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Comic and Rant for Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Movietunes |
ERATTA: Jeff pointed out that the Paul McGann line in Saturday’s rant comes from the first QAF, not, as I’d incorrectly claimed, the second. In fact, the second contains no Doctor Who references whatsoever, much to the chagrin of fans. Regarding the subject of today’s strip: It may not have been called “Movietunes,” but I’m sure all of you can relate to the crappy music pumped into theater chains in between showings. I can remember when all (or at least most) of the music actually had something to do with movies. These days, movie related “tunes” are rare - mostly they just play the latest single from whatever overproduced “talent” the record industry is pushing this week. I’m sorry, but if you’re gonna call it “Movietunes” then it should have more to do with movies then just the location and the occasional concession stand reference! Curiously, when drawing this strip and Thursday’s I decided it would be best to quote the spiel exactly, so of course, when I went to the movies, ears pricked and notepad in hand, they either didn’t do the announcements, or the didn’t have “Movietunes” at all! I’m sure you can appreciate the irony of the situation - “No! You’re not doing the thing that I hate! Please do the thing that I hate!” Fans of other webcomics (among other things) may notice some cameos in the movie theater. I only hope those links are enough to keep me from being sued! More cameos Thursday. Oh, and the photo ref came from here. While we’re on the subject of movies, I believe I said I’d comment on the the Episode II and Scooby Doo trailers. All I can say about the former is that it looks great! Of course, so did the trailer for its predecessor, and ... well ... let’s just say it was uneven. On the plus side, the credits indicate that George collaborated on the script (with Jonathan Hales), so hopefully this will mean less “Typewriter Dialogue.” Too bad he’s still directing, but as none of the main “Trick Talking Meat” are children this time, maybe it’ll be okay. The Scooby trailer was a lot better than I thought it would be. Jeff told me that when Matthew Lillard tried to do Shaggy’s voice in interviews he sounded terrible, but in the trailer he sounds just like Casey Casem did. OTOH, Scooby looks incredibly fake (though to be fair, they might not be done with him yet) and one wonders if Daphne carries a stake. Y’know, Messrs. Gunn & Gosnell, Ms. Gellar is an actress, or to put it another way, SHE CAN PLAY MORE THAN ONE TYPE OF ROLE!!! I’m also not sure I like the bit where Velma gets drunk, let alone the casting (though I’ll hold my decision until June 14th). While we’re on the subject of movies, I saw The Time Machine today. WARNING: Spoilers Ahead! Skip This Paragraph If You Don’t Want Spoilers, Dammit! Still with me? Good! I was prepared to hate the film, but it was actually pretty good. I think it could have done without the whole “inventing time travel to go back and save his girlfriend” bit. Are we really supposed to believe that he only tries once to save his girlfriend and then give up, deciding that the answer must be found in the future? I know it might be a bit boring to see multiple attempts all resulting in different variations of the inevitable, but without a few more tries it seems like he gives up too easily for a man obsessed. I also wonder why we don’t see more “Ubermorlocks” (it’s what he was called in the credits! Though it really should be “Übermorlock”). They could at least have shown some dying during the explosion! Still, though hardly the most faithful adaptation of H.G. Wells’ book (why couldn’t Mara have been called “Weena?” and why didn’t he remove the control rod to keep others from stealing the machine, like he did in the book and the George Pal version?), it was entertaining, and I might not even mind seeing it again. You might not agree with me, though. Ain’t It Cool News sure doesn’t, though I have to agree with their observation that “... By giving [Guy] Pearce’s Alexander a singular purpose, you take away the spirit of adventure ...” Okay, now that Spoiler Time™ is over, I just want to let everyone know that the first Hoody Hoo: Series Two animation is up at www.hoodyhoo.com. I loved it, although I think maybe Andrew Babb & Co. should have stuck with the minimal animation and detail from the first series, as Knights of the Dinner Table doesn’t really lend itself to much of either. |
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