Posts Tagged ‘Ocean’s 12’

6 items.

FORGET SOMETHING?

by Tom on December 17th, 2004
8 votes, average: 8.88 out of 10
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FORGET SOMETHING?

All that hard work and not being able to enjoy it with the person that matters most? That's what we call irony, kids. Then again, Cami probably wouldn't have gotten as big of a kick out of meeting Scurvy Joe as Tom and Goth Jared did.

Not much to talk about movie-wise. I feel like I've been beating a dead horse talking about Ocean's 12. It's good. Go see it. That about sums it up for me.

I guess I've been getting some push back on that sentiment, though. Basically, the audience has been split into two camps. Those like me who really loved it and those that have been disappointed by it.

Boy, there's some insight for you, huh?

No, but seriously. The people who have been disappointed all make the same complaint - "There wasn't as much heist action as there was in the first." So just keep that in mind if you haven't seen the movie and are thinking about spending your hard earned cash.

A couple of you have written in asking me what my thoughts are about the MPAA suing peer-to-peer networks who traffic in pirated movies.

As much as I don't like the MPAA, I don't really fault them on this move. Unlike music or software, pirated movies are usually of questionable quality. Basically it's just some guy sitting in a movie theater taping what's on the screen with a video camera, then trying to pawn it off on you for five bucks. I think any true film fanatic would insist on optimum picture and sound. So in this regard, hooray for the MPAA.

My biggest complaint with the MPAA was its shoddy treatment of movie audiences who paid the price of admission. The stern, disappointed Fatherly tone of the RespectCopyrights.org ads that appeared in front of trailers were as insulting as they were insipid.

In the past I've made the comparison that those ads are like lecturing a kid about shoplifting after he just put down money to buy a candy bar. In the case of the MPAA suing the peer-to-peer networks, the kid has stolen the candy bar and is half way around the block. Feel free to paddle his ass when you catch up to him.

Perhaps I'm oversimplifying things a bit. In fact, it's more than likely. But it's my interpretation of the situation.

Hey, before you go, be sure to check out our latest advertiser Skookum. Great fun for the manga lover inside all of us!
Have a great weekend!

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LIKE PICKING THE WRONG DOOR ON LET’S MAKE A DEAL

by Tom on December 15th, 2004
3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10
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LIKE PICKING THE WRONG DOOR ON LET’S MAKE A DEAL

Today is more of a dialogue piece, which I think is fun to toss in every now and then. I preface my blog with these comments since I've been going a little cameo-crazy lately. I don't want to disappoint anyone who was expecting to see The Harlem Globetrotters or Don Knotts show up in the comic this week.

Not much to report movie-wise at the moment except Des Moines is finally getting some really good indie movies in the local theaters that I need to sprint out and see before some big budget number bumps them off the screens.

Top on my list is Sideways, a slightly more adult (re: middle aged) drama written and directed by Alexander Payne. If the name sounds familiar, he did Citizen Ruth, Election and About Schmidt. Payne finally gets out of Omaha for this picture, taking us into the sun-baked hills of California wine country. Extra points for casting Paul "Pig Vomit" Giamatti - my favorite silver screen neurotic.

I'm also hyped to see Primer and The Machinist.

Primer is kind of hard to explain. Filmed for only $7,000, it's the tale of two inventors who accidentally create a time-travel device. Basically the movie is a sci-fi morality tale in the vein of an old Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode, exploring what the technology does to the friends and the knowledge of themselves.

The Machinist is also a creepy indie starring the soon-to-be Batman, Christian Bale. Basically a descent into madness, Bale plays a blue collar industrial worker who is suffering from insomnia and hasn't slept in over a year. The story isn't grabbing my attention as much as the reports that Bale lost 63 pounds for the role and the physical transformation is shocking. What can I say? Curiosity got the cat.

No guarantee that I'll see any of these movies before they leave town. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Spanglish and The Aviator all come out this week. Next week is my birthday and then Christmas. Busy times ahead.

The government needs to make some sort of food-pyramid type of chart to help me balance the big budget studio pictures stuff with the mind-tweaking indie fare.

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ANOTHER WAY IN

by Tom on December 13th, 2004
3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10
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ANOTHER WAY IN

If you guys are wondering what's up with today's strip, then I invite you to take a trip in The Wayback Machine to precisely a week ago to check out where this story arc began. All caught up? Good!

Today's strip reintroduces a long-lost fan favorite character - Scurvy Joe: the local transient in Tom and Jared's neighborhood. He helped scare the pimp juice out of Tom in this comic from earlier in the year.

I don't know why I'm dusting off these old characters. First Goth Jared. Now Scurvy Joe. It must be a bug I've caught from all those year-end, top 10 list programs I've been seeing so much of on TV.

Went to see Ocean's Twelve on Friday and was pleasantly surprised. I think my expectations were low because advance reviews were saying, while fun, the movie carries little heft.

While essentially true, you'll still have a damn good time in this movie. It's just good entertainment, even if it doesn't add up to much.

Fans who loved the heist aspect of Ocean's Eleven will probably be disappointed here. The majority of the crew spends the movie in a European prison. Bernie Mac is almost completely wasted as he's one of the first to get pinched.

In any case, it's less about the heist and the "How'd they DO that?!" and more about the twists and turns. The fake-outs. The red herrings. A few of them you can see coming a mile away. Actually, after the fact, they all seem pretty obvious. But the movie zips along at such a steady clip, you feel like you're two steps behind the crooks.

Julie Roberts still annoys as the most gaunt-looking pregnant woman in film history, but props to Catherine Zeta-Jones. She gives a very confident performance and one of her least condescending in years. It's almost enough to make me forget those T-Mobile advertisements and rekindle the same kind of interest she sparked with her turn in The Mask of Zorro so many years ago.

...almost.

Those of you who ordered t-shirts, baby doll tees or hoodies the last few weeks will be happy to know that I've placed the order with the printer. No E.T.A. on when I'll receive them, but once I know, you'll know. Check this space for updates. Previous experience indicates it could be anywhere between two to three weeks before they're in your hot, little hands. So nothing by Christmas, sorry. Then again, I never promised that, did I? ;-D

If you missed the boat on this last round of orders, I'm taking pre-orders for a whole other batch. Everything we sell, you can find in the store.

One last bit of fun. I know I promised not to bug you guys about it, but Theater Hopper has been hovering around number 11 on the buzzComix list for about a week now and I've playfully laid down the gauntlet to Anime Arcadia that I will usurp their position on the list. We're about 60 votes away from achieving that goal, so if you want to lend a hand, it would be pretty cool. Just to say we could do it.

More later. Sleep now.

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CONTINGENCY

by Tom on December 10th, 2004
4 votes, average: 9.25 out of 10
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CONTINGENCY

I hope everyone is enjoying this week's arc. I plan to keep rolling with it until either I've run out of jokes or no one wants to hear Ocean's 12 references any more.

I dunno. Ever since I did that giant month-long arc where Jimmy lost his job, I've been much less uptight about keeping Theater Hopper a gag strip. I think I've introduced enough characters at this point that the comic can stand up on its own two feet a little more. Sure it only took two and a half years to do it, but gotta walk before you can crawl, right? Sheesh...

Speaking of Ocean's 12, I'm going tonight with Cami and the rest of the family. I'm talking my parents, her parents and her sister. It's kind of this weird tradition or something now. We all went to see Ocean's 11 three years ago about this time. I think it actually came out on or near my birthday... Yup, IMDB confirms it. December 7, 2001. My birthday is on the 21st. Must have been a busy time of year for us to put it off two weeks. Or maybe we saw it twice? Who knows.

Critical response has had the air of tepid bemusement. It's not as if they can really find anything wrong with the movie, but they're all giving off this vibe like "Yeah. Yeah. This was fun, but get back to making movies more like Traffic, Mr. Soderbergh."

But honestly, who else like Soderbergh could put together a cast like this? There must be something about the way the man operates that lends him this favor with actors. All we've been hearing for months is how much fun they all had making this movie. Well, yeah. I'd be having a lot of fun, too if I was trotting all around Europe with 11 other movie stars. D

id you know the sequel was filmed for the same amount of money as the first? Or at least Soderbergh insisted as much. I don't see how that's possible considering the locations and the additions to the cast. It could all be Hollywood hogwash, actually. A nice thought to stir up interest and have people asking "How'd they do that?" before even stepping foot into the theater.

At any rate, we're going tonight.

I wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to place a pre-order for all the cool shirts, baby doll tees and hoodies we have in the store. I'll be taking orders until midnight, so as long as I receive your payment before then, we're cool.

Actually, if there a few of you out there who are interested in purchasing the Professional Movie-Goer t-shirt or hoodie, it would be great if you could place your order now. I'm actually just a few orders shy of making the minimum order amount set by my printer.

Conversely, none of you ladies were interested in the Truman baby-doll, so I'll likely be expanding the design into tees and hoodies to meet the minimum order amount there. Naturally, I'll be extending the deadline on that one.

That's about all the self-promotion I can think about for the moment, so it's time to switch gears and promote someone else!

Misfile is our latest sponsor and it's a great anime-inspired comic about a boy accidentally turned into a girl by a hard-drinking, drug-abusing fallen angel. It's a unique concept and the pencils are awesome. Check it out!

That about does it for me today. I'll come back later if I have any other thoughts about Ocean's 12...

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF NIGHTTIME ACTIVITY

by Tom on December 8th, 2004
4 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF NIGHTTIME ACTIVITY

Don't you hate it when the lines of communication get crossed? Tom and Jared are going to look pretty silly trying to get into the theater for free with Tom looking like a Las Vegas hustler and Jared looking like a Hot Topic reject.

Those of you familiar with the site are probably aware of Jared's long dormant personality - GOTH Jared. He's kind of like the evil Captain Kirk except lethargic instead of evil and without the goatee so you can tell them apart.

So Blade: Trinity opens today and I'm in this weird paradox where on the one hand I know it will be formula and I don't care about it, while on the other, seeing a vampire movie two weeks before the holidays really turns me on. That's great counter programming, kids.

Blade as a franchise is kind of an odd duck for me. The first movie was filmed before the success of Spider-Man and X-Men or the notoriety of Daredevil or The Hulk. It's kind of this Marvel comic book property that exists in its own pocket universe, protected from the detractors of the comic book genre.

Part horror, part action, part blacksploitation - the Blade movies are unique unto themselves. That said, is it shameful to admit that I find the lead character and Wesley Snipes' performance the least intriguing aspect of the movies?

The first Blade was notorious for it's off the wall violence and gore - something not seen in traditional comic book adaptations. That rave scene at the beginning where all the blood comes out of the fire sprinklers really set the tone. Plus, it casts L.A. street urchin Stephen Dorff as the main baddie. Hilarious casting!

Blade II had a pre-Hellboy/post The Devil's Backbone Guillermo del Toro in the director's chair. This film caught a lot of flack for being too dependent on shoddy CGI, but I thought The Reapers were pretty cool as far as creatures-of-the-night is concerned. Those little Predator-like mandibles coming out of the sides of their faces were pretty inventive. And really, how can you go wrong by adding Ron Pearlman to anything. With a shaved head to boot!

With Blade: Trinity, casting is again what has caught my attention. Jessica Biel, shedding the "Daddy's little 'Girl Gone Wild'" image and transforming herself into an ace archer. The erstwhile Van Wilder - Ryan Reynolds - packing on 25 pounds of muscle as a former vampire. WWE wrestling potentate Paul Michael Levesque - AKA "Triple H" putting on the pointy fangs. Indie Queen Parker Posey doing the same. And for the hell of it, they threw in Patton Oswalt.

Kids, Wesely Snipes is going to be the least interesting thing on the screen.

Naturally, Cami wants nothing to do with seeing this movie in the theater. So maybe Jared and I can weasel our way into it after navigating the crazed holiday crowds. We'll see.

By the way, only a few more days to pre-order all of the clothing items in the store. December 10th is the cut off date! Don't forget!

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THE $8.50 HEIST

by Tom on December 6th, 2004
3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10
1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars
THE $8.50 HEIST

Although Ocean's 12 is probably the least creative title to a movie sequel since Analyze That, I'm excited to see it when it comes out on Friday. Heck, even my PARENTS and my IN-LAWS are excited to see it. We saw both sets of parents this weekend and separately they asked me if it was coming out soon.

I think I'm probably a fan of the series because it has a very light retro feel and isn't quite as morose as most caper flicks seem to be these days. No one dies. There are no gunfights. Just smart people speaking sharp dialogue and outwitting each other. It's a fabulous concept.

I'm kind of monkeying with the idea of taking today's strip and stretching it out into a week-long story arc. I don't know if that means three days or five days - if I manage to stretch it out at all. I'll be honest; I don't have any ideas down on paper. But I can clearly see an opportunity to have a little fun with things. If you have any thoughts, leave them in the THorum.

Speaking of the THorum, I finally penned the holiday-themed artwork that one lucky participant will receive in our first-annual gift exchange. I thought you might get a kick out of it, so I decided to post it to today's blog:

Buried by envelopes!

I think the opportunity has passed to submit your name to the gift exchange, but I'll probably take some time soon to color this in and offer it as the wallpaper for the Donation incentive. I've been meaning to update that for a LONG ass time!

Also keep in mind that this week is the last to get a pre-order in for our newest shirts, baby doll and hoodies available in the store. December 10 is the cut off date. After that, you'll have to wait a few weeks before I put them up for sale again. Place your pre-order now!

Last bit of site news I'll mention, you've probably noticed the new round of sponsors on the front page and would like to know more about them!

Hypocritical Hero is a marvelous manga-style black and white comic just getting its start. It's clear that there is a larger story being told here, so now is a good opportunity to get in on the ground floor!

O'Deer Comics is a frequent sponsor and a great comic to boot. Normally the comic is about what Santa's reindeer do the rest of the year. But now that the big day is approaching, how do they prepare? Read O'Deer Comics to find out.

Our last sponsor is also a recent newcomer to the web comic scene. Kendara is a fantasy/adventure comic taking place in 1553!

So as you can see, we've assembled a very eclectic group of new comics for you to check out. So do yourself a favor and spread a little love. Investigate these great, new comics!

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