Posts Tagged ‘3D’

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CROCODILE CROCK

by Tom on February 14, 2011 at 12:00 am
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(11 votes, average: 8.82 out of 10)
Gnomeo and Juliet, Elton John, garden gnomes, 3D, cocaine, concern, William Shakespeare

Two things I realized as I was finishing today's comic:

  1. My version of Elton John looks a lot like a fat David Letterman.
  2. I realized too late that I should have done a comic about Valentine's Day.

I can fix that second issue, though. I have a Valentine's Day themed comic in mind for tomorrow. Nothing fancy. I should be able to knock it out pretty quick. So maybe you want to swing by the site tomorrow and check it out? Mark your calendars.

I don't remember when I first saw the trailer for Gnomeo & Juliet, but I remember my reaction to it when I did. The premise - which looked horribly derivative - combined with the entry-level animation and cheap fart jokes convinced me this was some kind of direct-to-DVD movie. I was shocked to learn it was getting a theatrical release. Credit Elton John's name being attached to the production, I guess. I can see no other reason why this was green-lit.

Apparently the rights to the screenplay were originally picked up by Disney before production was shut down by John Lasseter after becoming the head of Disney animation. Thank goodness. This movie looks as bad as Home on the Range - and the Disney gatekeepers should have done a better job of seeing through the premise.

Truthfully, this movie looks so placid, I can't imagine who the audience is for. Maybe it's just for kids. That's okay. Not every animated movie has to be pitched at adults, too. But to me it looks like an animated movie made for your Great Aunt who owns too many cats and who thought Kung Fu Panda was "too ethnic."

I means, garden gnomes! SERIOUSLY?!

I don't know if there's much more vitriol that I can conjure up for Gnomeo and Juliet. But I thought it would be fun to position the movie as the most bizarre vanity project of all time and poke fun at it.

Tomorrow, I'll bring the love with a brand new comic. You bring the chocolates.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!

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TANGLED ON 3D BLU-RAY, BLUR-RAY AND DVD MARCH 29

by Tom on January 28, 2011 at 8:40 am
Posted In: Bonus Materials
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(2 votes, average: 5.50 out of 10)
Tangled, Disney, Blu-ray, 3D, DVD, announcement

Since I'm in a Disney mood lately, I thought I would pass along a press release I received about Disney's 50th animated feature Tangled, announcing plans to release the film on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on March 29.

Grossing over 400 million dollars in global theatrical sales to date, TANGLED, The Walt Disney Studios blockbuster animated feature that takes a modern twist on the famous hair-raising fable Rapunzel, debuts as the ultimate 4-Disc Disney Blu-ray Combo Pack (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy in a single package) on March 29, 2011. As the 50th full-length animated feature in The Walt Disney Studios’ celebrated library and the first animated feature film to ever debut day-and-date on Disney Blu-ray 3D, TANGLED’s uniquely packaged home entertainment release ensures that viewers of all ages can enjoy this film on a variety of superior, hi-def media platforms while diving further into the history and quirky details behind the making of this film via amusing and informative bonus features.

BONUS FEATURES

Blu-ray

Untangled: The Making of a Fairy Tale – Exactly how long is Rapunzel’s hair? How many lanterns were used? Where did Pascal’s name come from? Which Disney animated feature first utilized CG animation? These and more will be answered when Mandy Moore and Zach Levi take viewers on a kooky behind-the-scenes tour to learn how the filmmakers styled this film’s ―Golden Tresses.‖

Deleted Scenes – Co-directors Byron Howard and Nathan Greno introduce three scenes and illuminate why they were ultimately cut.

  • The Jaunty Moose
  • Chemistry Develops
  • Vigor The Visionary

Extended Songs – The complete versions of two great songs are shared in a unique feature that explains the co-directors decision to scale them down.

  • When Will My Life Begin
  • Mother Knows Best

Two Original Storybook Openings – Two alternate versions of the film’s opening sequence described by co-directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard.

50th Animated Feature Countdown – A video montage celebrating Tangled as the 50th film to join The Walt Disney Studios’ prestigious lineup of classic animated features.

9 Tangled Teasers – A collection of the most unique and quirky commercials made for the theatrical release of ―Tangled.‖ Some are spoofs based off of infomercials and/or breaking news, some are teasers and others are simply just funny filmstrips.

DVD & Movie Download

Two Original Storybook Openings - Versions 1 & 2

50th Animated Feature Countdown

AAAAAND, for your enjoyment, a YouTube clip announcing the release.

Tangled was a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and, despite its success, didn't get the recognition it deserved in theaters. Everyone I talked to who saw it loved it. But I think Disney mucked up the marketing a little by making it appear to be a boy-centric action-adventure flick.

Tangled is actually much smarter than that. Lots of humor, a female lead worth looking up to and a painterly style unseen from the House of Mouse since The Lion King or Sleeping Beauty.

If you missed Tangled in theaters, do yourself a favor and pick it up on Blu-ray. It's a very worthy addition to your collection. If you're thinking about pre-ordering it, here are a few links on Amazon:

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HE’S ACTUALLY 40

by Tom on October 12, 2010 at 12:00 am
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(12 votes, average: 7.42 out of 10)
Jackass 3D, Johnny Knoxville, chode, 3D

Johnny Knoxville isn't 50 years-old, as IMDB corroborates. But he might as well be considering that he's been getting tazed in the balls for the last 10 years. I mean, seriously, at what point does it get old?

The first Jackass came out in 2002. Jackass Number Two came out in 2006 and now in 2010 we get Jackass 3D. It's kind of interesting how all three movies are evenly spaced out by four years a piece. I suppose that's how long it takes to get a clean bill of health from your physical therapist.

I can't help but feel that Jackass 3D was rushed to production in order to take advantage of the 3D trend in theaters right now. For some reason I can easily picture some executive at MTV cynically pitching the idea. "Hey! Everyone loves 3D and this would be the third Jackass movie - we can work it right into the title!"

Part of me wants to see Jackass 3D largely because I remember what an amazing experience it was to watch the original Jackass in a packed theater on a Friday night back in 2002. People grossed out and howling, gasping in shock - it was great.

I think I must have blocked out Jackass Number Two, though. Because when I asked Cami if she had any interest in watching Jackass 3D this weekend, her opposition to the idea was much stronger than presented in the comic.

"I liked the first Jackass," she said. "But I remember sitting in the theater for the second movie thinking this was the dumbest waste of time I ever saw. I nearly threw up a couple of times."

In fairness, she was pregnant with Henry at the time. But, still.

I guess I'm kind of afraid of how Jackass 3D will leverage 3D technology. Innately, you know it's going to be horrible. And as much as I had a good time with the first movie, I know I don't need to see a boil on Chris Pontius's backside in 3D. I really don't.

Sorry again for the late comic. I've just been having a rough couple of weeks. First we moved, then I got sick, then we started unpacking and I got sick again. Our house is a mess and Cami and I are breaking down. We work all day, come home and take care of the kids and then you only have a couple of hours to put things away before you have to go to bed and do it all over again.

In our old house, I would hang out in my office all the time. Now the ONLY time I'm in my office is when I'm working on the comic. It's kind of a drag. I'm hoping we can fall into a routine soon. Until then, I continue to appreciate your patience and understanding.

In the meantime, how is everyone feeling about Jackass 3D? Are you making plans to see it this weekend or are you kind of nervously anticipating it like I am? Leave your comments below!

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NO COMIC FOR WEDNESDAY

by Tom on November 11, 2009 at 7:24 am
Posted In: Blog
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Hey, guys. Small status update for you.

I don't know if you tried to access the site yesterday. But if you did, you might have noticed it was down. I have no idea what caused it and we may never know. Sometimes Dreamhost likes to stop displaying your web sites to see if you're paying any attention.

At any rate, you'll notice today that I am running a Blu-ray review of Up instead of a new comic. Two reasons for that:

One, the Up review was supposed to run yesterday and (as I previously mentioned) the site was down all day. So I'm making up for lost time.

Two, I forgot my pens at the place where I'm freelancing. I left them there yesterday after attempting to be proactive and completing the comic over my lunch hour. That didn't happen and then I forget my pens. So I wouldn't have been able to draw a new comic if I wanted to.

Not resting on my laurels, however, I made SEVERAL significant updates to my Kickstarter fund raising campaign page for Theater Hopper: Year Three.

Read the updates page where I address questions about the book's eventual availability, the amount of flexibility regarding the custom illustration reward (available at the $20 pledge level) and you get a close look at this:

3D glasses

This is the image that's going on the t-shirt available at the $65 pledge level. Eventually I will sell the design in the Theater Hopper store. But people who pledge to the Kickstarter fund raising campaign at the $65 level or above will get first crack at it.

I know committing to something like that is difficult if you don't have a sense of what the shirt will look like. So I wanted to put the image out there to whet your appetites a little bit.

By the way, you can leave comments on any one of these update posts. If you something you'd like to say about the direction of the campaign or the information you're receiving from me, I would appreciate your feedback!

Lastly, the most important reason to check out the Kickstarter fund raising campaign is because I finally uploaded my project video last night!

I took the time I would have otherwise spent working on the comic and used it to film and edit the video. I'm very happy with the final product and I think it's worth watching even if you think you already know all of the project details. Hopefully you'll find it at least a little bit entertaining.

Again, I ask that you pledge whatever you can to the project. It's very important to me that the book be published this year and your involvement can make that a reality!

Thanks to everyone who has show their support so far. I greatly appreciate your help!

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IT JUST GOT REAL

by Tom on October 7, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(37 votes, average: 8.38 out of 10)
Toy Story 2, 3D, gimmick, tears, crying, joy

Hey, guys. I'm back!

In case you missed the blog post on Monday, there was no comic due to my experiencing another hard drive crash. The same thing happened to me a year ago and I lost a TON of important information. There was less of an impact this time around because I've been backing up all of my art files, music, movies, photos and what not to a pair of Western Digital external passport drives. So once I went out and bought a new intern drive, I was up and running again fairly quickly.

One thing I've learned, though, is that I still don't have enough redundancy on these files. I never used to have hard drive problems like this. In the past, I had machines that slowed down to the point of not functioning from years of disk rewrites and things picked up along the way surfing the internet. But I've never had machines outright fail like I have these last couple of years. So now I'm looking at online storage houses like Mozy and CrashPlan to help insure my data further.

I guess in the past I didn't have as much important data as I do now and I'm finally to the point where I'm not going to take chances with it any more. A monthly investment in off-site data backup has finally penetrated my miserly bubble that kept me from springing for the service in the first place.

Anyway, I'm back and at full strength, so let's talk about the new comic!

I was very excited to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D over the weekend. But monitoring Twitter (as I do) and reading all the posts from people wetting their pants about Zombieland, I started to experience a little buyers remorse. There's nothing worse than feeling like you missed out on a cool, new movie. Especially after the extended dry spell we've been having at the multiplex lately.

Here's something messed up that happened: You know how the advertisements for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are all "Two movies for the price of one?" Yeah, not for us.

Looking at the start times for our local theater, we saw that they had a 7:00 and 8:55 showing. Assuming that they were playing the movies in two theaters, we figured that we'd go to the 8:55 showing (to reduce the chances of encountering a bunch of screaming kids at the theater). When we went to buy tickets, I said "Two for Toy Story, please" and the teenager behind the counter mumbled something about Toy Story 2.

Maybe it was my fault for not listening more closely, but I thought she was trying to tell me that I wasn't buying a ticket for just Toy Story, but Toy Story 2 as well.

"Yeah, yeah. The whole package," I said.

We went to the ticket taker who instructed us to wait as they cleaned the theater. "Great! A fresh theater!" I thought.

Imagine my surprise when they finally let us in and half the seats were already filled. Wait, what? How did these people get in?

We grabbed some seats and tried to make sense of the situation. I talked to some people sitting behind us. "Were you guys in here for Toy Story 1?" I asked. "Yeah," they said. "This is the intermission part. We're waiting for Toy Story 2 to start."

Son of a bee! They sold us a full-price ticket for one movie!

I wanted to stir up trouble, but Cami told me not to. It worked out anyway because as great as Toy Story is, we were really more interested in seeing Toy Story 2. When it was all said and done, I don't know if we would have lasted through two movies anyway.

I was a little peeved that I missed the intermission stuff. I heard there was some trivia and original Pixar content buffered between the two movies. But I did get to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 - which they won't release online until after Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have finished their two week theatrical run - and the movie looks great.

If you haven't heard the plot synopsis yet, basically they've followed the toys in real-time after the 1995 original. It's 15 years later and the toy's owner Andy has grown up. Since he's outgrown his toys, he's donated them to a children's daycare center. The toys are sad to see Andy go, but are excited to be played with again. That is, until they wake up in the daycare and it is total mayhem! The rest of the trailer is the toys running around screaming about how they have to get back to Andy. It doesn't give away a lot, so it should be interesting to see not only how they toys escape, but if they'll be accepted back into Andy's life.

The thought of a real-time sequel to the movie is very interesting to me. I hope they find a way to work in Sid, the sadistic toy-destroying neighbor from the first movie. Hey! Maybe he's driving the Pizza Planet truck now!

As for Toy Story 2, the movie looks great in 3D, even if it doesn't have a lot of effects that capitalize on the 3D technology. There aren't really very many scenes that reach out and grab you. At the same time, there isn't that gimmick exploitation of people pointing stuff down the lens of the camera or cheesy effects of things whizzing by you.

I will say this: I noticed A LOT more detail in the movie than I have in previous viewings. The opening sequence with Buzz Lightyear on the alien planet was a particular standout to me. I mean, I was noticing pebbles and stuff rolling around on the planet's surface that I had never really noticed before. It looked great.

I could go on, but this blog entry is long enough. If you want to listen to a couple of thought provoking ideas about the Toy Story 2 universe, I encourage you to watch my uStream of this comic from last night. I was up very late working on it and came up with a few crackpot theories as to what it means to be a sentient toy.

Specifically, I discussed the main conflict in the movie for the toys - being abandoned. What happens when no one plays with them any more? They go into storage or into a landfill. Jessie (played by Joan Cusack) is very adamant in the second movie about NOT going back into storage. Her character is written as a little off-kilter, suggesting that all the time she's spent in storage so far has made her a little nutty.

What does this mean? Does this mean that the toys are self-aware while they are locked away in darkness, immobile and trapped? Does this do something detrimental to them psychologically or do the toys "reboot" themselves between their animate and inanimate states?

Also, considering that Jessie, Woody, Stinky Pete and Bullseye are toys that a roughly 50 years old, does this mean they are immortal in some way? How long will they continue to live and what are they really?

Perhaps they are reincarnated souls? Imperfect people from a previous life reborn into the bodies of children's toys to bring happiness to the world? But if that's the case, how can you explain Buzz Lightyear - whose every single iteration of the character seems to share the same clueless template by assuming they are a real space ranger?

I think the concept of the Toy Story movies is charming and plays directly to the heart of the child in all of us. Who among us didn't think of their toys as alive when we were young? Who among us didn't wonder if they sprang to life while we weren't around?

I'm not saying that the magic of the Toy Story universe needs to be thoroughly explained. All I'm saying is that if you follow the logic of sentient toys, it leads to some pretty disturbing questions.

Okay, okay. One more for your breadbasket. In Toy Story 2, Woody is completely oblivious to the fact that he is a toy based on a pop culture phenomenon that was popular 50 years ago. How does he live his life without the information and yet Jessie, Stinky Pete and Bullseye all see seem to be aware of their relevancy?

It could argued that they only know of their importance because they are surrounded by the artifacts of this phenomenon in the collector's apartment. But if Buzz Lightyear emerges from his packaging thinking he's the actual Buzz Lightyear, how did Woody emerge from his packaging and who did he think he was?

I'll stop there because I've infected the internet enough with my particular brand of crazy this morning. But if anything I've said interests you, feel free to comment on it in our comment area below. I would be interested to hear your responses and maybe some theories of your own!

Thanks again for your patience as I got my hard drive situation figured out. See you back here again on Friday!
It's all food for thought.

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WITHIN REACH

by Tom on August 28, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(27 votes, average: 8.07 out of 10)
The Final Destination, gimmick, 3D, desperation, money-grab

Many apologies for the comic being so late today. But I managed to upload it at 11:00 PM CST, so it's still technically a Friday update!

I was torn between doing a comic about The Final Destination and Taking Woodstock. Joe had a really good one-liner about The Final Destination during The Triple Feature on Monday. He was talking about the trailer where one of the cast members catches a NASCAR tire in the face courtesy of the franchise's Rube Goldberg-like machinations. "Death by NASCAR," he quipped. I was afraid I would steal his joke.

In the end, however, I couldn't muster up the nerve to write a comic about Taking Woodstock. Ultimately, it would have wound up being a wall of text inside the comic about how much I hate hippies. Maybe I'll find a way to pare down my thoughts for Monday's comic. But until then, I'm letting sleeping dogs lie.

Speaking of sleep, it's time for me to grab some shut-eye. This was kind of a difficult week - which played into today's comic being late. I won't bother you with details. It's not worth your time and it's kind of personal. Things are fine. I just need to get over myself a little bit.

Thanks again for your patience and support. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will see you here on Monday.

Take care.

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BEFORE I FORGET…

by Tom on January 30, 2004 at 12:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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I just about spaced it off, but be sure to stop by our latest advertiser Syntax Error Comics. It's a really cool and unique web comic done totally in 3-D. What's better is that it takes that gimmick and amplifies it to great effect with excellent writing!

Check it out and tell 'em Theater Hopper sentcha!

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