Ah, the Muppets. I still remember watching reruns of The Muppet Show when I was young, endless viewings of Muppet Christmas Carol every winter, so I wanted to like this new entry, ‘The Muppets’, going in.
To remove the pleasantries, the music is catchy, the story is interesting and the ending was genuinely unexpected. Packed with obscure Muppets and some old references, it was a welcome walk down memory lane for fans and, I hope, fun enough to keep the less familiar interested. Not to mention it was jam packed with enough big name guest stars to remind you of the Muppet days of yore.
In many ways it was a very sentimental movie, taking a page from the ‘getting the band back together’ archetype reminiscent of Blues Brothers, Kermit laments how the group has grown apart, and for someone like me who has a personal history with the felt amphibian and his friends, it was compelling and emotional on that journey.
Two interesting things to note: First, Kermit has retaken center stage. For the past while, other Muppets took the front seat of the story (Gonzo in Christmas Carol or In Space), which was welcome at the time to explore the other characters, but now Kermit is the main again, banjo and all (and on a side note, the newest addition to the crew, Walter, is one that is more than welcome).
Second, as the movie progressed, I found myself realizing that the only disappointment I felt (save the vain hope of Gonzo having a bigger part, being one of my favorites) was in the human protagonists, Jason Segel and Amy Adams. They started to feel predictable and two-dimensional…until I realized…the fully fleshed out, interesting characters were the puppets! Whether that was intentional or only a byproduct of good puppeteering, good work 
To cut out the crap, if you never liked the Muppets… go find your childhood 
but if you do, you will enjoy this fun, well made, family friendly movie.
The Muppets
Three Musketeers
I’m going to say this up front. Orlando Bloom is one of the worst parts of this movie.
I’ts like he was trying to be aristocratic Jack Sparrow if you sub in homosexuality for the drunkenness….and the entirety of the first 5-10 minutes of the movie sucked…*phew* glad to get that out of the way, now then.
Like I said before, Three Musketeers is remade about every 10 years, and in my experience, accuracy to the book is rarely a priority (trust me, I’ve read it). I am glad to say though, that many moments were close enough to the book to give me some hope, but as we’ve all seen from the trailers, they’re not exactly trying to be wholly accurate. Therein, though, lies my biggest complaint.
I certainly don’t mind someone trying something new with an old franchise (see Robots+Rocky=Real Steel), so putting all kinds of crazy technology like airships and Greek fire in The Three Musketeers could be cool…but they didn’t go far enough…allow me to explain.
Every time Milla Jovovich showed up, there was usually some sort of odd and cool technology, but other times, like the classic 4 v 40 courtyard fight, it felt like normal, plain old France…so my quip is, if you’re going to put crazy technology in a period piece, go nuts with it! Put it everywhere so it feels natural or explain why it only appears where it does. Beyond that, the other big complaint is that this movie fishes for a sequel, and when I say fishing, I mean Deadliest Catch crab fishing, because this thing is hinging on a sequel to complete the story, and that just irks me. Setting yourself up for a sequel while having a completed story within the film is fine, look at Back to the Future or Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, but leaving major plot points undone is just annoying.
Ok..I know it seems like I despise this movie, but the fact of the matter is it was entertaining enough beyond the major (and minor) problems, and, odd as it may be to say, Logan Lerman kinda saved the movie. Despite the title, The Three Musketeers (book and movie) should always be about D’Artagnan, and while the other characters (by and large) were good enough, you could tell that he was the main attraction. As such, entertainment value beat out big problems by the skin of its teeth for a 6/10, 5/10 being what I consider watchable.
2011 Movies: What’s Left to See
Overall, it hasn’t been a bad year for movies with a little over a month to go before 2012 begins and *lots* of things start coming out. But there are a few flicks to keep an eye on for the next few weeks.
Today, Nov 23: The Muppets- Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas movie…ever, so I would really like this movie to be good, and considering it looks more like the Muppet movies of old and less like the more recent Muppets in Oz crap, I’m holding out hope…plus I like Amy Adams.
Today, Nov 23: Hugo- I’m still finding it rather difficult to describe what this movie’s about, but take a look at a single trailer for it and tell me it doesn’t look intriguing. Jude Law and Sacha Baron Cohen in supporting roles, Martin Scorcese directed, Johnny Depp produced.
Dec. 16: Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked-
…..Just kiddin’, no way am I going to see that
Dec. 16: Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows-
You know, I’m still surprised at how many people haven’t seen Sherlock Holmes from a couple years ago, it was overall a fantastic movie, and now comes the sequel we’ve been waiting for. We can only hope it lives up to the expectations, unlike Iron Man 2 to Iron Man.
Dec. 21: The Adventures of Tintin- Ok, so I’d probably never heard of this comic strip before this movie, but considering the big names on this project (Steven Spielberg…again , Peter Jackson, Steven Moffat) and how gorgeous the mo-cap CGI looks, I’m in…and did I mention Steven Moffat’s writing it
Dec. 21: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- Still not sure what this is about, and haven’t decided whether to wait on this in favor of it’s 2009, foreign predecessor
Dec. 21: MI: Ghost Protocol-This movie has a very very tentative placement on this list in that my appreciation for Mission Impossible is dangerously close to the don’t give a crap level, but Simon Pegg’s in it and JJ Abrams is involved, so I may get around to watching it eventually….after the first 3
Dec. 23: We Bought a Zoo- Tentative once again, probably a rental. Matt Damon buys a dilapidated zoo for him and his children to run…ok then.
Finally,
Dec. 25: War Horse- Steven Spielberg…again, and a WWI period piece about a horse and his owner. As is Spielberg’s schtick, kinda silly in theory, but looks good in practice, and sounds like one of the best John Williams scores we’ve heard in a while….
Dang it, I said finally and then Wikipedia throws more at me…ok, real fast:
Dec. 25: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close- Tom Hanks died in the 9-11 attacks and left his son a key to something
Dec. 25: The Iron Lady-Biopic about Margaret Thatcher starring Meryl Streep…I’m officially scared
*phew* ok I’m done
Real Steel
I will admit, when the trailer for this first came out, I was secretly interested.
While everyone else was going, “Look, Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots: The Movie!”, I was quietly waiting for it to come out, and guess what? Joke’s on you! It was actually quite good.
You know how Three Musketeers is re-made every 10 years or so? Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a new boxing movie about every year, year and a half..if we’re lucky. Real Steel buys into that fact by changing the formula in one crucial and blatantly obvious way…robots…you get something new, and the fact of the matter is, it works, and for one simple reason: They *tried* (I’m looking at you, Three Musketeers).
Inevitably, watching robots beat the snot out of each other is fun, but while they give us enough of that to not let the premise get away from them, the best part of the movie rests on Hugh Jackman and his character’s son. Most people tend to be wary of kid actors…and for good reason, but just like in Super 8 this past summer, this kid was pretty dang good. Oh, and get this, Danny Elfman’s score was good (no surprise there), but it wasn’t creepy at any point that I can remember….O.o
Yes, it’s an underdog story, something that could use a little re-invigoration if you ask me (not that there’s a shortage of them, but it could use a defibrillator more than a bunch of underwhelming cattle prods), and yes it’s about robots..sorta, but as with a lot of things with Spielberg’s name on it, the semi-silly premise brings you in, and the mastery with which the movie is made keeps you there. Solid 8.5/10
In case you were wondering
I’ve got a new idea to bring Vincent back, so here’s hoping I’ll be able to draw him again If it happens, it could be pretty cool
Valve Comics
What Pixar is to my love of movies, Valve, most of the time, is to my love of video games (although lately I have a bone to pick with Pixar, but that’s beside the point). I’ve always applauded Valve on their constant initiative to pour story into every post-apocalyptic nook and zombie-infested cranny for those who pay attention, while leaving a stream-lined gaming experience for those who hold storylines with the same regard as a soap star at the Oscars (i.e. “You got story in my shoot-em-up game!”). For those on my side who love the work they put into it, Valve has written some comic book tie-ins for some of their biggest franchises.
Collected in Valve Presents: The Sacrifice and Other Steam-Powered Stories are The Sacrifice (Left 4 Dead), Lab Rat (Portal), and a bunch of Team Fortress related short stories.
To this point, I’ve read the entirety of the latter 2 and most of the first, but I’ve never played Left 4 Dead 1 so I’m sure it has a lot less meaning for me than the others, although it seems very well done regardless of my foreknowledge.
The other 2, however, different story.
The Team Fortress stories are fun, silly and irreverent, just like their namesake, while packing in plenty of tantalizing tidbits of how it’s RED and BLU nature operates and came to be.
Portal’s entry, Lab Rat, is my personal favorite. Acting as a bridge between Portal 1 and 2, this story actually answers a lot of big questions about the world of Portal, adding in it’s good writing and purposefully designed, almost schizophrenic, art style, and you make for a very satisfying story.
All in all, if you’re not familiar with the games that inspired these stories, you would probably enjoy them, although you’d probably be a bit confused, but if you’re a fan, you’ll experience the same tone and quality you’re used to without yelling at a tv screen or wearing carpel tunnel braces.
P.S. These stories do have some cursing and violence, but if you played the accompanying games, you’d probably expect that.
Starry Night
Ever since Vincent’s Sunset (Vincent #2), I’ve wanted to draw a companion for Fedora Man, so I finally got around to it, and with it, I pretty much ran out of ideas.
That combined with the fact that I was getting worried that leaving Vincent up for too long would mess up the board and make it difficult to erase makes this, for the time being, the last Vincent drawing.
In all honesty, I was a bit sad when I erased Vincent, I felt a sort of comradery with my creation, the existentialism of art and the connection one has with it.
Maybe Vincent will come back someday, once I’ve erased all the stuff on the board that needs to get done…then again, I doubt I’ll be able to redraw him very well
Office Wookies!
There’s a long story behind this…well long-ish, which will hopefully be in the next M2 Podcast