I don’t know if the punchline for today’s comic justifies the delay, but I was really enamored with the idea of an Away We Go lunch box. So, there you go.
About that delay, sorry everyone. Couldn’t be helped. I was away from home all day Sunday celebrating my sister-in-law’s birthday and didn’t get home until late. By the time I had an opportunity to work on Monday’s comic, Henry decided to have a total fit and basically wouldn’t sleep. By the time I had been upstairs two or three times to help settle him down, it was 2:00 in the morning and I had to call it a night.
I would have had the comic finished earlier this morning, but we keep Henry home from day care on Mondays and I watch over him. He’s taking his nap now. I actually have to wake him up in about 15 minutes, so I’m running this one kind of close.
As you probably heard, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen racked up a little over $200 million in 5 days making it the second-largest opening weekend haul since The Dark Knight. I can’t say I’m surprised. In our little Top 10 of Summer 2009 wager between Joe, Gordon and myself, I picked Transformers: ROTF to be the summer’s biggest film, projecting a $400 million box office haul. Even if the movie loses half of it’s audience this weekend, it’s already more than half way there with probably two more months in theaters to make up the difference.
Incidentally, I did have the opportunity to see Away We Go this weekend and it was the perfect antidote to Transformers: ROTF. I liken the film to Stranger Than Fiction or Last Chance Harvey – the kind of film that wears it’s idiosyncrasies on it’s sleeve and is maybe a little too precious for its own good, but is ultimately an enjoyable film that makes you feel good about your own personal journeys. In that regard, it’s probably the LEAST Sam Mendes-like movie directed by Sam Mendes that you’re ever going to see.
The performances were good, too. John Krasinski is a little more extroverted than normal, but plays the same sweet and nurturing notes he does with Jim on The Office. Maya Rudolph is a revelation, though. A completely formed character played with nuance and sensitivity.
You kind of don’t expect the chemistry between these two actors to work as well as it does and I can’t decide if it’s success of the actors or the script that makes it convincing. I mean, if you sat down and thought about it, John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph probably wouldn’t be at the top of anyone’s list to star in a romantic comedy.
Away We Go isn’t really a romantic comedy. I’m just using that for lack of a better term. But the movie is funny and sweet, so it kind of fits. If you have the opportunity to see the film, I highly recommend it. It’s a nice breather during the summer blockbuster season. The more I think about it, the more it has grown on me. Good stuff.
Quick Reminder: Don’t forget to tune in to The Triple Feature tonight where we will most likely spend time talking about Transformers: ROTF. We record live at 9:00 PM CST over at TalkShoe.com.
I hear Henry sneaking down the staircase. I guess he woke up from his nap on his own. So I gotta wrap things up. Have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon!
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Away We Go is tempting, especially if it’s an un-Mendes Mendes movie. His movies always strike me as being a bit too full of themselves, and that drives me away (well, maybe not Jarhead, at least that one was up-front about how it was about nothing).
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I am not sure about Away We Go, while I do like John Krasinski as an actor and Mendes as a director it hasn’t really called to me. Probably another rental movie for me.
It doesn’t surprise me that Transformer raked in 200 million over the weekend, I personally thought it was a decently done movie. Certainly not the best thing out there but in lieu of the lack of Summer Blockbusters I can see why this would do so well.
I really hope that GI Joe is good (like Iron Man good). but I am walking into it with low expectations
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My wife and I are both looking forward to see Away We Go, but not sure when it’ll be in a theater up here. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing it at our local $3 pub/movie theater place: Bear Tooth. It’s awesome, and romantic type movies don’t usually call us to the big screen. This one really looks like it will stand out from the majority of other movies in it’s genre in a really good way.
Also, still really looking forward to seeing Moon. Just had to mention that because I know it’s already in theaters some places, like Away We Go must be if Tom has already seen it. That makes the waiting all the worse when you get to hear from lucky suckers that live somewhere with advanced screening. *Sigh*
Sense we’re on the topic of Mendes: we watched Road to Perdition for the first time last Sunday. Great movie! We both really enjoyed it.
And for my last little comment… When I saw the trailer for GI Joe, I was really confused. Those are GI Joes?! What the heck has happened in the last 20 years!?! At the end of the trailer, I turned to my friends and said “those aren’t the GI Joes I played with!”. I’m just wondering if anyone was feeling kind of the same way, because I happen to remember GI Joes being… well I dunno, in CAMO and not half robot. What, are they mini-transformers now? If someone has any insight on this techy change to the Joes, let me know. I’m thinking that it’s not going to be so great, so I’ll be skipping, but that’s all really based on my reaction to the trailer.