Monthly Archives: April 2012

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Win an Autographed Copy of The Mapmaker and the Ghost!

You might remember Sarvenaz Tash from her awesome guest post here last October about attending her first comic book convention at NYCC 2011.

Well, her debut novel was just released this week and she is giving away a very special copy of it. Not only is it autographed by Sarvenaz, but it has been remarqued with hand drawn illustrations by the awesome artist Graig Kreindler. Here’s some of the illustrations Graig did for the book:

 Pretty awesome, right?

The title page, signed by both Sarvenaz and Graig.
  
This book is truly one of a kind, and the winner gets an armful of other prizes as well! 

Head over to Sarvenaz’s blog for all the details on how to enter. But do so quickly! The contest closes Tuesday, May 1.

If you’re going to be in the NYC this weekend, BookCourt is hosting the release party for The Mapmaker and the Ghost on Saturday night. Sarvenaz will be doing a reading and signing copies of the book. And from what I hear, there will be some very delicious cupcakes on hand. Details can be found here.

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On The Couch 2012 #4: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

If it weren’t for Rifftrax, I probably would have gone my whole life without having seen the incredibly long titled The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. But after watching the original Twilight movie with its accompanying Rifftrax, I knew I had to see this movie once its Rifftrax was available.

Breaking Dawn should not be watched without its Rifftrax under any circumstances! In fact, subjecting someone to Breaking Dawn without Rifftrax is a violation of most international articles of war and can be classified as extra cruel and unusual torture.

But with Rifftrax, this movie becomes quite possibly the funniest movie you will see this year. I cannot recommend it enough. You will be laughing from beginning to end. The Rifftrax is available at www.rifftrax.com. It’s $4 you not regret spending.

“Um…line?”

We double featured the Rifftrax of Breaking Dawn with the Rifftrax of Karate Kid Part III. If there are three movies you need to see with their Rifftrax, they are Twilight, Breaking Dawn and Karate Kid Part III.

Like the Twilight films, Karate Kid Part III is a ridiculous movie and is ripe for the Rifftrax treatment. I think the Breaking Dawn Rifftrax was funnier, but that may be because Karate Kid Part III is the better movie, despite having the most absurd villain ever.

There is no movie villain more ludicrous than Terry Silver.

The makers of Rifftrax should be awarded medals of honor. No one should have to watch Breaking Dawn as many times as they did without Rifftrax.

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At The Theater 2012 #5: The Hunger Games

Without a doubt, the best part of The Hunger Games is Stanley Tucci’s performance at Caesar Flickerman, the Ryan Seacrest/ESPN Announcer mash-up who handles interviews and play-by-play kill-by-kill updates of the tributes. Regular readers of Tuesday Night Movies should not be surprised by this. I think almost every movie would be better if Stanley Tucci were in it.

Best. Thing. About. This. Movie.

When I first heard that Stanley Tucci was being cast in The Hunger Games, I thought he was an obvious choice. When I then heard that he was cast not as Katniss Everdeen’s personal Tim Gunn, the designer Cinna, but would be playing Caesar Flickerman, I thought it was a bone headed move. Stanley Tucci is the best at playing the fairy godmother role. But then I saw him as Caesar in the movie. He knocked it out of the park. When The Hunger Games DVD comes out, I want there to be a picture-in-picture running through the whole movie of Caesar Flickerman giving play-by-play. It would make every scene in the movie better.

Also, since seeing the movie, I cannot stop announcing in a Stanley Tucci as Caesar Fleckerman voice, “Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire!!!”

Don’t mistake me, I thought The Hunger Games movie was a very good adaption of Suzanne Collins’s book. I was worried that the movie would be bogged down in exposition, explaining the dystopian world of The Hunger Games and the genetically engineered beasts used to take out the tributes once they’re in the arena. Despite there being a lot of movie before we ever see the arena, I felt the movie was constantly moving the plot forward and not getting lost in exposition. A big part of this was using Caesar to explain things in his play-by-play to the viewers at home the same way the narrator of Ninja Warrior explains the course to TV audiences. Purists may bristle at this change from the book. But if a change that minor gets your feathers ruffled, you’re better off never seeing movies based on books you’ve read.

One minor quibble I have with The Hunger Games is that when Peeta is training, they make a huge deal about how strong Peeta is, he routinely throws 100 lb bags of flour. We then never see him use this strength. He somehow uses his cupcake decorating skills to camouflage himself completely into the background scenery, but never does his Hefty Smurf strength come into play.

Awesome Walking Dead cosplay, bro.

Okay, make that two minor quibbles. What’s up with Woody Harrelson’s hair in The Hunger Games? Dutch painter boy, really?

“Katniss, whatever you do, don’t let Cinna touch your hair. Learn from my mistake!”

I’m looking forward to Catching Fire. It’s my favorite of the three Hunger Games books. More Tooch as Caesar and the introduction of Aquaman Finnick, my favorite character in the series. The odds are ever in my favor.

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On the Couch 2012 #3: Horrible Bosses

If you like comedies, go see Horrible Bosses. It is a very, very funny movie and if it weren’t for Bridesmaids, I would say it is the funniest movie of 2011.

Horrible Bosses at its core is a concept that most people can relate to, three buddies who each hate their bosses. It’s not something I can relate to, my boss is awesome (especially if he’s reading this blog right now). But even I have had a bad boss or two in my career (but not my current one! Again, he’s awesome!).

I feel like more people would have went to see Horrible Bosses in the theater if the commercials played up how little clothing Jennifer Aniston’s character likes to wear during the film. Don’t sell it as Charlie Day has a boss who really wants to have sex with him; sell it as Jennifer Aniston wants to get freaky with her employee. If you try to sell it as Charlie Day’s boss want to have sex with him, then the potential viewer has to think about Charlie Day potentially having sex, and while I can’t speak for all of America, that’s not something that I really want swimming around my brain. On the other hand, if you start with Jennifer Aniston really wants to get it on with one of her employees, I don’t even care that it’s Charlie Day, where can I buy a ticket.

Show me less Charlie Day and more of his boss.
This is on the right track, but really, Jennifer Aniston is dressed much more conservatively in these two posters than she is in the movie.
This is how her character actually dresses for work.
Put this image on your poster and you just won your opening weekend.
It was cool that Jennifer Aniston didn’t play the normal Jennifer Aniston role, namely the good girl (but not The Good Girl. She broke type in that movie as well). 

I just realized that between this and Wanderlust, Jennifer Aniston may become my favorite comedic actress of the year.

Back to Charlie Day for a second, he had my favorite scene in the movie. It’s when he’s acting as the lookout after accidentally inhaling Colin Farrell’s cocaine. His antics in the getaway car were hilarious and still make me giggle when I think of them.

Speaking of Colin Farrell, how crazy was his makeover in this movie? I never liked Colin Farrell, but with Horrible Bosses and In Bruges, I’m starting to gain respect for him as a comedic actor.

He said to his stylist, “Give me a Matt Damon circa The Informant.”

If you haven’t seen Horrible Bosses yet, you definitely should, maybe after the next time you get home from a rough day at the office.