Posts Tagged ‘Sandra Bullock’

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OSCAR ROUNDUP

by Tom on March 8th, 2010
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OSCAR ROUNDUP

Hey, guys. Sorry that the comic is late. But after live-blogging the Oscars last night, I sat down to work on today's comic and started feeling terrible. I was light-headed and started seeing flashcubes like a migraine was coming on. I decided to rack out early to prevent totally wrecking myself.

I woke up this morning still not 100%, but functional. I went to work thinking I could plow through it before working on the comic over my lunch hour. I didn't make it. I felt so terrible, I had to leave work early to go home and rest.

I thought I could still salvage today's comic this evening before I realized that I left all of my drawing materials at my desk. So, even though I'm feeling better now, there's no comic today. Just this Oscar roundup.

I'm not happy. This is the second deadline I've blown in a week and there's no excuse for it except maybe "Real Life" is starting to catch up with me. It sucks not to have a comic ready after the biggest night in movies all year. At the very least, I hope you enjoy this recap.

Anyway, my apologies again. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

So, as we know, the Oscars were last night. For me, they were a wildly uneven affair. I thought co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were curiously M.I.A. considering how much ABC pushed them forward as a comedy duo unlike any other in their advertising. Having Neil Patrick Harris open the show with a bombastic music number - while entertaining - seemed out of place, as well. Shouldn't - y'know - the hosts open the show?

I feel like I don't have a lot to say about the winners themselves. There weren't really a lot of upsets last night. There was a bit of a question mark hanging over whether or not The Hurt Locker or Avatar would take Best Picture, but I think The Hurt Locker set the tone for the show early on by snagging awards for Best Sound, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Screenplay. When they picked up the award for Best Editing later in the night, I knew it was in the bag. Films that win Best Editing usually end up winning Best Picture.

It was certainly a triumph to see Kathryn Bigelow win Best Director. She looked positively gobsmacked when she emerged on stage moments later to claim her award for Best Picture. Considering her ex-husband was James Cameron, the reward must have been that much sweeter.

It's easy to be excited for Bigelow considering this historical context of her win as the first female director to be recognized by the Academy in this way. But among the other major categories, I can't muster up much enthusiasm.

Jeff Bridges winning Best Actor for Crazy Heart was expected and long-deserved. Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious Basterds has been sewn up since last summer. Same for Mo'Nique winning Best Supporting Actress for Precious.

I don't if you can say that Sandra Bullock was the most deserving for her Best Actress win in The Blind Side. I felt like the Academy was maybe responding more to the box office success of that film than her performance in particular. When Bullock asked "Did I really earn this, or did I wear you all down?" I bristled. Because it implies that she's been giving great performances for years and has been overlooked. I know she was making an attempt at humor, but when compared to Jeff Bridges who actually HAS been delivering excellent performances for years and had been overlooked, it seemed shallow.

That said, I thought she gave the best, most emotional speech of the night. She really is America's Sweetheart. It's hard to hate her. She's just been stuck in so many ridiculous romantic comedies over the years, its difficult to imagine her in another context. Hopefully her win last night will afford her the opportunity to be a little more selective with her roles. I mean, what other actor wins a Razzie and an Oscar in the same weekend?

Something that stuck out to me last night was the lack of musical performances for the compositions nominated in the Best Original Song category. Cami figured out that the reason why was because they needed the extra time to introduce each of the 10 Best Picture nominees over the course of the evening.

The economy of time made sense to me until we reached the the Best Original Score category late in the show. At first I was confused when a phalanx of dancers performed flips and high kicks to the score for Sherlock Holmes. But I was positively enraged when one of the dancers inexplicably started doing THE ROBOT to Michael Giacchino's score for Up.

Giacchino's score was the heart of Up and a well-deserved win for the composer last night. "Ellie's Theme" not only serves as the centerpiece that plays behind the "Married Life" montage that emotionally devastated so many of us, but Giacchino expertly weaves it through the rest of the score. So any callback to that piece immediately takes us back to that moment in the film and connects the dots between the motivations behind Carl's journey and the emotions he's trying to bury. Having a guy dance THE ROBOT to this music seemed beyond offensive to me.

I mean, I don't typically get this worked up over the Best Original Score category, but the dancing was by far the tackiest and most jarring piece of an off-balance telecast. If you want someone to blame, point your finger at show producer Adam Shankman. Who, shockingly, is also a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Ugh. Let's hope that Shankman isn't invited to produce next year.

At this point, I feel like if I say any more about the Oscars, I'll start talking in circles. So why don't you let me know what you thought of the show and the winners. Leave your comments below and we'll get a conversation started!

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WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF YOUTH

by Tom on June 19th, 2009
20 votes, average: 7.65 out of 10
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WORSHIP AT THE ALTAR OF YOUTH
Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics

Ryan Reynolds isn't the only one who can grate cheese off his abs. Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics to see what I'm talking about.

I think we can all agree that Ryan Reynolds is a very attractive person. I have no shame in admitting this. In fact, I'm certain that were I disciplined enough, having abs like Ryan Reynolds would clear up roughly 43% of my self-esteem issues. If this acting thing doesn't shake out, he could be a full-time Men's Health cover model.

Cami's line about me nursing a crush on Reynolds since Van Wilder wasn't an exaggeration. In addition to his physical appearance, there's just something about his delivery I've always enjoyed - even when he's playing it broad. Van Wilder is an infinitely more enjoyable film because of what Reynolds brings to the role. For proof, watch the Reynolds-less Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj. It's basically the same movie set in a different location and putting Kal Penn in the lead role.

Although can someone please explain to me how National Lampoon got away with calling the film "Van Wilder 2" when Van Wilder is nowhere in that movie?

The Proposal comes out this weekend and it looks like a boilerplate Sandra Bullock rom-com piffle. I didn't mean to be harsh with the punchline of today's comic by pointing out Bullock's age (she's actually 45). But it really sticks out to me in the commercials and trailers for this movie when she's been paired with an actor roughly 15 years her junior.

Of course, with leading men, this is never an issue and sometimes even MORE prominent. Actors in their 50's being paired up with actresses in their 20's you see it all the time. Don't misjudge me and assume that I don't think Bullock is allowed to do the same.

But look back at Bullock's career. She's usually been paired with actors roughly her same age or older. And Bullock is nothing if not a creature of habit. She's been acting in the same kind of movies for roughly a decade now. So even if the formula changes a little bit, it's note-worthy.

I know I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but I kind of hope they work it into the script somehow. It would be an opportunity to make it funny.

Switching gears, I wanted to talk about some of the issues we've been having with the site for the last week and a half. By now you pretty much know what's going on with the malware errors, Google Chrome, Safari and the like.

I can tell you that we're doing everything we can to scrub the site at every opportunity, but we've been compromised in a way that we can not immediately fix. Someone shared with me a link to this article that will hopefully shed some light on the situation and give you some insight as to the problems we're dealing with.

I can only hope at some point someone will develop some kind of defense for this thing because every time I locate and strip the malicious code, it's back on the site a few hours later. Until then, I feel like I'm twiddling my thumbs.

On top of this hacker problem, I'm also experiencing difficulties with the recent upgrade to WordPress 2.8. As you can see, the comic ranking system is frozen and the calendar and search functions normally to the right of the blog are missing.

Behind the scenes, the post tagging system does not work and I cannot edit the status of my posts. It's a real drag.

Combing the internet, I can see there are several unhappy customers. People are pretty much saying it's completely bungled on WordPress's part.

I was thinking I would roll back the site to 2.7, but I guess I didn't make a backup. I thought I did, but now I can't find it. Maybe I e-mailed to myself and deleted it before I realized the problems 2.8 was having. But it's a mess.

Anyway, that's my problem, not your problem. But I just wanted to give everyone a status update.

Let's talk about the weekend! In addition to The Proposal, Year One is also coming out and it looks like it's getting trashed in the reviews. It's a shame, because I really respect and admire Harold Ramis. But you could kind of tell from the trailers that the movie didn't have a clear direction. What's up with Jack Black and Michael Cera skipping through time? It looks confusing.

Is anyone still planning on seeing Year One? What about The Proposal? Or is everyone waiting for Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen to come along next week and step on everything? Leave your comments below!

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I MISS YOU, DAD

by Tom on March 16th, 2007
3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10
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I MISS YOU, DAD

He's dodged meat cleavers, exploding popcorn kernels and strangulation by 35mm film. Let's face it - The Movie Gods want Tom to live! Either that, or Cami's ESP needs a tune-up.

I know some people get confused about where the line blurs between real-life Tom and comic Tom. So that I don't have to field a bunch of questions about it later, my real-life Dad is very much alive and well and was not strangled by any film that crashed through the projection booth window. That probably sounds silly to most of you, but you'd be amazed at how literal some people can be. Yup, today's punchline was a tip of the hat to The Naked Gun. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't have much more to say about this weekend's movie offerings, but I am curious if anyone saw Andy Barker P.I. on NBC last night? Tony Hale from Arrested Development is a video store clerk in the strip mall where Andy Richter's character works. He shows him a Sandra Bullock doll from Miss Congeniality he made himself to make fun of the movie. "Oh, Sandra. Why do you make such confusing movie choices? he asked.

Too perfect.

Anyway, I have some site news to share and I'm also looking for a little bit of help.

I'm finally starting to get around to adding back some of the links that have been missing since the redesign. It's been almost three months and it really should have happened sooner, but the advertising page and the press page are now in production. If you're interested in advertising in either one of the huge ad bars on the site, the advertising place is where you can get set up. Incidentally, my friends from Alma Mater stumbled onto the page on the server, even though there was no direct link to it and made a purchase. So you should check out their comic and reward their ingenuity.

The press page pretty much speaks for itself. It has links to all the interviews I've done along with all the profiles, site and book reviews related to Theater Hopper. I like to consider it my little digital Fortress of Solitude where I keep all my trophies. I thought you guys would get a kick out of reading some of that stuff if you missed it the first time around. It's also a way to say thanks to the publications that actually gave me the time of day.

The tour page has been in production a while and is also fairly self-explanatory. I'm just reminding you of it because it's been floating out there by itself for a while and you might not have checked into it. I had to drop Kansas City's Planet Comicon. No one else I knew was going to be there and that's too long to be away from Cami and Henry. So, your best bet this year is going to be seeing me at Wizard World Chicago. I wish I could go to some of the bigger shows like the San Diego Comicon or whatever. But I just don't have the money to fly anywhere. Oh, well.

Anyway - the part I need your help with!...

I'm working on the FAQ page and I'm curious what you guys want to know about me or about the site? I don't want to slap a bunch of fake "questions" onto the page and answer them in some kind of removed, third person fashion. I'd really like to include you guys in the process. So, if there's something you want to know about Theater Hopper - how long it takes me to make a comic, what materials I use - or anything about me, like how long I've been cartooning, what my favorite movie is or how do I come up with strip ideas - leave them in the comments section of this blog. I'll take the best questions any build the page out. Hopefully in the next couple of days, you'll see your question answered and will have provided a great service to the other readers!

So, fire away and have a great weekend!

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POPCORN SAFETY GOGGLES

by Tom on March 14th, 2007
4 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10
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POPCORN SAFETY GOGGLES

"Popcorn safety goggles?!" Oh, man! Where do I come up with this stuff?

I cop to a continuation of the joke from Monday's strip, but I don't feel bad about it. I have a joke in mind for Friday's comic that I think will wrap this little arc up into a nice, neat package. Besides, it's not like there's anything else besides Premonition coming out this weekend.

Sure, there's lots of advertising around Dead Silence, but I find I don't have much to say about horror movies because they're all pretty much the same. And then there's Chris Rock's directorial debut I Think I Love My Wife. Which to me looks like some kind of 1980's situational comedy about the differences between men and women. I'm pretty sure I can't make a joke there without getting in trouble with Cami.

So Premonition is the gravy train I'm riding for material this week. If you don't like it, hang tight. TMNT comes out next week. I'm sure I'll have some nostalgia-laced commentary for that little time warp.

Incidentally, the lack of interesting movies this week was something Gordon, Joe and I talked about in our weekly talkcast, The Triple Feature this past Monday at 9:00 PM. If you missed it, you can always download it from iTunes. We also talked about 300 and how it's unprecedented success (the largest opening for film in March ever) might affect the production of the graphic novel gold standard, Watchmen. I thought it was a really good show. Check it out!

And while I'm slingin' links, I have to give both Gordon and Joe props for their excellent 300-themed comics. You can view their respective efforts here and here. To be honest, I was jealous I didn't come up with either joke myself. But it's the kind of writing that would have required me to actually *ahem* see the movie. So I'm kind of wringing my hands over that one. By the way, did you know these comics were Multiplex's 125th and Joe Loves Crappy Movies 300th? Milestones all around!

Switching gears for a second... I made a post on Monday that seemed to generate a lot of interest. Basically, I posted a drawing that I did of Sean Bean, but didn't share that fact with you guys. I asked you to guess who it was because I was going to use the rendering as part of a t-shirt design that referenced an earlier comic and I wanted to make sure people could identify who it was supposed to be without being prompted.

The responses were really interesting. Some people knew right away that it was Bean. Others thought it looked like Ben Affleck or Ben Affleck (which was weird). Other people couldn't make a guess because they're really not familiar with Sean Bean's body of work. A fair assessment. He's not all that well-known.

So what did I learn from this feedback? I learned that if I produced the shirt, the majority of you would get the reference and that's a good thing. But I also learned that because I used Bean's IMDB publicity photo, I might be making myself vulnerable to some legal action. So what do we do?

Well, this brought to the fore something I've been thinking about for a while and that's my caricature skills. They're kind of bad. I mean, does this look like Samuel L. Jackson to you? Yeah, me neither. So I've decided to do something about it.

Yesterday I ordered a couple of caricature books from Amazon and I'm going to work on developing this skill. I mean, it's kind of shameful for an artist whose work centers around pop cultures and celebrities to be deficient in this manner. With any luck, I'll get a little better and it might help my art in other areas as well. Who knows? When it's all said and done, maybe I can do a little work on the site at a county fair, or something!

At any rate, I was really pleased to see the level of participation in the comments area from Monday's post so I think I'm going to continue posting caricatures and let you guys guess who the person is supposed to be as a regular thing. It's fun, it gives you guys something to talk about and it'll help me improve my art. Sound like a plan? Let me know what you think in the comments! Natch!

What about the shirt design? I think I might still go ahead and finish it just because it was a very rich vision in my head and I'd like to see it completed. That doesn't mean I'll produce that version of the shirt. I might swap out the image of Bean from Monday's post with another once I start to get a little better with the caricature. We'll see. In the meantime, I have other designs I want to try. So it's no big deal.

That's it for today! See you Friday!

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FIND A PENNY, PICK IT UP

by Tom on March 12th, 2007
3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10
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FIND A PENNY, PICK IT UP

First of all, let me just say, the fact that 300 earned $70 million this weekend blew my mind! I was expecting it to do well. Heck - even better than the $40 million that most box office analysts were predicting. But $70 million? That's insane. That means people were probably seeing it more than once this weekend. Considering the fact that Wild Hogs held on to the number two spot (inexplicably) with $28 million means that a lot of people went to the movies this weekend.

Sadly, I was no one of them. I didn't make it to the theater this weekend. Cami and I are keeping a close eye on Henry for the time being. I don't mind. I look forward to it all week while I'm at work.

Incidentally, we were able to get out of the house together for a couple of hours on Sunday while my parents baby sat. Cami was going a little stir-crazy in the house not having left it for nearly a month. Psychologically, it's good that she gets out into the world again, even if it's only for a short period of time. She did really well, all things considered. It had to have been hard being away from Henry when she's been at his side nearly 24 hours since the day he was born. Cami and I spend a lot of time together, but the time she spends with Henry is a new level of intense!

Back to box office talk for a second, I don't think 300 has much to fear from Sandra Bulluck's Premonition when it opens this weekend. That doesn't mean we can't have a little fun with the concept of the movie for this week's comics.

Does anyone find it odd that Premonition doesn't really have any competition this weekend? The producers of the Saw movies have put together another scare fest with Dead Silence that will bring out the horror-faithful. But beyond that, the potential benefit of additional box office for having the most high profile new release is Bullock's to lose.

Do people really like Bullock in these psychological thrillers? I can understand why she might be shying away from the prospect of Miss Congeniality 3, but the last movie I recall where she slipped on these shoes was Murder By Numbers and no one really remembers her performance from that. They all remember Ryan Gosling's introduction to mainstream audiences. Seems to me audiences appreciate her in the more cute and cuddly romantic comedy roles that Drew Barrymore will be stealing from her in another 5 years.

I don't have anything much more insightful than that when it comes to Bullock's career or Premonition in particular. But I have a whole week of madcap fun planned for the strips. So if you're into over-the-top cartoon violence, be sure to check us out!

Another thing you'll want to check out tonight is The Triple Feature talkcast featuring myself, Joe Dunn from Joe Loves Crappy Movies and Gordon McAlpin from Multiplex. I forget what we're talking about this week because I can barely keep track of time these days, but it will probably be about the success of 300. So if you saw the movie this weekend and want to call into the show to discuss it, you have a great opportunity! Just go to TalkShoe, download their client, download a call-in program like Skype or SJPhone (it's free) and say "Hello!" We had a really good turn out last week. It would be great if we could boost those numbers. We want you to participate!

When you're done reading this, scroll down a little bit. I want you to leave me some feedback on another issue and I don't want it getting lost in the comments of this post. If you guys want to reply here and let me know what you thought about 300, fire away! What was your favorite moment? What were the crowds like? What did they respond to?

Let me know!

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