call-to-arms of the geek nation. Hayter implores us to see Watchmen a second time not only because “everyone is watching to see how the film will do in its second week” but because if you don’t, you aren’t supporting “movies that have a brain, or balls.” Begs Hayter, “if it drops off the radar after the first weekend, they will never allow a film like this to be made again.”
Gee, I had no idea that the fate of the comic book movie as a genre hinged entirely on Watchmen. Ugh.
Hayter discloses that he doesn’t see any extra money from Watchmen doing extra business. So, taking the cynical view, one has to assume that he’s trying to save face or keep his name from being too closely associated with Watchmen’s potential failure.
Hayter says that he makes his plea on behalf of “people who love smart, dark entertainment, on a grand, operatic scale.” But let’s be blunt. Watchmen is nearly dead on it’s feet. It underperformed in it’s opening weekend against NO competition. Box office analysts were expecting it to take in $70 million last week and instead it limped across the finish line with $56 million. Divisive reviews and bad word of mouth caught up to it by Saturday night and now, faced with a potential 50% drop off (as most second week movies encounter), Watchmen is in danger of being unable to match it’s $150 million production budget in domestic box office. When you factor in the additional marketing and merchandising tied into this movie, a lot of people stand to lose a lot of money.
I’m not saying Watchmen won’t make it’s money back eventually. But compared to the juggernauts of ’08 – Iron Man ($98 million opening weekend) and The Dark Knight ($158 million opening weekend) – it’ll look like the red-headed stepchild of super hero movies if it doesn’t pick up the pace.
Watchmen has been labeled “the greatest comic book of all time.” If it can’t make money, what does that say about the quality of the film or – in Hayter’s assertion – comic book fans, in general.
When you think about it, it’s kind of insulting to put the success or failure on the backs of comic book fans. Hayter claims that if Watchmen isn’t successful in it’s second week, you’ll never see such an uncompromising, harsh and gritty vision of super hero antics on screen again. But my assertion is that his plea just put a big, fat target on the back of comic book movies but assigning more importance to the adaptation of Watchmen than it deserves. Now there is a greater likelihood that people will be looking more closely than they would have for a movie that did $56 million on it’s opening weekend. Instead of studios saying “Well, it underperformed, it must not be very good.” Now they’ll look at Hayter’s plea, see Watchmen tank after the second week and say “Well, it was the comic book nerds’ fault. They didn’t come out to support this movie.
Incidentally, did Hayter miss the memo about The Dark Knight’s $1 BILLION dollar world wide gross?
Granted, people are a little more familiar with Batman than they are with Rorschach, but Nolan’s version of The Caped Crusader wasn’t exactly piffle. It dealt with some pretty lofty issues, too. The duality of man, the nature of good and evil… high test stuff. It wasn’t (for lack of a better comparison) Batman & Robin or Superman III. And it was also JUST AS LONG as Watchmen, so do cry to me about there being less opportunity to show the film and claiming that impacts box office.
If people want to see the movie, they’ll see it. But begging comic book fans to see it a second time out of some misplaced sense of duty? That’s just desperate and insulting. Bad form, Mr. Hayter.
Truth be told, I might see Watchmen a second time. But only if I can catch it in IMAX. Maybe if they can get the directors cut into theaters – the 5 hour version promises a more in-depth analysis of the characters- I’d see it. Otherwise, I’ll wait for it on DVD when it’s loaded down with extras and packaged with the animated Tales of The Black Freighter (because you know that’s coming.)
But I’m not going to see the Watchmen a second time as-is. Because, frankly, I didn’t think the theatrical cut was all that good.
I’m a card-carrying nerd. Will be for life. But don’t exploit me for your short term gain. I’ll stand up for a movie that I think deserves it. I’ll stand up for quality. But standing up for Watchmen at this point would not be a defense of “uncompromising vision.” It would be a permission slip for directors with more style than substance to run roughshod over future properties and ultimately short change the genre. Sorry, I don’t want to see a version of Y: The Last Man with slow-motion explosions and awkwardly staged sex scenes. I’ll stand up for quality.
That’s my two cents. I’m sure some of you will disagree. That’s what the comments section is for. Leave your thoughts below. Does anyone plan to see Watchmen a second time this weekend? Did Hayter’s plea have anything to do with your decision? Let us know.
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