Archive for September, 2011
8 items.
Recently I was informed that the producers of the “Not Another…” parody movie franchise (Not Another Teen Movie, Date Movie, Superhero Movie, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans) are coming out with a new movie later this year…
Yes, that’s right. Coming soon to a theater near you, Not Another Not Another Movie.
What could it possibly be about? “A struggling movie studio that’s willing to do anything to make a mint – even if it means ruining their reputation, and running the movie industry into the ground.” So says the plot synopsis.
At this point they’re practically DARING you to let them spit on your brains.
What’s amazing to me is that they were even able to round up any “name” performers for this one. I mean, Burt Reynolds, Chevy Chase and Vinnie Jones are exactly discerning actors. But they have a little bit of credibility. Why troll for laughs with this dead-end premise?
Incidentally, I will have it noted that I predicted EXACTLY this over three years ago with the following comic. I think I should be awarded some Internet Pointz for that…
[ 11 Comments ]
Remember the Summer of 2011? The sequels, the superhero movies and the throngs of “adult” movie goers who complained that there wasn’t anything that met the needs of their discerning taste?
Somehow, Crazy, Stupid Love filled that void and became the antidote for kiddie movies and blockbusters. I’m not sure how. The movie was very much about surface impressions and, in the end, very much a farce. But the whiners were appeased and went back to their domiciles to eat cheese and drink a nice merlot.
Meanwhile, here comes The Debt – a taut, emotional espionage thriller about former Massad agents who worked together in 1960’s East Berlin to track down a Nazi war criminal. Things go wrong and they’re still dealing with the fallout several decades later.
Meanwhile, no one is talking about it.
I don’t know if the pedigree of the film is turning people off or if it just looks too complex since it’s about espionage and takes place in two different time periods. But it’s been getting great reviews and is probably worth checking out. Frankly, you had me at “Helen Mirren.”
Is anyone else planning on checking out The Debt this weekend?
[ 7 Comments ]
Why is Jared not wearing a shirt in this comic? You’ve never partied with Jared, have you? The shirt is always the first thing to go.
I don’t have a lot to say about today’s comic except that beer hats are inherently funny. I don’t know if they were invented in America or not. But there is a unique American-gluttony reflected in the design, don’t you think?
“I’m a busy alcoholic who needs his hands FREE to play pool and grope women who pass by. I can’t be wasting all of my time holding on to a beer with my HANDS. There has GOT to be a better way!”
“What’s this? I can put my beer in my hat and drink it through a flimsy straw?? A MIRACLE!”
“…”
“(can you put two beers on the hat?)”\
Wherever the hat came from, I think it should come with a coupon for one free alcoholism intervention.
Speaking of America, I always wonder how a comic like this plays for my readers who are not American. Do they know what Labor Day is? Do they understand how it’s significance as a holiday that recognizes labor unions has been twisted into an end-of-summer Bacchanalia? Do they care?
I mean, I have a peripheral understanding of Boxing Day. But if a Canadian cartoonist wrote a joke about it for their comic, I would probably nod politely and say to myself “That’s nice.”
These things are touch and go, that’s all I’m saying.
I’ll be frank and admit that it fascinates me that anyone beyond these borders would find any interest in Theater Hopper. But if you are one of the many living in far-away lands, reading today’s comic and saying to yourself “That’s nice,” then I want to thank you for your patience and support.
Thank you.
Cheers to the rest of you celebrating your day off. I hope you enjoyed the comic. Oh, and next time, be more discreet about how you bring alcohol into a theater, won’t you?
[ 19 Comments ]
Typically, I like to keep Theater Hopper as relevant as possible by tackling what’s current on the movie landscape. So it feels a little bit like I’m putting on loose pants by doing a comic about The Help – a movie that came out over a month ago.
The relevance of The Help has been maintained largely by it’s strong box office. It’s fended off contenders for the top spot for 25 days in a row – the longest streak a movie has stayed at number one since The Sixth Sense held on for 35 days over a decade ago. So, in case you were wondering… yeah, Emma Stone is a for-real movie star now.
“By why now, Tom? Why do a comic about The Help?”
Thanks for asking, imaginary person. The reason is simple. It’s because I went to see The Help this weekend!
The Help is a movie that Cami has wanted to see since before it came out. But, having two kids, we couldn’t find the time to go see it. At one point, Cami exclaimed that she would see it by herself if she had to! Even though I was willing to see The Help with Cami, I encouraged her to see it by herself if she had to because I wasn’t entirely revved up to see it.
Here’s was my opinion about The Help before I saw it – and I have to tread lightly here, because any time I try to make a comment about anything racial, it always seems to get misinterpreted as racist – and that is never my intent.
To me, The Help looked like one of those movies specifically designed to make white people feel good – Emma Stone in the role of a “white savior” helping to liberate black women serving as maids to white families in early 60s Jackson, Mississippi.
It’s basically the flip side of the “magical black man” that Hollywood likes to use from time to time. The black supporting character with particular wisdom or insight that helps the white protagonist. Think about Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile. Or Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance.
I’ll stop there because I don’t want to dig a hole I can’t get out of. But basically what I’m saying is that when I watched the trailers for The Help, I immediately recognized a racially-tinged trope that I wasn’t sure I wanted to support with box office dollars.
Having seen the movie, I can say that I found it to be perfectly acceptable entertainment. I can’t speak to the authenticity of the film or the Civil Rights climate it reflects. I assume some liberties were taken., but nothing stuck out to me.
The film is a little long with side stories about some of the white housewives that I felt distracted from what should have been the main focus of the movie, racial segregation. Jessica Chastain portraying a bubbly blonde none of the other well-to-do housewives want to associate with seemed particularly out of place. Her story line played more like an episode of The Real Housewives of Jackson portraying women with money and their catty backbiting. I’m not sure it did much other than extend the running time of the movie quite needlessly.
That’s not to say Chastain’s performance in the film was bad. She was actually quite good. In fact, I was impressed by the entire cast – and I think that’s where The Help truly shines.
The subject matter may have been glossed over from a historical standpoint, but each of the actors in the film communicate the weight and severity of their reality.
Watching the film, I kept reminding myself that the era this film portrays really wasn’t that long ago – barely 50 years. That’s not very long in terms of undoing the culture of ignorance and the damage it inflicted upon these black women.
In the end, I’m not sure that a movie like The Help was ever intended for someone like me. But I felt like what it may have lacked in substance, it made up for with sincerity. If it gets people talking about race, maybe that’s a good thing.
Have you seen The Help? If so, what was your take? Leave your comments below!
[ 14 Comments ]
As someone who fell madly, deeply in love with movie Once and it’s Oscar-winning soundtrack, I was enthralled to learn that the follow-up documentary The Swell Season would be hitting theaters soon.
If you’re a fan of the movie Once and the music of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, you owe it to yourself to watch this now.
As most people know, Hansard and Irglova carried over the fictional romance captured in Once into the real world. This new documentary captures the two year period after the release of the film and the success and strain it brought upon the couple – a very interesting coda to a unique love story.
For a romantic like myself, the promise of this movie hits me squarely between the eyes. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to see it soon.
What about you? Any thoughts about this new film, about Once or about Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova? Leave your comments below!
[ 3 Comments ]
In all truth, Cami would probably be the LAST person to become irate at the news that the re-release of The Lion King topped the box office after 17 years. But it was funnier to suggest that Tom had a gigantic Jonathan Taylor Thomas collection.
I guess I’m not totally surprised that a re-release of The Lion King would perform as well as it did. This is September, after all. We’re all coming down from the post-summer blockbuster season. Although, I would have thought that if any movie had a chance this weekend, it would have been Drive. Maybe it’s my Ryan Gosling man-crush talking, but that movie looks cooler than cool. I would have loved to seen it this weekend if I weren’t completely wiped out from some kind of late-summer cold/flu thing that left me incapacitated. It’s a good thing I didn’t see Contagion last week or I would have felt a little paranoid!
Not much else for me to talk about this week. But, hey, since I haven’t pimped the Theater Hopper store in a while, how about this: take a look at this shirt I designed a while back called “The Movie Was Better.” I found out last week that the nerd-mavins over at ThinkGeek have a shirt of their own called “The Book Was Better.”
Now, maybe I’m biased, but I think my shirt is better. If you’re reading this, I’m willing to bet you feel the same way. So let’s make a pact. Buy my shirt and prove ’em wrong. Let’s face it: the design is better and it costs less money. It’s a win-win!
Plus, c’mon… ThinkGeek is producing light-up Iron Man shirts. They’re not hurting for money. Help the little guy for once, won’t you?
That’s all I got, folks. Have a great week!
[ 13 Comments ]
The Lion King is still tops at the box office, which I feel handcuffs me a little bit from a joke perspective. I don’t know why. I could have made a Moneyball joke, I guess. But I know nothing about sports. So why pretend?
I was trying to kick around comic ideas on Twitter last night for The Lion King and several people recommended a play on it’s central theme – The Circle Of Life. I kind of intentially avoided it last week because I was certain other people have made those kind of jokes and done it better. But then I hit on something that I thought was authentic and kind of bittersweet at the same time.
I think we all know that Disney will release and re-release their films into infinity. They’ve done it in the past and they’ll continue to do it. But what does that mean to me, the consumer, over the long haul.
A lot of people my age were THRILLED that The Lion King was back in theaters because it meant they could take their kids. Stands to reason these same people will probably take their grandkids when it rolls around again. After that, we’ll be worm food. So… y’know. Get in as many screenings as you can before Disney puts their film BACK IN THE VAULT!TM
Heartfelt and cynical at the same time. See what I mean? Bittersweet.
Take a moment to reflect on your mortality and then leave some comments below, why don’t you?
Or, even better, share this comic with your friends! See the ShareThis app at the bottom of this post? You can share this comic ALL OVER THE PLACE now. I think it’s gonna ring true with a lot of people and you can be the one to introduce it to them. Facebook it, Twitter it and more!
I would appreciate it.
Thanks, all.
[ 17 Comments ]
