Welcome To the Dead Parade #6.5: Extremely Touch-y, Incredibly Close

I can't believe I'm doing my first decimal issue of Just the Ticket! In the tradition of SW@ Ticket classics like Hell Hath No Fury, The Heroic Journey, and Spider-Man, Then & Now, Just the Ticket and the Dead Parade will occasionally feature themed issues or issues that address media other than film, and as such will be denoted with a decimal number. Just some history and nostalgic, self-indulgent drooling I wanted to get out of the way. Mission accomplished!
"Mission accomplished? Did he really say that out loud?" - Ving Rhames, M:I-GP
Anyway, the theme this week is a common thread shared by the movie Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close and the TV series Touch, the aforementioned non-film medium. Which is the chicken and which the egg, I have yet to determine.

Whatever the case, ELIC is a long, yet sort of enjoyable yarn (uh...yarn...thread...DOH! Sorry) about a boy named Oskar who is trying to cope with both the loss of his father (Tom Hanks) to 9/11, and with his various neuroses and phobias as he tracks the origin of a mysterious key he finds in his father's room. His oblivious but supportive mother (Sandra Bullock) and a voluntarily mute man (the brilliant, and Oscar-nominated, Max von Sydow) who may or may not be Oskar's estranged grandfather come along for the ride with profound and unifying results.
I was at times put off by Oskar's increasinglyrapidlyLOUDLYDELIVEREDDIALOGUEASHECON-VEYEDHISSTORYTOPEOPLE!!!!! and I never want to see or hear or have anyone make a reference to a tambourine for the rest of my life after having seen this movie, but I otherwise enjoyed it. And if you're not down with that, I have three words for you: succotash my Balzak!
A-

I hate repeating myself, but Touch, the latest too-big-of-a-concept-for-TV television series from the over-caffienated, marijuana-infused mind of Heroes creator Tim Kring, is about an autistic boy named Jake who lost his mother in 9/11. He never talks to the other characters, at least not in the traditional sense, but instead leaves numbers and patterns that send his father (Kiefer Sutherland) on a goose-chase-of-the-week that ends up having profound and unifying results. Jake narrates each episode, often with emphasis on numerology, in much the same way as Oskar narrates ELIC. In last week's episode, we learned that Sutherland's character has a recurring dream in which Jake jumps off a swing into his arms. ELIC has similar content. This week's episode involves a mysterious key and an estranged relative. Speaking of thread and yarn, one of the founding ideas behind Touch is the Chinese belief in the Red Thread of Fate. And the similarities go on and on. I may harp on Touch, but it has become one of my favorite shows right now.
Unfortunately, TV shows that are released at roughly the same time as the movies they are near exact copies of don't seem to do very well.
A

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zenescope - Omnibusted #18: Tales From Wonderland

Image
Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. the Omnibuster This is my second week in a row of getting  Omnibusted , this time by compiling my reviews of all three Volumes of  Tales From Wonderland  into one post to pad my content while I catch up a little. Please remember to  Become A Ticketholder  if you haven't already, comment at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read, and follow me on  Tumblr ,  Reddit ,  Facebook , and  LinkedIn  to like what you see and receive the latest  Grimm  news on my content. Tales From Wonderland  is a three Volume collection of One-Shot issues (single-issue comics that focus on a single character or team, usually as a means of providing exposition material to the reader) that tell the origins or motivations of some of Wonderland’s most notorious denizens. As with the early  Grimm Fairy Tales  Volumes, there is an additional short story at the end of each Volume of  Tales From Wonderland . Tales From Wonderland  Volume #1 TFW  # 1:  Queen o
Read more

One Piece Multi-Piece #7: Impel Down

Image
Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. Master Of Tickets Before we set sail for this short issue of the One Piece  Multi-Piece , please chart a course by remembering to  Become A Ticketholder  if you haven't already, commenting at the bottom of this post, helping out my ad revenue as you read, and joining my Crew on  Tumblr ,  Reddit ,  Facebook , and  LinkedIn  to like what you see and receive the latest snail transmissions of news on my content. I rarely post anything on YouTube, but I'm a frequent commenter and content supporter, and I recently commented on one of Doug Walker's videos as follows: It's not just you, Doug; Buggy the Clown didn't land for me in the anime at first. But he is AMAZING in the Impel Down arc (not going to spoil it, but the basic idea is the "Lock Up" episode of BTAS in Dante’s Inferno with One Piece characters, done as a full season). And that's pretty accurate. With no crew to help him fight, find his way, feed him, or fix
Read more

Just the Ticket #142: Alien Resurrection

Image
Article by Sean Wilkinson, a.k.a. Ticketmaster 8 I only wish there were seven more of me to do the things I don't want to do, and to help me do the things I enjoy, but better. I seem to be doing alright for myself, though, as we're poised to pass twenty thousand views for the month. But (save one or two sources of light) work is not my friend at the moment, so a few viable clones, or more realistically, a more enjoyable paying  job, would make life a lot more bearable. To ensure that  Just the Ticket  stays viable and enjoyable, please remember to tell each of your friends, family members, and clones to  Become A Ticketholder  if you haven't already, send a beacon to the comments section at the bottom of this post because it's the only way to be sure my site doesn't get nuked from orbit, help out my ad revenue as you read to keep The Company happy, and use the air ducts to follow me on  Tumblr ,  Reddit ,  Facebook , and  LinkedIn  so you can like what you see and r
Read more