Archive for May, 2010
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Movie Review: Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Director: Michael Patrick King
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall, Chris Noth
Plot: Carrie and the girls are back – hanging out and showcasing the latest apparel trends. Make no mistake, this movie is a film of fashion fantasy. And that’s about as far as it goes.
First off, I totally admit to not being the target audience for this movie. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a good flick. Unfortunately, this movie falls flat on its face from a storytelling perspective. The conflict doesn’t even reveal itself until way late in the second act – lasts about 20 minutes, and then the movie ends.
So what’s the story about? It’s two years after Carrie (Parker) and Big (Noth) got married in the first movie, and Carrie’s written a book about being married for a year. They attend a gay wedding, Carrie and Big fight about him wanting to relax after a hard day at work (she’s a freelance writer and doesn’t have to go anywhere during the day – so of course she wants to go out when he comes home. But he’s been at the office all day. Dilemma).
Samantha (Cattrall) gets invited to promote a hotel out in the middle east, and of course brings all of the girls for another adventure abroad (noticing a pattern here in the movies). After a fashion travel montage, the girls are out in the desert learning about a new culture and basically soaking up the sun. Nothing happens plot wise for about an hour, and then Carrie runs into an old boyfriend. There’s your conflict.
Suffice it to say, if you were expecting clever writing or plot twists from Sex and the City 2, you will be sorely disappointed. The first movie was essentially an expensive / extended episode of the show (that, in my opinion, would have been stronger if they’d cut about an hour out of the running time) – and this movie follows suit. It’s about an hour too long to support the loosely thrown together plot, but that’s not the purpose of the movie. The magic of this flick isn’t in the storytelling – it’s in the reaction that it receives from female audience goers.
Attending a pre-screening of a movie that’s target audience is women (young and old), you make a few observations. First, all of the women in the theater assume that your girlfriend dragged you along to the movie, or that you’re gay. Because I don’t dress with style, they almost instantly disqualify the later of those two options. Second, the women in the audience react less to the plot than they do to the characters and the outfits.
I remember when the show was popular and everyone would say things like, “Oh that’s so Samantha,” and the point was that people identified with these personas that they created for the show. The audience can identify with the characters in the show, and experience their lives vicariously. This movie is the ultimate fan service, in this case. You identify with these female characters who wear these glamorous outfits and have these luxurious lifestyles, and you can live it with them. It’s a modern day princess movie. Only there are shoes instead of a prince charming.
After arriving at this revelation (sometime around the 30 minute mark), I was actually able to kick back and enjoy the movie with the audience for what it was – a fashion catalog. Starring you and your friends (again, vicariously).
This is never more apparent than when the girls first arrive in the middle east, only to discover that the entire Australian men’s soccer team is also staying at the hotel. While enjoying lunch out by the pool, the girls see the guys come back from practice sporting their speedos. There’s a montage of Australian soccer sausage shots that follows.
All in the movie, this movie isn’t going to win any awards for storytelling (or acting), but that’s not why you go see it. You go to see your friends (both in the movie and who’re coming to see the movie with you), experience glamor and fashion, and you go home. Maybe buy a new pair of shoes. Or a hat. That’s the purpose of this movie. And if you go in with that mentality, then you’ll have a good time.
If you’re expecting a plot even as simply constructed as a romantic comedy, then you’re going to be bored to tears. There’s no story here. There’s really no subtext (and trying to grasp subtext from the movie would probably ruin it for what it is – a fashion magazine). It’s just pretty clothes on girls.
If that’s your thing, enjoy. If not, then I recommend going to see Iron Man 2 again, or waiting for more summer blockbuster flicks.
I woke up to the phone ringing at around 8:30am.
“This is your breakfast wake up call,” comes a familiar voice from the other end.
“Hi Russell,” I replied. “I set the alarm for 9 this morning…wanted to sleep in.”
I got up, took a shower, and headed off to grab breakfast real quick before our 10am panel for Reading with Pictures. By this time, my voice was really starting to disappear – and my Barry White impression was just about spot-on. Josh, Russell, and I were in the early morning panel with a sparse but involved group of people. Josh told the usual stories about how he learned how to read from comics. Russell told stories about the inspiration for his story in the anthology. And I told stories about the inspiration for Albert the Alien.
A few people from some of my earlier panels of the show were in attendance, which is always flattering. It shows that, since I was in such a variety of panels with many different topics, that people were interested in me. Things that were important to me, and that I spend my time working on. That’s a very humbling realization.
After the panel ended I headed out to the floor. It was the last day to sell, and I sold the crap out of everything I had. People from panels stopped by, people from earlier in the weekend who said they were going to buy something stopped by, complete strangers stopped by, and so did old and new friends.
I missed closing ceremonies because I wanted to sell everything I had, and I almost did. I walked the floor the last few minutes of the show to trade books with people, and then packed up my gear. The staffers invited me back to the green room for dinner with the amazing crew who made this weekend possible. After eating far too much food, I was invited to have some adult slushies with some of the convention organizers in the Presidential Suite. Man, what a room!
I didn’t take any pictures of it, but this room doubled as the green room a few years back. It’s got a kitchen, living room, office, bedroom, and a bathroom that would make rich people jealous. The shower was big enough for 5 people not touching. And I’m not exaggerating.
I left the show much later than expected, but having had the greatest weekend I’ve had in the longest time. Possibly ever.
I want to thank everyone responsible for putting that show together, and for making me a guest of the show. I can’t even begin to name them all, and trying to do so would not do it justice – because I know I would mis-spell someone’s name.
To the people who put on the show, the people who I met, and the people who made me a guest of the show – from the bottom of my heart I thank you.
I woke up a little later in the morning on Saturday, and in my sleep deprived state I made my way to the elevator. I was joined by one of the Japanese voice actor guests, Kaori Nazuka (Fruits Basket), who speaks more English than I speak Japanese. we said good morning and rode the elevator up to the green room. Muffins and fruit were the order of the day, and I headed out to the floor to set up before going to my 10am panel.
The 10am panel was interesting, because I didn’t think anyone would actually show. The panel was called “Trevor and the Panel that Shall Not be Named,” and there was no description in the brochure about it. I spoke to the woman that scheduled the panel, and she said that she had just been told that I needed to be in another panel – but no one had told her what it should be on. So she didn’t give it a description. And 5 minutes before the panel actually started, I didn’t even know what the heck I was going to talk about.
And that’s exactly what I opened with.
I turned the panel into a funny story panel, and even talked about some of the origins for the gags in @$$hole!. People tend to enjoy the stories of how Susie came to be a regular character, why I decided to make her a barista, and all of the other crazy things that have happened in the 3+ years that I’ve been updating that comic. I had a pretty sizable crowd, and they enjoyed the stories. Even so much that many of them stopped by the table after and chatted me up, and bought copies of the book. It was a great panel, and I love sharing personal stories like that with a great group of people.
I even had a few friends in the crowd from college. And I think it’s safe to say that I made a few more that morning.
Lunch was waiting for me at the table when I got back, and I spent the day selling and meeting people at the show. A fantastic day, as I sold more than I have at any two shows to date. And the people I talked to were some of the nicest – even when they didn’t buy anything.
Jeenie Breeden (Devil’s Panties) stopped by the table, since the day before she had forgotten who I was. We had met very briefly last year at a convention, and she sees so many faces that I didn’t surprise me that I hadn’t left a lasting impression. Her and I chatted up for a while before she went back to her table.
As the floor was closing up, Josh asked me to be on the East vs West panel with him and Steve. We went to the panel room and I put on the persona of The West. I said a lot of things that I didn’t actually agree with, but did it for the comedy and the entertainment of the crowd. The panel went well, and was followed by Russell and Josh’s Batman Strikes! panel. The room was full, and people asked very insightful questions about the writing process.
The panel ended and we went back to the green room only to find that all of the food was gone. We were invited by the American voice actors to go to Gibsons for steak. We ordered a jumbo lobster for an appetizer – 38 ounces! It was larger than my leg from hip to knee, and fed 7 people. Then we ordered the main course. If you love red meat, you need to go to Gibsons – they do it right.
We returned to the green room after midnight, our bellies full of great food. We drank and stayed up way too late, and then went to bed for the final day of ACEN 2010.
The weekend had been great, not just because of the great sales but also because of the great people. Tomorrow would bring a bitter-sweet end to the weekend. Only because I was having so much fun, and all good things have to come to an end eventually.
To be continued….
Friday was the first official day of the convention, and I headed down to breakfast with Russell and Steve Horton (DC Holiday Special) at O’h (the restaurant at the Hyatt).
After breakfast, we headed out to the floor to set up the tables (which were right by the main entrance of the show – we couldn’t have asked for a better location). As people started filtering in, I was approached by several groups of people for pictures and autographs – which I’m always glad to give.
Our tables were over by the other comic guests including Misako Rocks! (Savage Love) and Fred Gallagher (MegaTokyo), and we were also joined by our good friend Josh Elder (Batman Strikes, Mail Order Ninja).
Around 1pm, I was escorted to the stage in the Hyatt for Opening Ceremonies. All of the guests are invited and encouraged to attend, even though the event tends to start a little late. Unfortunately because of that late start, Josh and Steve had to step out to get to a panel that they were both on, and since Russell wanted to stay on the floor to sell, it made me the resident comic guy at the show.
Behind the stage I met some cool people, including the band members of the Spoony Bards, many of their members being from Chicago. They even invited me to one of their shows this coming weekend, but I digress.
So while Vic Mignogna is on the stage, I’m told that I’ll be next. Suddenly a very cold sweat hits me – one of the most popular people at the show is on stage, and I have to follow his act. Thankfully, our speeches were separated by the announcements of the missing comic creators.
I came out when my name was called, looking out at a good thousand plus people in the audience. The lights mostly obscured my vision, so I couldn’t count exactly, but I could tell that the room was filled. The amazing thing was that the clapping that welcomed me wasn’t just polite and sparse – but a roar from the crowd!
“So I guess they selected me to represent the comic creators at this show,” I said. “Which means we’re all in some kind of trouble.”
(pause)
“Just kidding, the rest of the guys are at a panel right now.”
After informing the crowd about my panel schedule for the weekend, and why they should stop by and buy my stuff, I exited the stage and watched a few more presenters before returning to the floor.
I met fans and sold my heart out until my first panel of the weekend, Marketing and Advertising your Comic at 5pm. For what promised to be an education (and therefore less entertaining) panel, a good chunk of people showed up. Many were actually looking to promote something other than a comic – some even just looking to get into marketing or advertising as a career – and I tried to keep the panel as open as I could. Come Q&A time, the questions went flying. Thankfully, I was able to follow up with some of the people after the panel ended to make sure that they walked away with satisfying answers.
I went back to the floor with just enough time to pack up the table, and then the group of us went to dinner at the O’h restaurant again (at the behest of one of the convention coordinators). After dinner, we returned to the green room for relaxing and drinking. I met one of the con liaisons and we ended up playing DJ Hero (which I suck at), and then went to the rave (where we watched some 16 year olds in a sweaty “hump train”), and then back to the green room for one last drink of the evening before bed.
Saturday would be the big day, and I didn’t want to miss a moment of it!
To be continued…
Thursday night after work got out I grabbed my already packed (and very heavy luggage case), and headed out to the blue line to Rosemont. I was kind of beat after the long work day, but extremely excited for the weekend ahead because this was my first year as an official guest of one of my favorite conventions of the year: ACEN!
This was the 13th year of the show, and it’s grown by leaps and bounds. Last year they boasted 17,000 attendees – making them one of the largest conventions in the country. I was unofficially on their guest list last year, but didn’t have a table or any product to sell. Instead, I sat on several panels and helped spread education and entertaining stories to the masses. Apparently they liked me enough to invite me back as an official guest of the show this year – and for all of you who requested me, I humbly thank you.
Russell Lissau (The 29, Batman Strikes!), another guest of the show and my good friend, picked me up and took me to Target because I forgot my table cloth for the show. Then we headed into the Hyatt and went straight for the green room so I could get my room keys and badge from con ops.
Russell and I were then invited to a meet-and-greet with the con volunteers and the guests. Kind of a fun way to mingle with the people volunteering their weekend to making the show as awesome as possible! We chatted up one such staffer, and were joined by fellow guest Steve Yun (Robotech).
After the meet-and-greet, we went to go grab tickets to see Iron Man 2. Although I had already seen it (read the review here), Russell had not. When we got to the theater, I was amazed to see several of my friends from college (who attend the show every year) were already in the theater! We sat by them and enjoyed the flick together.
After the movie ended, Russell and I headed back up to the green room to hang out with the guests and staffers. Many of the Japanese guests were up there with their translators, as well as many of the American voice actors. I had met a few of them at previous cons, but this year they recognized me – probably because I was the only bald guest, and probably because my profile picture in the brochure had that blazing red background.
After a few drinks, I headed off to bed looking forward to the long weekend to come.
To be continued….