Tim Doyle

I wrote this review for a friend’s zine that it looks like may or may not ever come out.  But, I’m really proud of the review, and I hope you like it-

The Last Action Hero is Smarter Than You-

I know, I know.  You think I’m fucking with you.  You think I’m affecting some stance so I can defend it with ironic statements, and I’m just trying to be a hip dick.  But I’m not. I really, really like this film.
Now, keep in mind, I hadn’t seen Last Action Hero since it was in theaters…almost 20 years ago.  I was 16 in 1993, and there’s no way I was prepared for the film I was about to see.  I don’t think the damn world was ready for the film.  Now, stick with me here- I’ll get to the WHY this film is so good soon enough.  To prep for this article, I just re-watched it, and here’s a quick run-down/ refresher on the plot:

Kid (Danny Madigan) is a huge movie nerd, skips school to watch films in a run-down old cinema palace run by old-guy, much to the disappointment of his single-mother. His favorite movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger is starring in a new release, Jack Slater 4, and the old guy who runs the theater has a print of it before the premier and the kid comes over to watch it at a midnight screening just for him.  Once there, old-guy gives kid a ticket given to him by Houdini, and during the screening, kid gets sucked into the film-world, and starts interacting with the fictional wold there.  Because kid has seen the first 10 mins or so of Jack Slater 4, he knows a bit about the plot and helps Slater foil some bad-guy plans.  Bad guy in the film gets his hands on the ticket and uses it to come into the ‘real world.’  Jack Slater and Kid have to stop bad guy from killing the real Schwarzenegger, which would end Slater’s life as well.  The good guys win, Slater goes back to the movie-world, and Kid keeps ticket. Somewhere in there is a cartoon cat.  The end.

I remember when The Last Action Hero came out.  It wasn’t what I wanted to see at the time.  In fact, I don’t think it was anyone’s idea of what they wanted to see.  The movie is a victim of audience expectations of what a Schwarzenegger movie SHOULD be.  But if this movie came out now- I firmly believe the critics would be falling all over themselves to say how brilliant it is.

Put yourself in this position- Terminator 2 was Arnold’s most recent film…the man was an action god, a stone-cold killer, and could do no wrong.  And THEN- he’s starring in a film who’s main intent was to play with and make fun of the trappings of the action movies you loved him for.  In essence, LAH is making fun of the very audience it was being marketed to.  And not only that- the REAL story going on is one about fictional characters transcending the bounds of the stories they’re trapped in, and wanting to run their own destiny, as opposed to the one written for them to act out on the screen.  No fucking way was that going to work in 1993.  Hollywood didn’t know how to market this, and audiences didn’t even know how to watch it.

Holly wood still doesn’t know how to market this thing- does this looks like the DVD cover for a movie where the hero gets rescued by a cartoon cat?

READ THE REST AFTER THE JUMP!

Look at that freaking line.

Ken Harman, the owner/ operator of Spoke Art was kind enough to fly me and the wife out to San Fran for the weekend for the West Coast debut of Quentin V. Coen. They gave away my Big Lebowski Handbill set, “Sometimes There’s a Man”, to the first 50 attendees, and that did not last long!

The show on Thursday was a blast, and it was really great meeting and talking to everyone who came out. I got to meet a couple of artists at the show, including Greg Gigart, Serge Gay Jr, and Oliver Barret. Let me say one thing, Serge Gay Jr. is a handsome, handsome dude. I will have to steal his powers.

I GET WEIRDER AFTER THE JUMP! CLICK TO READ MORE…

The Sea Also Rises t-shirts are finally here!

It’s been a while since we’ve had some new T-shirts here at Nakatomi, and we’re super-happy to announce our new line! Based on art from my ‘The Sea Also Rises’ series of prints, these 100% ringspun cotton t-shirts feature BIG BIG printing with machine-washable waterbased inks for that super-soft fit! (No plastic crackly ink!)

Read More After the JUMP!

I was asked to participate in an artshow that is also a fundraiser for a documentary about VHS art, and this is the piece I created for it. VHS will always hold a special place in my memory. I remember my family renting a VCR for birthdays and holidays from the local grocery store, along with some tapes. I always asked for the same tapes: Tron, Temple of Doom, Condorman, Black Hole, and maybe some Transformers cartoons. I used to work at a Suncoast Video when I was about 21, and I remember when DVD’s first came into the store. Here we were sitting in a store full of VHS tapes, with our little section of public-domain-title DVDs that were the first to market. The whole VHS medium was dead and it wouldn’t even know it for another 5 years or so. And now, even the rental culture is almost dead, and DVDs and Blue-ray will be gone in a few years in favor of streaming video. Strange times.

Please read more after the break-