Posts Tagged ‘Tom Hanks’

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HENRY’S FIRST MOVIE

by Tom on December 1, 2009 at 1:00 am
Posted In: Blog
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polar-express

Over the holiday weekend, we engaged in a "first" as parents and took Henry to his very first movie - The Polar Express in IMAX at The Science Center of Iowa.

Every year The Science Center shows The Polar Express on their gigantic IMAX screen as a holiday tradition. I've seen the movie on TV, but never really enjoyed it (Those dead-eyed children... So creepy!). After seeing it in IMAX through Henry's eyes... Well, I feel a little different about the movie.

We've been wanting to take Henry to a movie for a long time, but we wanted his first movie-going experience to be a good one. A lot of the children's movies that were out this summer didn't inspire confidence and, actually, we were going to wait for Disney's The Princess and The Frog until we realized the movie was coming out the Friday after Cami's scheduled C-section.

But when Cami suggested The Polar Express, it seemed like the perfect solution. Because right now, Henry is really into trains and just last week he saw Santa Claus at the mall. Perfect!

More importantly, we wanted to do something special for Henry before the baby is born because his world is totally going to turn upside down once that happens.

We showed up a little late to the movie because Henry's napped a little longer than we expected. So when we arrived, it was already dark in the theater. As I scaled up the steep incline with Henry in my arms, he whispered in my ear, "I wanna go home, Daddy."

"It's going to be fine, Henry. We're going to see a movie!" I assured him.

"I wanna go home."

We plopped Henry into the seat between myself and Cami as the movie fired up. We were worried that the IMAX experience would be too intimidating for Henry. At the very least, we fretted that the sound would be too loud and might scare him.

Let me tell you, Henry did great during the movie. He didn't fidget in his seat, he didn't wander around, he didn't scream or cry. The movie kept his attention throughout its 99 minute running time. He smiled, he laughed and he squealed with nervous anticipation during some of the film's more harrowing sequences.

If you've seen The Polar Express, you know it's a little bit of a roller coaster ride. During these action scenes, Henry would clench his fists and tense up his arms. So Cami and I made sure to lean in close and remind him it was just a movie. Putting my hand on his chest to reassure him, I could feel his heart pounding through his chest.

After the movie, Henry told us totally unprovoked "That was a good movie!" When we asked him what his favorite part of the movie was, he said "the Elf center" - presumably the scenes involving the three children running around on conveyor belts as they try to get back in time to meet Santa.

As parents, I think we (collectively) put a lot of pressure on ourselves to provide a "perfect" experience for our children. Sometimes we lose sight of the experience they're having versus the experience we WANT them to have. It's a definite tight rope walk between living vicariously through your children and (if you'll pardon the pun) railroading their own experience with your own expectations.

These thoughts aside, I feel our experience watching The Polar Express was absolutely perfect. It couldn't have gone any better. I'm not just talking about Henry's behavior in the movie (because, really, who can predict what a two year-old is going to do at any given minute). Instead, I'm talking about what he seemed to take from the experience. Looking over at him as he watched the movie, he really seemed to be enjoying himself.

That's all I could have asked for.

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AUDIENCES LOVE SLANDEROUS ACCUSATIONS

by Tom on May 15, 2009 at 12:00 am
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(30 votes, average: 7.43 out of 10)
Angels & Demons, Tom Hanks, Ron Howard, The DaVinci Code, controversy, Catholic church, The Pope, glue huffer, eating babies, The Fat White Movie Producer
Vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics

I had a hard time with today's comic basically because it relies so heavily on the caricatures of Ron Howard and Tom Hanks to help sell the joke. I've convinced myself that caricature is not my strong suit. All you need to do is look through my archives to see how long it took me to get comfortable drawing my own characters, let alone internationally recognizable celebrities.

I've bought a few books about caricature and it has helped me to understand some of the fundamentals. Basically, you take the most obvious feature on someone's face and exaggerate it while minimizing their less noticeable features. Ultimately, what I end up doing is looking at what OTHER caricature artists have done and use that for a source image.

I don't think I'm beyond help when it comes to learning how to caricature, but I do think some people have an innate talent for it. Thursday's strip parodying Lost over at PvP was excellent. It not only clearly communicates which characters are being parodied, but Scott retains his signature style throughout. I'd be lying if I said it didn't inspire me a little bit to try my hand at caricature again for today's strip.

Joe over at Joe Loves Crappy Movies does a great job with caricature as well. Check out his Jason Statham or his comic for Slumdog Millionaire. Joe makes it look so easy.

I tried to stretch a little further by doing another caricature of Tom Hanks for today's incentive sketch. I think it turned out pretty well. To see it, vote for Theater Hopper at Top Web Comics. I would be curious to know what you think!

Turning the Lens of Introspection away from myself for a minute, let's talk about Angels & Demons coming out today. Considering how big The DaVinci Code was when that came out, it's weird that no one I know is talking about this movie.

Do you remember the sequel to The Silence of The Lambs? Hannibal? I think we've got another one of those on our hands here. Angels & Demons looks like the kind of movie that was green-lit based on the financial success of the first movie without anyone stopping to consider if it was a product anyone wanted to see.

The comic addresses the controversy surrounding The DaVinci Code which, at the time, was palpable. But very few are even raising an eyebrow over Angels & Demons. In fact, the Vatican's official position on the film seems to be "So?"

Director Ron Howard insists that there is still a controversy and believes the Vatican is holding a grudge. That very well might be true, but it seems they learned their lesson from the first time around and aren't lending the new film any credibility by addressing it directly.

I'm not a church-goer, nor am I a fan of the Catholic church and their policies. But, in this case, I say "Good for them." Frankly, the Catholic church shouldn't be commenting on works of fiction. (I could make a real easy joke about The Bible right here, but won't)

My point is that the Catholic church is a global organization with incredible influence whose leaders support the faith and give comfort to millions of people around the globe. If you can find me one person who read The DaVinci Code or saw the movie adaptation and said, "You know what? Catholicism? Not for me. I'm out," then maybe you'd have an argument.

But as it is, there is enough REAL LIFE problems in the Catholic church that is causing followers to question their faith that I think the institution should be addressing if they want to continue tending to their flock. Addressing Ron Howard or the novel's author Dan Brown doesn't help anything at all.

Henry is staying with his grandparents tonight, so Cami and I are going to see Angels & Demons. I'm practicing a little bit of willful ignorance and ignoring some of the negative review headlines I've been scoping out in my travels around the web. I'm not worried about it. If it's dumb, it's dumb. Between Howard, Hanks and Ewan McGreggor, there's enough talent in the pool to hold my interest. And besides, it'll be nice to go to a movie with Cami for once. I see a lot of crap movies she doesn't have an interest in seeing anyway, so it's a treat the two of us can go out together. I'm really looking forward to it.

What about you? What do you think? Not about my date night with Cami, but about Angels & Demons? Are you planning on seeing it this weekend? Do you think it looks good? Do you think there is any controversy or is it all part of the film's marketing plan? Can movies about religion avoid controversy, or is it built in? Leave your comments below and let's get a discussion started!

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OUTNUMBERED BY YES MEN

by Tom on June 21, 2004 at 12:00 am
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(6 votes, average: 9.33 out of 10)
The Terminal, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Catherine Zeta Jones, romantic dinner, spinning plates, yes men

I couldn't really think of a fun parody image to reward you with for voting for Theater Hopper at buzzComix, so here's a doodle of Tom spinning a plate! Why not, right?

A quick order of business to start the week: If you're looking for affordable, reliable hosting for your web site, please visit our newest sponsor Revolution Hosting. These guys do a great job, provide several hosting options and won't charge you an arm and a leg for their services! Tell 'em Tommy sentcha!

Cami and I had a very productive movie-watching weekend. I took Friday off and we spent the late morning at the zoo and then swung over to the theater for a matinee of The Terminal.

Maybe there is something wrong with the two of us, but we HATED this movie!

If you're not familiar with the concept of the film, Tom Hanks plays an immigrant coming to the United States. But while he is in the air, a military coup occurs in his country and the government is overthrown. With the new government in place, Hank's old country does not exist and the United States does not recognize the new one. This renders his passport invalid. He can't return to his homeland and he can't step onto American soil. He ends up in limbo, living inside the airport's terminal waiting for the black tape to be cleared up.

The first 45 minutes of the movie are interesting as Hanks character attempts to overcome the situation. There is the inevitable language barrier, and some clever situation involving the food vouchers he loses and how he generates money so that he can eat.

But the film quickly loses steam once Hanks is given Catherine Zeta-Jones' character to pine after. Zeta-Jones is TOTALLY miscast as a flight attendant who is woefully dependent on her relationships with men - ANY man. Think about every Catherine Zeta-Jones character ever put to screen. Bossy, confident, pushy. She doesn't do "conflicted" very convincingly.

There are several points in the movie that ring emotionally false. For example, the scene detailed in today's comic. In an attempt to win her over, Hanks takes Zeta-Jones' character "out" for a romantic dinner. But since he can't leave the terminal, they dine out on the terrace overlooking the tarmac. Various terminal employees lend a hand by posing as waiters. Suddenly, Kumar Pallana's character - Gupta the janitor - steps in and starts spinning plates and juggling hoops... FOR NO REASON!

Another subplot involves one of the said terminal worker's longing to gain the attention of an INS agent that Hank's character sees on a daily basis. In exchange for food, he recruits Hanks to learn more information about her until he can build up the nerve to talk to her. The end of the subplot comes about when Hanks delivers an engagement ring on behalf of the airport employee and tells the INS agent he waits for him in the food court. She arrives, ring on finger and they get married! Neither of these characters have exchanged ONE LINE of dialogue in the entire movie!

This movie was setting off my B.S. detector more than I care to recall. Hanks - although portraying an lovable, almost infallible character, loses points for his Eastern Bloc "accent" which sounds more like guttural mumblings the more he learns English than anything authentic.

Cinematography Janusz Kaminski also drops the ball by creating a very murky color palette in some scenes while totally bleaching out others.

Ultimately, Hanks' reasons for coming to the United States don't seem to warrant the amount of patience he displays as he whittles away his time in the terminal. And there are several other scenes that felt lifted straight out of a sitcom. For example, the solemn line of police officers preventing Hanks from leaving, but then - AT THE LAST MINUTE - having a change of heart!

Have you ever watched some softball romantic comedy where all the misunderstanding that erupt during the course of the film could be cleared away if only one character would come forward with ONE PIECE of information? That's what The Terminal feels like. We're never given any reason why Stanley Tucci's bureaucratic Frank Dixon just doesn't push Hanks out the door when he becomes infuriated by his constant presence beyond some rigid obligation to "The Rules". There is no genuine conflict here. Just a highly improbable situation that failed to connect with me despite several tries.

Hmm... I'm noticing that this little bloggy-blog is getting a little long in the tooth and I still haven't gotten to the other two movies I saw this weekend - Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Saved!

Tell you what. I'll come back to this space later and give you my thoughts on these films then. Sound good? Come back here for more overblown insights!

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THE BUZZWORD THAT WILL GET YOUR MOVIE MADE

by Tom on April 23, 2004 at 12:00 am
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(7 votes, average: 8.71 out of 10)
13 Going On 30, pitch, Tom Hanks, Big, boob, broke his mind, checkbook, The Fat White Movie Producer

I don't really have a lot to say about Jennifer Garner's latest movie 13 Going On 30. It seems like a pretty mindless diversion. I guess it's getting pretty good reviews. A fairly positive one from our own resident movie-reviewer Nick Caster. He had the good fortune of catching a sneak preview last weekend and decided to share his thoughts. You should swing over to the Bonus Materials page and read it for yourself...

I'll admit the comparison to Big is a cheap one. Cami pointed out to me that a reviewer in Vanity Fair came to the same glib conclusion. I don't read Vanity Fair, so I'm excused from plagiarism. But that doesn't mean the common perception isn't out there.

Oh, well. My joke is more about a studio executive being so captivated by the concept of giant breasts that he wouldn't notice a couple of lowly screen writers stealing his checkbook to make a hack movie. Call it a reflection of the male condition. It makes it sound more educated.

With that of the way, I have a bunch of site related business to mention.

First off, I want to give a big welcome to Jeph Jacques whose excellent indie-themed comic Questionable Content was brought into the fold over at Dayfree Press. Jeph has a great thing going. Wonderfully characters and richly developed story lines. You should check it out.

In other Dayfree news, congratulations for Brian Carroll of Instant Classic for reaching 100 strips! Brian lead into his crescendo with a bang - literally! He took the comic in a narrative and artistic direction that really raised the bar. It needs to be see to be believed!

I also wanted to give a shout out to two of our newest advertisers - InfamousGreen.com , a site that will host a film makers short films for free. A great resource for you Spielberg's-in-training.

We're also advertising a new comic called The Munchies . It's ripe with adventures about food products. Get it? RIPE?! Oh, wow!...

The last thing I'll mention is to check out the forums for a fun game we play every week called The Friday Five . The concept is very simple. I pose five questions to the community at large, and they answer them. You can, too! It's a great jumping on point to the forums and you can learn a lot about the people who already post there with minimal research. Check it out!

I hope everyone has a good weekend. I know I'm looking forward to it. The weather is getting nicer every day!

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FINGER LICKIN’ WEIRD!

by Tom on March 24, 2004 at 12:00 am
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(6 votes, average: 7.17 out of 10)
The Ladykillers, Tom Hanks, Coen Brothers, Colonel Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken

About the comic... Well, it's Tom Hanks' head on a chicken body. That's like 80% of the joke. If you're not with me on that one... well, I don't know what to do you with you. Don't ask me where the idea came from. I just plucked it from the ether and the thought of it made me laugh. I'll concede that it's a long way around for a Colonel Sanders joke, but there you have it.

Freaky anthromorphic celebrities aside, I'm really looking forward to Hanks turn as Professor G.H. Dorr in The Coen Brother's remake of The Ladykillers. I know some people are a little turned off by the eccentricities evident in the advertisements for this caper flick, but it looks like a very meaty role for Hanks to me. Definitely an upgrade from the more somber fellows he's been playing of late. The individuals he's portrayed in Cast Away, Road to Perdition, and Catch Me If You Can didn't I think go against Hank's natural demeanor. It's good to see him taking things a little less seriously in this outing.

There is something about The Coen Brother's where the success of their films tends to hinge on how far they can get their big-name lead actors to operate outside of their comfort zone. The best example I can give involves the same actor - George Clooney. Look at his performance in two Coen pictures - O Brother, Where Art Thou? versus Intolerable Cruelty. In Intolerable Cruelty, he does the smug, well-dressed routine to great effect, but it's an image we're already familiar with courtesy of films like Ocean's 11 and Out of Sight.

Now look at O Brother. A complete 180 from the Clooney that we're used to - and a more successful film.

Need more proof? What about The Big Lebowski. Did anyone expect to see Jeff Bridges as a burnt out hippie? It just seems the farther The Coen's push their leads, the more interest it generates from Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Moviegoer.

Just a theory.

One last thing - a sad bit of business. It looks like Ryan Sias has hung up his pencils and has ceased production on his journal comic Urban Observations. Ryan put together a very whimsical take on his environment - New York City. His archives are still active, so you should check it out. It was a personal favorite of mine.

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