AUDIENCES LOVE SLANDEROUS ACCUSATIONS
on May 15, 2009 at 12:00 am
(30 votes, average: 7.43 out of 10)
I had a hard time with today's comic basically because it relies so heavily on the caricatures of Ron Howard and Tom Hanks to help sell the joke. I've convinced myself that caricature is not my strong suit. All you need to do is look through my archives to see how long it took me to get comfortable drawing my own characters, let alone internationally recognizable celebrities.
I've bought a few books about caricature and it has helped me to understand some of the fundamentals. Basically, you take the most obvious feature on someone's face and exaggerate it while minimizing their less noticeable features. Ultimately, what I end up doing is looking at what OTHER caricature artists have done and use that for a source image.
I don't think I'm beyond help when it comes to learning how to caricature, but I do think some people have an innate talent for it. Thursday's strip parodying Lost over at PvP was excellent. It not only clearly communicates which characters are being parodied, but Scott retains his signature style throughout. I'd be lying if I said it didn't inspire me a little bit to try my hand at caricature again for today's strip.
Joe over at Joe Loves Crappy Movies does a great job with caricature as well. Check out his Jason Statham or his comic for Slumdog Millionaire. Joe makes it look so easy.
I tried to stretch a little further by doing another caricature of Tom Hanks for today's incentive sketch. I think it turned out pretty well. To see it, vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics. I would be curious to know what you think!
Turning the Lens of Introspection away from myself for a minute, let's talk about Angels & Demons coming out today. Considering how big The DaVinci Code was when that came out, it's weird that no one I know is talking about this movie.
Do you remember the sequel to The Silence of The Lambs? Hannibal? I think we've got another one of those on our hands here. Angels & Demons looks like the kind of movie that was green-lit based on the financial success of the first movie without anyone stopping to consider if it was a product anyone wanted to see.
The comic addresses the controversy surrounding The DaVinci Code which, at the time, was palpable. But very few are even raising an eyebrow over Angels & Demons. In fact, the Vatican's official position on the film seems to be "So?"
Director Ron Howard insists that there is still a controversy and believes the Vatican is holding a grudge. That very well might be true, but it seems they learned their lesson from the first time around and aren't lending the new film any credibility by addressing it directly.
I'm not a church-goer, nor am I a fan of the Catholic church and their policies. But, in this case, I say "Good for them." Frankly, the Catholic church shouldn't be commenting on works of fiction. (I could make a real easy joke about The Bible right here, but won't)
My point is that the Catholic church is a global organization with incredible influence whose leaders support the faith and give comfort to millions of people around the globe. If you can find me one person who read The DaVinci Code or saw the movie adaptation and said, "You know what? Catholicism? Not for me. I'm out," then maybe you'd have an argument.
But as it is, there is enough REAL LIFE problems in the Catholic church that is causing followers to question their faith that I think the institution should be addressing if they want to continue tending to their flock. Addressing Ron Howard or the novel's author Dan Brown doesn't help anything at all.
Henry is staying with his grandparents tonight, so Cami and I are going to see Angels & Demons. I'm practicing a little bit of willful ignorance and ignoring some of the negative review headlines I've been scoping out in my travels around the web. I'm not worried about it. If it's dumb, it's dumb. Between Howard, Hanks and Ewan McGreggor, there's enough talent in the pool to hold my interest. And besides, it'll be nice to go to a movie with Cami for once. I see a lot of crap movies she doesn't have an interest in seeing anyway, so it's a treat the two of us can go out together. I'm really looking forward to it.
What about you? What do you think? Not about my date night with Cami, but about Angels & Demons? Are you planning on seeing it this weekend? Do you think it looks good? Do you think there is any controversy or is it all part of the film's marketing plan? Can movies about religion avoid controversy, or is it built in? Leave your comments below and let's get a discussion started!
Angels & Demons is tracking terribly and you have to figure out a way to put butts in seats!
Back when you directed The DaVinci Code, the Catholic church condemned it and the controversy helped sell a lot of tickets.
This tim, they're ignoring us.
Schedule some reshoots with Hanks and see if you can't come up with something to get their attention.
Okay Tom - for this scene, play it fast and loose, don't be afraid to ad lib and feel free to say something edgy!
Like what?
If you could say something like "The Pope is a glue huffer and a likes to eat babies," that would help me out a lot.
LOLed at today’s comic. Everyone in my office now thinks I’m crazy.
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I can’t do much better than awkward stares from co-workers!
Thanks, Graham!
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Nice caricature of Ron Howard. I see a lot of his brother Clint in it (the older Ron gets the more the two are starting to look alike.)
I know my life loved the DaVinci Code, and has read the Dan Brown books, but she’s even “meh” on A&D. I don’t think people are all that invested in the character Hanks is playing, and were frankly more interested in the plot of the DaVinci Code. So this time out it’s just not as much of must see kind of thing.
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I never saw DaVinci Code so I’m not more inclined to see this one. ANd its been getting “eh” reviews that doesn’t help.
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I didn’t see the first one or read the books, but I might have to rent this one sometime just because CERN is in it.
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I work in a movie theatre and just judging by the people coming in I can tell they’re less excited for this one. For example the second you walk in we have three banners hanging down all for A&D then about 12 feet away we have the standee with the statue that follows you yet people still point at the terminator poster that’s in the corner. I’ll see it but I see everything.
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I loved the caricature of Ron Howard. It really looks like him. Tom Hanks is a hard one to nail precisely because he is an “every-man”. He is cast because of his nondescript looks but good acting ability. None of his features are overly pronounced. That being said, your caricature of him for today’s incentive sketch was excellent.
I’m a little put off by “Angels & Demons” myself because I was not overly impressed with the “DaVinci Code”. It wasn’t that great of a story, and wandered more than I like in a movie. I’m one of the few that would have liked an even more controversial plot. The whole selling point of that movie was that it was going to shake up the church and modern Christianity with its message.
***Spoiler Alert***
Big J had a wife and kid… Big whoopty-do. In the long line of Hollywood twists, this one was right up there with “The Village”… it’s not 1870, it’s today.
***End Spoilers***
A sequel to a let down movie like “DaVinci Code” doesn’t inspire me much.
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The movie is basically average. If it didn’t have Hanks and Mcgregor it would be completely uninteresting. I’m a sucker for puzzle-solving, but I was rather annoyed with the “Look at Where the statue is pointing!” bit happening five times over.
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The caricatures improve every time you do them. Those two are actually pretty good,as is the incentive sketch. As for the movie: I couldn’t care less, and went to see STAR TREK again instead. So did most of the 12:40 audience, at least around here.
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I like the ideas behind both of these movies more than I like the actual stories. Angels and Demons is definitely a better movie than The Da Vinci Code, but only because they don’t waste so much time giving us in-depth history lessons about everything.
These movies really feel like more average versions of the National Treasure movies, which themselves seemed like Disney trying to capitalize on the Da Vinci Code craze before Ron Howard could make his movie. It’s all very circular, except that given the choice I’d rather watch National Treasure.
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Orpheus, your statements basically echo the conversation Cami and I had after watching the movie tonight – particularly what you said about National Treasure. Cami basically said the exact same thing. Even though the National Treasure movies are more cornball, she’d rather watch those than The DaVanci Code.
She chalked it up partially to her inability to relate to Catholicism. Neither of us are fairly religious and setting the movie in Rome removes another cultural touchstone. We’re basically blaming ourselves for not being fully in-step with the movie. I mean, we’re not morons. But if religion is a part of your life, the movie probably means more to you.
Even though I felt Angels & Demons was stretched out, I thought it moved at a brisk pace. I kind of felt like they were locked down by the murder sequence. I wanted them to get to the inevitable conclusion of finding the bomb. I think it helped to have events take place over the course of 4 hours.
I don’t mind the history lessons as they bounce from location to location, but got annoyed when they felt like they had to point out little things over and over. The statues that point in a certain direction, as Jonas pointed out. Or the reminder that they were turning off power grids. I know they mentioned that at least twice.
Some groaner dialogue from time to time, but ultimately a fun little ride.
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Thanks for the laugh, sometimes I wonder why we like the movies we do.
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