Of Lack of Movie Updates Here

Here are all the comics I neglected to put up here...

Of Blade Runner, Star Wars and Rock Band

Blade Runner is one of those movies that I would be so excited to watch and then fall asleep halfway through.

On More Movies

Of Rudy and Death in Venice

I've started to do this comic meme thing - I draw 20 movie comics. The titles (or characters) have already been written in, here are some that I've done so far.

Of Weekends and Legends

Another weekend has flown by and Christmas will soon be upon us. I have yet to purchase (or create) presents for loved ones, but I am working on something I plan on giving anyone who wants it. I'll wait for it to be complete before I ask if anyone wants it, simply because I'm afraid it won't be done before I leave for winter break.

My brother was kind enough to send me Super Mario Galaxy for Chanukah, so I have been playing that of late. A lot of fun and rather addicting, but I have a hard time finding moments to play.

Friday evening, (after I futzed around with Galaxy) Shannon and I basically hung out at the house. Made some dinner, caught up on some television and just relaxed. After driving all day, I really couldn't ask for more.

Saturday was spent drawing (for me) and running some other errands. Listened to some Ricky Gervais podcasts which made me laugh so hard I almost drove us off the highway. I can't think of the last time we laughed that hard. We caught I Am Legend that night and we loved it. A great blend of art house direction and big budget looks. Not perfect by any means (CG still looks like CG no matter how you slice it) but it was an extremely tense and (emotional?) distraction.

Sunday we complained about being lazy. We made a delicious breakfast (pancakes and eggs!) then tried to get out of the house. Went to Petco, saw some kitties (our weekend ritual) then tried to see how close we could get to the mountain range. Saw some huge houses, found a few parks, drove on the mountain then headed back. We lounged watching television, movies (Bewitched still sucks) and I drew a lot. That night we watched 30 Rock we missed that Thursday (it is quickly becoming my new favorite show) and Curb your Enthusiasm until we were exhausted.

I now have four days to finish the project, assuming I can do the copying, stapling and mailing on Friday/saturday.

I am looking forward to vacation. I fly out of LAX on Saturday and arrive in West Hartford on Sunday. Sunday I have lunch with family then drive up to Boston to spend Christmas with Shannon and HER family. On the 26th I drive back down to West Hartford and hang out with my family for the rest of the break. On the 29th we're going to see Sorkin's new play, the Farnsworth Invention and on the 30th I fly back out to LA. Brian and I are going to try to shoot some of "Keys," a sequel to Cloth and directly involved in Rhiannon Stories. Hopefully shooting that will spark some inspiration for the comic.

Of Juno and Reviews of Juno

An article sent to me by my beloved pretty much summed up my feelings on Juno. I have copied and pasted it for your behalf.

----------------------

I Really Wanted To Like Juno
by Emily Gould



When Juno, the 16-year-old heroine of the movie being marketed hardest to my generation this holiday season, tells her best friend she's pregnant, the friend's first reaction is, "Honest to blog?" CLUNK. But in spite of being forewarned about that line in the movie's ubiquitous T.V. spots, and in spite of David Denby's New Yorker rave—"Juno is a coming-of-age movie made with idiosyncratic charm and not a single false note"—I still held out high hopes for alternastripper memoirist turned screenwriter Diablo Cody's collaboration with 'Thank You For Smoking' director Jason Reitman. But guess what? There are false notes aplenty in this trytoohardy movie. Honest to blog!

When we're first introduced to Juno, she's taking pregnancy tests in a convenience store bathroom and dispassionately blurting the results to everyone within earshot, including Rainn Wilson, the clerk, who calls her "homeskillet." Never having met Juno before, it's tough for us to tell what's behind her oversharing. Are she and Rainn longtime pals? Is she acting studiedly blase, or is she catatonic with shock? David Edelstein has theorized that Juno's just acting her age, or more specifically, acting her demographic: "she's a poster girl (or will be) for the Facebook Generation--the one with zero sphere of privacy."

But later in the film, we see her sweating out her decision to tell her parents about the pregnancy and worrying what kids at school will think. Tone-deaf slang aside, this contradiction is the film's biggest flaw: is being pregs a big deal to Juno, or is it all just a "shenanigan"?

It's also hard to believe in Juno's feelings for her impregnator and One True Love, Michael Cera's Paulie Bleek. True, he is played by Michael Cera, he does wear running shorts pretty much throughout the film, and he does have the 'endearing' habit of eating lots of orange Tic-Tacs. Based on those attributes, and on his, like, three lines, we're meant to root for his and Juno's romance and to understand when, towards the end of the film, Juno apologizes for having been "a bitch" to him.

Huh? Honey, you told him you were pregnant and he stood there across the yard from you all blank and George Michael Bluth-y! A little bitchiness was in order! This kind of missing emotional nuance undermines every moment in the movie that's supposed to be moving, and no amount of heartstring-manipulation from the twee soundtrack can pick up the slack.

About that soundtrack: besides a couple of Tigermilk tracks, the movie is almost entire scored to songs by the alt-folk band the Moldy Peaches. Those jangly duets—clever and catchy at first listen, clearly in love with their own cleverness and rough edges, decreasingly charming upon repeated listening—suit the movie perfectly.

----------------------

The review can be found on this site: http://gawker.com/news/at-the-movies/i-really-wanted-to-like-juno-334060.php

Honest to blog!

Of Films to Look Forwards To

My list of movies I can't wait to see is rather brief.

In no particular order:

Persepolis
Be Kind Rewind
I Am Legend
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Cloverfield

To a lesser extent:

Jumper (because I read the book over and over again)
Margot at the Wedding
National Treasure 2

The first movie is not great, but I saw it again recently and didn't want to stab my eyes out with sharpened pencils. In fact, I was pretty entertained. Hence why I sort of want to see it.

Wow, that list was longer than I expected.

Of Movies

No Country for Old Men was incredible. Juno was merely good. Clerks 2 was not as bad as Shannon and Brian said it was (because there were a few moments that I sincerely dug) but it was still pretty awful. There was one line that I thought was brilliant, but it was so cliched and predictable. Where is Dogma Kevin Smith!? Where is edgy with a reason Kevin Smith?! Moving on.

I just finished blasting through the American Elf archives. Wow.

Also, 30 Rock has been really growing on me.

Of Princesses and Paupers

I got home from Thanksgiving and Shannon and I immediately decided to see I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan "bioflick." The movie was quite good, though I admit I was confused through most of it. There is a great revelation moment at least halfway through that helped me understand the film, but on the whole it was exceptionally well done. While Across the Universe was made in the editing, the "jumping around in time" in "I'm Not There" was obviously a decision on the script level rather than post. All in all, good stuff.

Monday brought more work - a relatively easy day of getting lunch and running across town. During the day, the lady and I thought an evening date would be fun, so after work we met up on Hollywood Blvd at the El Capitan to see Enchanted. The tickets were way too expensive, but I decided to treat since the lady purchased Andrew Bird tickets that afternoon. There was no show before the feature (unlike the sing-and-dance we saw before Ratatouille) but after we found out there was an actual attraction.

Me: There's a thing after.
Shan: What is it?
Me: I think you can take pictures of all the princesses.
Shan: Skip it?
Me: Are you kidding? We are getting our goddamn money's worth.

The movie commenced and it was exceptional! The lost Golden-Age Disney film. Didn't take itself too seriously, was filled to the brim with references to past Disney films (my weak spot) and was just really entertaining. While there were one or two moments where I thought "...huh?" it was still way better than some of the Disney animated movies that came out in recent years (take THAT, On the Range!). Also, the animation? STUNNING. Even the CG stuff was stylized in a way that wasn't distracting. Disney truly has a hit on their hands.

Following the movie, I dragged lady fair to the Enchanted Tent attraction. Disney knows how to do it right. It was like going to a mini-Disneyland attraction! A man announced our entry, all the Disney princesses were dancing or standing at their own diorama. Video games (we battled it out on Guitar Hero 3), arts and crafts, actual costumes, photo references comparing Enchanted to every other Disney movie, princesses; a whole smorgasbord of kiddy fun. We walked around, gawked at how over the top it all was, then watched little kids run up to their favorite princesses (already wearing dresses) and hugging them as if they were real people. Adorable.

We left, exhausted and in good moods and caught up on Heroes. I dug the episode, but I wish there wasn't "one more episode." Rushing this season will hurt it in the long run, methinks. Spreading the season out would have been nicer.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a busy day. I would out of the office most of the afternoon evening, so exhausted I actually passed out at a red light. Shan and I went shopping then returned home to catch up on America's Next Top Model. Heather (the model with mild autism) almost got the boot but thankfully she looked so effing gorgeous that she stuck around.

First photo and latest photo:





Incredible, right? Heather is by far my favorite this season. Nerd, geek, good looking, awkward. I'd by lying if I said I didn't have a crush. Here's hoping she takes it. I always love an underdog.

Of Justin and James

After typing the title, I realized how much it sounds like "From Justin to Kelly." We shall overcome.

First of all, I would like to touch on some recent casting news. Justin Chatwin, the brother who should have died but didn't in War of the Worlds, and James Marsters, Spike from Buffy and Angel, will both be acting in the Dragonball movie as "Goku" and "Piccolo" respectively. Now, my brother LOVED Dragonball Z and, in the later years of Middle school, I had watched many an episode with him. It is utterly embarrassing to reveal this, but whatever - I wasn't obsessed, I'm just familiar with it. Honestly, I think it's more embarrassing for these guys. Really? A live-action Dragonball movie? I can't see it happening, especially with those hairdos. You can't even say the plot line of the show without sniggering. And the fan boys, oh the fan boys. I went to college with a guy who wore a Dragonball silk button down shirt. I cannot wait to see the trailers: "He had to save the world using seven dragon balls to make a wish to stop the bad guys to save the world." It'll look ridiculous. I read in the casting thing that Spike will be playing a character named "Piccolo." The names familiar (see above) so I did a google search to find a picture.




I am laughing out loud. But Marsters was effing awesome in Buffy, so who knows? Either way I'm not going to see it, but I have to admit, I am mighty curious. I can give you three guesses what we'll see at Comic-con next year.