The Home of the Creative Mind

Welcome to PooBahSpiel, the online voice and home of the creative mind of Mark Monlux, Illustrator Extraordinaire. Prepare yourself for an endless regaling of art directly from the hand of this stellar artist. And brace yourself against his mighty wind of pontification. Updates are kinda weekly and show daily sketches, current projects, and other really nifty stuff.

Monday, November 21, 2011

The Comic Critic Reviews A Very Harold & Kumar 2D Christmas



My wonderful wife wanted to take me to the movies on my birthday. She’d take me to see anything I wanted, but I certainly didn’t mean to test her loyalty by taking me to see A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. Gullible, I truly held the hope that the magic of the first film would be recaptured; instead, I got something every bit as awful, if not worse, than the second film, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. (It was a crushing blow because it was such a disappointment.) That experience should have set my expectations lower. This one was filled with an homage to past Christmas films, crass toilet humor that left my shoulders aching from cringing, and a seemingly endless stable of obvious 3D effects constructed solely (and obviously) for the post-theater-release 3D TV market. This movie has me hoping that today’s 3D craze will follow the pitter-patter of past 3D fads and just fade way, taking this movie with it.

Here’s an odd side story: As we stepped out of our car in the theater’s parking lot, my foot came down on a baggie. I picked it up to find that it contained a bud of weed. I put it into my pocket because I was going in to watch a movie that heavily featured pot smoking and promptly forgot all about it. During the movie, a familiar aroma kept hitting me at odd times. It was confusing because, regardless of how interesting pot smoke may be, I knew 3D couldn’t broadcast a smell. Certainly the film wasn’t good enough to bring back old memories. Then I remembered the bag in my pocket and mentally let out a long, “Oh!” When we left the theater, I left the baggy behind—on the floor. I have not indulged in years; besides, there’s no way I’d ever smoke something that I found in a parking lot. Why did I leave it behind instead of tossing it away? I wanted the next person to sit there to undergo an unexpected odorama experience. Maybe it would make sitting through the movie a little bit more pleasant for them than it was for me.