Theater Hopper
About Links Store Contact Thorum

Archive for November 13th, 2009

2 items.
Nov13

THE LIGHT, THE HEAT

November 13th, 2009 | by Tom
  • Comics
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars
(29 votes, average: 8.34 out of 10)
THE LIGHT, THE HEAT

In the mid-90s, you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a disaster movie of some kind. Subsequently, the movie would explode in a giant, slow-motion fireball.

You have Rolland Emmerich to thank for that. The success of Independence Day in 1996 led to other big budget disaster movies like Twister, Dante’s Peak, and Armageddon. 15 years later (and Wolfgang Petersen’s remake of Poseidon aside) Rolland Emmerich seems to be the only guy left making disaster movies.

And now he’s back with 2012 where literally the ENTIRE PLANET is the cause of the wanton destruction of cities, landmarks and monuments.

I’ll admit being somewhat impressed by the visual of a tidal wave crashing over the top the Himalayas. But cool visuals do not a movie make. And, frankly, I’m a little worn out on disaster movies. In what way does is this destruction supposed to be entertaining? The world is pretty much in the crapper as it is. Will watching California break off from the continent and sink slowly into the sea make me feel any better about things?

Okay, maybe that will make me feel a little better. But you get what I’m saying.

What bothers me most is watching John Cusack waste his considerable talents pinching his butt cheeks together and reacting to nothing. I understand WHY Cusack is in a movie like this (Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffery Wells calls Cusack “the mother of all genius paycheck whores”), but it sucks to watch your heroes debase themselves.

Exhibit A: There was an extended scene from 2012 shown at Comic Con earlier in the year. Someone had the brilliant idea to take the scene and remove all of the special effects from it. The result is a bumper car ride with Cusack and his co-stars that reveal exactly how flashy CGI obscures ham-fisted acting. Enjoy.

Watching things like that, I have to remind myself that for every 2012 or Con Air he shows up in, it affords him the opportunity to do things like High Fidelity and War, Inc. (which, by the way, I just caught on IFC and thought was hilarious)

Cusack will appear in Hot Tub Time Machine next year, so I suppose we have THAT to look forward to…

With that jokey title in mind, I kind of wish Emmerich would go whole-hog with the absurdity of his films. Here’s a recut trailer made to make 2012 look like a 70s-era disaster film. I think I would much rather see this version:

All I can hope for is that people don’t take 2012 seriously – the movie OR the Mayan “prophecy” that’s been tainted by Western apocalypse fears. One, because I think it’s absurd. But two… because the day the world is supposed to end – December 21, 2012 – will be my 34 birthday. And it would be a real bummer to die in the apocalypse on your birthday.

So tell me, who here is interested in seeing 2012 this weekend? What’s the attraction for you? Mindless popcorn fun? How do you feel about disaster films in general? Leave your comments below!

└ Tags: 2012, disaster porn, fire, John Cusack, Roland Emmerich, Say Anything, slumming
[ 24 Comments ]

KICKSTARTER UPDATE

November 13th, 2009 | by Tom
Posted In: Blog

Hey, guys. Just a quick update about the Kickstarter fund raising campaign for Theater Hopper: Year Three. I know you guys know what’s up, so I won’t belabor the point.

I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that, as of this writing, the campaign is now 28% funded with $979 in pledges. We’re so close to $1,000, I can taste it.

I strongly believe that the success of this campaign will be buoyed by the momentum we keep. So if you’re thinking about pledging at all, please do so now. The closer that status bar gets to being 100% filled, the more it will motivate others to help us reach that goal!

If you’ve been following the project updates on the Kickstarter page, you’ll know that I’m considering putting together some original art as part of a giveaway to get people to pledge. The idea is that since I’m starting to replace some of my DVDs with Blu-ray discs that I would make available the DVDs I no longer use and create some original art to go with them. Movies that I’m willing to let go of include A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Wall-E and Iron Man.

I think I’m going to go forward with this. So even though we’re on the precipice of $1,000, let’s make $1,500 the next goal. Everyone that pledges in advance of the $1,500 goal will be entered into a drawing to win a DVD copy of Monsters, Inc. with some original art on a sheet of 10 x 14 Bristol board from yours truly. Once I have the artwork finished, I’ll post some pictures.

SO LET’S GET PLEDGING!

└ Tags: book, campaign, fund raising, Kickstarter, Theater Hopper: Year Three
[ No Comments ]

Related Posts ¬

    Nov 16, 2009KICKSTARTER UPDATE
    Oct 26, 2009KICKSTARTER BRAINSTORMING
    Jan 30, 2009I SCREW UP, YOU SAVE!
    Jan 30, 2009PAGE PEEL

Archives

    Tweets by @tombrazelton
    • The Comic
    • The Author
    • The Cast
    • Supporting
      Theater Hopper
    • Press
    • Ranked Comics
    • Year Three Backers
    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Tag Cloud

    Adam Sandler advertising announcement auction Ben Affleck buzzComix Charlie Christmas costume death dream dress up DVD fire first appearance Guest Strip Halloween help Hollywood Iron Man Iron Man 2 Jimmy Joe and Monkey Joe Dunn Nothing Nice to Say Oscar Oscars Pixar podcast punch review Robert Downey Jr. Shia LaBeouf Spider-Man store theater The Triple Feature Top Web Comics trailer Truman Victor vote voting Wizard World Chicago Zach Miller
    HOME | ABOUT | LINKS | STORE | CONTACT | TOP RATED
    THEATER HOPPER by Tom Brazelton - The internet's longest running movie-themed webcomic. Updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday since 2002. All content © Tom Brazelton, Theater Hopper Inc. 2002 - 2009 unless otherwise noted. Please seek author's permission before reproduction. // Privacy Policy

    Integrated by Frumph |Powered by WordPress with ComicPress |Subscribe: RSS