Blank Check with Griffin & David - Birds of Prey with Ang Ferraguto, Emma Stefansky, Ashleigh Heaton, and Preeti Chhibber

Episode Date: February 16, 2020

No boys allowed, although gender is a construct. It's an all-women special! Ang Ferraguto is joined by Emma Stefansky, Ashleigh Heaton, and Preeti Chhibber. This PodSkwad is NOT here to complain about Star Wars, but to talk about this women-powered DC movie full of hammers and hair ties, fun guns and fun outfits, and women helping women by kicking ass. How can you tell this was made by a woman? And which psychopaths are Griffin and David? #Let men have nipples.

He's not just after the kid anymore. He's after all of us. He sure as hell after me. I just robbed him. You just betrayed him. You just killed his BFF. And you're dumb enough to be building a case against him. So, unless we all want to die very unpleasant deaths

and let Roman go finger fishing in the kid's intestinal tract, we're going to have to podcast together. Oh, I like that. Wow. Amazing. Thank you, guys. That was unexpected. I didn't know which word it was going to be. No, I kept going.

It was a spot-on impression, may I say? Thanks. Very well done. Yeah, I really studied Did you method act Margot Robbie? Yeah. I've watched so many YouTube clips. Okay. Well,

this is blank check. And you might notice that today is a little bit different. We might sound a little bit different. We might sound a little bit different. Because there are no men allowed today. None. Rule number one. Applause.

No boys. Yeah, we're going to throw out a very Potter musical reference right at the start. Oh, no. Just to begin. Yeah, yeah. To clarify, gender is a social construct. But I really, really wanted to cover Birds of Prey. And to give you guys some history griffin and david saw the joker

i think we can rachel i think we can like not bleep this out this episode i'm gonna vote not to the word joker the word joker fuck them yeah but i feel like for context let's maybe not have like a million bleeps in this episode right griffin and david saw the oscar-winning film joker and broke their brains and all they had were negative thoughts about that movie yeah you know because we live in a society and i just really got to them that's what i learned because we've actually covered dcu films the guys were like what, I think let's maybe stop. And it broke my heart a little bit because I was so, so excited to cover Birds of Prey. And rather than kind of sit and mope,

and poor cheese was directly into my mouth, I texted David and said, can I do a bonus episode on Birds of Prey? And can I just gather a gang of girls because all women are superheroes. Heck yeah. Yeah. According to women on stage at the Oscars.

I just really want to talk about Birds of Prey. And they said, sure. And it was going to be a surprise bonus Thursday episode. And then the schedule got rearranged and now it's on a Sunday. So no pressure. We're off format. We've never had a blank check episode without the hosts. Yeah.

It feels weird. I don't feel bad. No. I feel great about it. No, no, no. Fuck them. I can say, guys, we can insult. We hate them. Oh my god. The people who pay my check all the time. Basically, I wanted to gather a bunch of girls I knew who were hyped about this movie.

And I'd been tweeting about trailers. So I assembled this great team. And we'll all get into different reasons why we were all very excited to talk about this movie. Yeah. So to start with, we have Emma Stefanski. Hey. I'm back. She has returned.

You may remember her from The Weight of Water. Oh, man. Ms. Peregrine. All greats. Both movies I remember every second of. Yeah. They're so good. They're movies that exist.

Yeah. And you were on the Thor Ragnarok commentaries. I sure was. Yeah. I looked up the Blank Check Wikia page to like watch. I got a lot of Instagram DMs after I went on the Ragnarok episodearies? I sure was. Yeah. I looked up the Blank Check Wikia page to like a lot of people. I got a lot of Instagram DMs after I went on the Ragnarok episode of people being like

I'm following you because you like this movie better than Griffin and David did. And I agree with you more. I was like cool. Thanks. Yeah. Good reason to follow someone.

But you are also a writer for Thrillist. Yes I am. I've seen her in Anity Fair. Not anymore. Well you've been. Yes. Yes.

I have. Google it. It comes up. Written there before. Written for a few. Not anymore. I bet yes. Google it. It comes up. I've written there before. I've written for a few places. I work at Thrillist now. I was just there. Emma was tweeting about Birds of Prey. I was like, I know who I want.

It was Emma Stefanski. And you know who else I said I wanted on this show? I said I wanted Preeti Chhibber. Who is an author and podcaster, and she has a very funny Twitter account. You should follow her. Heart agree. Yes.

You may know her from, she's written for SyFy and Polygon. Podcasts include Desi Geek Girls and Strong Female Characters, which is perfect because this movie is about strong female characters, wouldn't you know? They're so strong. They are the strongest. They're so female. In so many different ways. In many different ways, yeah. And you've got some books on the horizon in the

Marvel and Star Wars universe. I know I'm very excited for A Jedi You Will Be. It is kind of the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm not going to lie. It's the cutest thing. I love it. And he's not even a baby.

And I love it. Yoda can be cute when he's not a baby. He's like tiny old man Yoda. It's very, very cute. It's not like Return of the Jedi. No. Like rotting. Old, old, old.

Just like slowly tipping over. Yeah. Old. Yeah. And Luke's like, can you tell me anything? And he's like, I would literally rather die than talk to you right now. I'm just going to pass out. That is not, I don't think that's the Yoda you're writing about.

I think he's a lot more like cute and positive. That was a really spot on Yoda impression. Thank you. That was really good. You're really exhausting. I gotta, I'm just going to. To be fair, like a forever nap versus having to like deal with the action the consequences of your actions forever now right right well and

then you end up being like a cool blue ghost anyway i feel like there's not a lot of like consequences for like if you're a jedi you're just like i'll just like float and then that way i can just kind of like pop in and out when i want to. I can catch lightsabers for some reason. Oh, yeah. Perfect. I'm going to try not to get. I've already complained about Star Wars. Yeah.

So anyway, yeah, we got you. Someone who's, you know, got ties with Disney. So now we can talk all about a completely different company. Specifically the one that wars against it. And then we also have my good friend, Ashley Heaton. Oh, hello. There she is. And Ashley Heaton has never been on the show as well.

No, I haven't. No, I did shout her out in the Star Wars episode. You may remember me as the Raylo fan, a.k.a. Raylo Trashly. That's me. So hi, guys. Yeah, we have our differences, but we make it work. We do. You dida. Raylo Trashly. That's me. So, hi, guys. We have our differences, but we make it work. We do. You did it. How does it feel? It feels really great. We're stronger

than ever. We're stronger than ever. We both, I think, equally did not like that movie. Yeah, but Ashley and I have seen, like, we saw, I think the big one is, like, you and I saw Avengers together. Yes. And that was, like, when we established, like, okay, we are both like the only people freaking out over this like of the like college group that we are with right now we went with a bunch of other people that weren't as invested

and so it was just like you and me sitting next to each other yeah and I remember specifically when uh it was yeah it was it was like when Mark Ruffalo like turns the camera and he says like that's my secret and like you and I like held hands and then turns the camera and he says that's my secret and you and I held hands and then he turned back and he said I'm always angry and then he hulked out did we float out of our seats? I think we did, we levitated

we briefly levitated and then since then we've seen Wonder Woman together I think we saw The Last Jedi together we did we angrily texted about Captain Marvel together. Yes. But Ashley has also done voice acting. I have.

She's a D&D champ. Well, all right. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But all right. So Ashley's like one of the nerdiest people I know. I hate to say this. It's like a high compliment.

It is. It's the highest compliment. Also one of the people I know, she's like, let me borrow her comics. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you also work at Penguin Random House. I do, yeah. I do, yeah.

And you publish some real nerdy shit there. We do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I work specifically on the Del Rey team, which is kind of our sci-fi and fantasy branch. And so we do like trade originals, which is like, you know, totally new, not connected to any sort of universe. And then we also do licensed stuff. So we work on Star Wars is our most famous. We're going to be working on Critical Role books,

if anyone's interested in Critical Role and a bunch of other stuff. Yeah. And contribute to Ashley and yell at her about how stuff's not canon anymore. She loves that. I love that. And I definitely have control over it. Definitely give me a shout. Yeah, yeah.

She can call up George Lucas and be like, hey, is there any way this can work out again? And he's like, you know what? For you, Ashley. Yeah. Yeah. I've got him on speed dial. That's what he's for.

Yeah. You know? Right. It is in the welcome packet when you start working on these properties. Yes. George Lucas's personal cell phone number and Kathleen Kennedy. Yes. Says call anytime with a little heart next to it.

Right. Yeah. We also have Rachel in the house. Oh, hey, that's me. Here she is. Rachel on the mic. Rachel also saw Birds of Prey. I did.

There was literally a 10-year-old girl sitting next to me. What did the 10-year-old girl think of this super girl power movie? Well, her parents didn't bring her out in the middle of it, so I assume that she was liking it. didn't bring her out in the middle of it so I assume that she was liking it. I have to say like just no matter what my thoughts are on the movie itself my five year old little cousin

took so many photos of all the posters in Times Square because she was like women on posters yay! We stan women on posters. We love when a woman is on a poster. We love it. And they have big old hammers.

When a woman has a hammer. That's how we went. Hammers and hair ties. That's all we need. And then you have me. I do anything you read on our Twitter account. That's me. I'm very funny. My name is Angela Faragudo.

I'm taking over this podcast because I can do what I want because I'm a woman. Girl power. So yeah. So anyway, we'll get into Birds of Prey in a second.

I just want to give you guys like a heads up. Like, we already established I'm not Griffin and David. I don't have an insane memory like Griffin. What?

I do flail my hands as much as David. Maybe almost as much. Emma can attest. I do flail my hands as much as David. Maybe almost as much. Emma can attest to this. You're both hand talkers, yeah. That's great. Yeah, yeah. I'm Italian. I'll just sit on his hands. Like Lady Gaga, I'm Italian. I

wave my arms a lot. But yeah, this is just going to be like a little format. It's just going to be fun. It's going to be fun. It's going to be fucking fun. And if you don't like it, you're sexist. But please keep listening. But please continue. You can turn this off right now.

Please don't do it when I get our numbers up. Thank you. Did I talk about what this show is? This show is a podcast about filmographies. It's about directors who have massive success early in their career and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. And sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce. Maybe.

And yeah, today we're a format to talk about birds of prey. We've done a whole bunch of introducing. So let's just get right into it. What did we think of this movie? It's great. I had a great time. Loved it. Yeah, I loved it.

I thought it was, I agree. I thought it was just super fun. Yeah. Great. I think we're done, right? Yeah. End of the podcast. Thank you so much.

Shortest blank check episode ever. No, I had such a fun time. End of the podcast. Thank you so much. Shortest blank check episode ever. No. I had such a fun time. And to the point that when I got home after seeing this movie, I couldn't fall asleep because I was still thinking about it. I was like, oh, wow. Wowee. Yeah.

Oh, boy. You stayed up so late. Ashley, you stayed up till 1? I don't know. I'm like a party animal over here. 1 o'clock. But yeah. No, I had a great time.

And also when I was watching this movie, I don't know about anyone else, but like the whole time I couldn't stop smiling. Like I just, everything like, like I was either like smiling or I was smiling and saying like, that was very violent, but I loved it. Like that was kind of my reaction to this film. I, yeah, I had a blast. You brought up Avengers earlier and that's kind of the same sort of experience. I feel like I had like, I remember going to see Avengers and being like,

this was just so fun. Like it was such a fun, exciting movie. And there wasn't all this like baggage associated with the brand at the time. And that's what this felt like to me. It was just sheer enjoyable, like entertainment, not necessarily a perfectly constructed film, but sheer fun. Yeah. I do wish there were a little more legs breaking in horrible directions in Avengers. Oh, my God. Breaking one way and then re-breaking the other way. That feels like something Steve Rogers could do, right?

Theoretically, if Steve Rogers kicks, like that's what should happen. Oh my gosh. It's just the shield goes one way. Right, the shield could like really fuck people up, but Avengers, not rated R. This movie is. It is the kind of thing where like, I watch those Marvel movies

and I see them like punch people and I'm like, that person is dead. Yeah. Simply dead. They just killed him. Steve Rogers' shield should work like the the thing that Xenobor your princess has

oh yeah yeah yeah you just toss it and it just like slices through the person Kevin Feige we have notes yeah I kind of wish Kevin Feige

had like watched this movie and he's just like we should have had more murder and mayhem oh god that's what we should have been doing this whole time. Yeah, Thor's hammer did not fuck enough shit up.

Oh my God. If you have any hair ties, Thor could have used a hair tie more of the time. Oh, absolutely. He had his hair up halfway up though sometimes. I feel like I desperately want a Loki and Harley crossover now. Oh my God. Marvel, settle your differences.

Make it happen. The ultimate crossover event. The ultimate crossover event crossover this is the one that people want right now that's what pulls people together in our rated our anti-heroes

yeah what did you think Emma was your initial reaction I liked it I think I maybe liked it a little bit less than everyone else here

maybe get out but I like you're sexist I know I should go I'm basically a boy that's just like how this, I know I should go. I'm basically a boy. That's just like how this works.

I know. I'm sorry, everyone. But no, I like, I did. I had a good time. I liked more of the action-y stuff than the like storytelling stuff. Sure. Yeah. I had some problems there.

But like, honestly, you know, at the end of of the day I felt like a bird of prey myself wow what kind of bird would you say um actually this is a question that my uh creative writing teacher asked me in high school once and I immediately had an answer ready for her I said I was a secretary bird which if you know what that is those are some beautiful birds Rachel knows they're gorgeous a secretary they have like are some beautiful birds. Rachel knows. They're gorgeous. A secretary bird. They have like gorgeous eyelashes. Yeah.

That also feels kind of like sexist. You just go straight to the bird. Oh my gosh. This is the one that's in Glasgow. Oh, they have some crazy. Okay, they look cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the one woman bird.

She's a secretary. Yeah. She's got like a little keyboard. I'm seeing here. But they're great. I hope like Google searches go up for this. We should track that. Absolutely.

When this episode drops. I would say I'm like I'm a vulture. Am I just saying that because I like Michael Keaton? Maybe. Maybe. Another crossover that should happen. I know. He's done it.

Yeah, he can cross over. He can do whatever he wants. He's done both. Has somebody pointed out that he didn't die a hero so he lived long enough so that he was the villain? Oh, my God. We might have to take a minute. Just like Tammy on The Bachelor last week. Right, Emma?

I have so much to say. We have so much to say. The Bachelor is on tonight. No, we can talk about The Bachelor. I'm going to let this happen. There can be a crossover. We are all girls, and by definition, we love The Bachelor. Listen, I like it because it's psychologically interesting.

I don't like it because of like, I know it's very, you know, classically sexist and they hand out roses and it's all like a test to make women fight. But it's very interesting to watch people like express their crazy emotions. The best part I will say about the, I guess it was the most recent one, which was last week, the episode, was Tammy and, what's her name, McKenna.

McKenna with a Y, M-Y-K. Yes. Sitting next to each other on that little couch and trying so hard to have a fight, but they just couldn't

think of what to say. thinking of like speeches and then McKenna's like, you made me find my damn voice. Like the producer's like, okay, you go. And then they give him like a minute to come up with some like mean sentence.

Yeah. Great, great TV. Wow. I feel bad I haven't watched The Bachelor before. It's really fun. No, don't worry, me neither. Oh, thank God. Guys, you're missing out.

Oh, jeez. It's really fun. I'm sure it is. I just, also, I don't have cable, so like. Neither do I. It's not an excuse, buddy. Get a Roku. Roku.

And then use your parents login for Xfinity okay okay okay that's how I watched the Oscars oh should we do it quick yeah

the Oscars were last night guys we're gonna be all over the place the Academy Awards no no no no there's a connection they played an ad

for The Bachelor during the Oscars that I found to be very upsetting and uncomfortable it was too many hands I was like a connection. They played an ad for The Bachelor during the Oscars that I found to be very upsetting and uncomfortable. It was too many hands. I was like, what is this? It was so unsettling.

It was. And also for context, there's only six girls left on The Bachelor right now. And there's like 20 hands circling on this man. I was covering my face by the time that ad was over. I was so uncomfortable. They're doing a ghost parody. And then Whoopi Goldberg's head.

Do you think she was actually there? Do we think they green screened in? No, green screen. Green screen. Whoopi's not coming down for that. No, absolutely not. I think they've taken like a CGI sort of scan of Whoopi Goldberg's body so they can use it whenever they want. Yeah.

Or she just says like, you in danger. And then it works. The only Or she just says like, you in danger. Yeah. And then it works. The only line she's recorded for them. My absolute favorite quote from Whoopi Goldberg is someone once interviewed her asking like why she's not married still. And she said, I don't want someone in my house. Which is the theme of today's episode.

Fair. We don't want anyone in our house. No. But yeah, I feel like we got to talk about parasites. Big win. We already talked about house. No. But yeah, I feel like we gotta talk about Parasite's big win. We already talked about Joker. Equally important win, I would say. Okay, then we just discussed it, so Parasite.

I'm so happy. I still have not seen Parasite. Whoops. But I'm just genuinely happy that this is the first... We've changed to international film rather than foreign language film. This is the first... We've changed to international film rather than foreign language film. Yeah.

This is the first international film to ever win an Oscar. And I'm also just thinking of the gif of the director just looking at his Oscar and just laughing at it. And I'm just like, it just brings me so much joy. Everyone's seen the movie

to appreciate Bong Joon-ho just delightfully looking at his Oscar and then giggling to himself and then looking at the audience. I was like thinking. No, but Bong Joon-ho coming out and being like, we really considered the Oscars to be a very low. And then winning Best Picture. And then winning everything. It was so joyous. Basically like negged the Oscars like into giving him an award.

like negged the Oscars like into giving him an award. It really, but this is like, it feels like the last thing since Moonlight were like a movie

that really felt like the best movie that came out this year actually won. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

It was a very satisfying award show despite no host. I miss the host. I want a damn host. But we got Eminem this year. It's very awkward. What the fuck was that? I loved it. I was so thrilled. I said like seconds. I want a damn host. But we got Eminem this year. It's very awkward. What the fuck was that?

I loved it. Can we talk about this favorite dream? I said seconds before, I was like, wouldn't it be funny if Eminem walked out on stage? And then he did. And then he never stopped. He kept going. And he was there for minutes. We're doing the whole song.

The whole song. But I don't understand. There's not an anniversary. It was like, we got an introduction to an introduction to an introduction to an introduction and then Eminem came out and sang a 17 year old rap song from a biopic

and it was very confusing the only logic I can gather is that they were like I kind of dug the compilation of music because they were like you know what's important to movies? were like they're like I kind of dug the compilation of music it was cool yeah because they were like you know what's important

to movies music and you're like yeah that's so true I would agree with this point and then like halfway through

you're kind of like this is going on a little bit long and then they play like they start to play like clips they play the clip from 8 Mile

but they the beat from like Lose Yourself hasn't kicked in yet and you're like this clip of 8 Mile is going on for a while and it keeps going and then you're like oh no

is this Emma's just rubbing her hands together I genuinely was like this is the best thing I've ever seen in my life I really want to know what the production logic was. They wanted to recreate a classic song. You know what I mean? What's a really important song that we can do?

Yeah, what do you think of Lose Yourself? Well, how do you know exactly? What millennial is sitting back there and being like, I remember freshman year of college. Yeah. You know what? Can I just make one point? I'm furious that they didn't cut to Leonardo DiCaprio's face

when they showed My Heart Will Go On. Oh, wow. That would have been good. Furious at the lack of, I just want to know what his face was like at that moment. What if he was deeply sobbing, just remembering the emotion. Remembering how he skipped the Oscars

that year because he wasn't nominated. Oh, yeah. I wish they had cut to Leo during Lose Yourself because then we could have seen his girlfriend be like, I've never heard this in my life. What is this song? Because I wasn't bored when it came out. I don't know.

Oh, my God. You know, age is a construct. Yeah, age is a social construct, dude. Come on. You know, there was like a real show of like feminism at the awards. Is there any? Sure. Did we sense some like really strong, I hate. You know, there was like a real show of like feminism at the awards. Is there any? Sure. Did we send some like really strong, I hate to say it, but like, yeah, Wonder Woman and

Captain Marvel came out together and I felt like it was supposed to be exciting. And mostly I was just like, I don't like Gal Gadot's dress. I did not like it either. She reminded me. No, I didn't care for it. She reminded me of the beaver from Birds of Prey. Yeah. She looks like the beaver in the two.

I was like, wait a second. I've seen this hot look before. It was not good. But Brie looked amazing. She had a cape. She had a cape. I mean, I love the cape. I was like, her and Natalie Portman both had capes.

And I was like, well, I got to find a cape now, I guess. This is now my thing. You have capes. Yeah. Sigourney Weaver looked great, too, just for the record. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did people think it felt like a little weird? They're like, we grew up. I always think it's weird whenever they're like, we grew up

admiring you. Especially when you feel a little bit like, bitch! Yes, no. I feel like Sigourney Weaver was like, I'm sorry. Is there a better way to phrase this than describe how old I am in relation to you, Brie Larson? Thanks.

It's also weird when that happens because you know that it's been pre- Someone's already written that down for them and they all knew it was coming. It's just like, why are you saying this now? I don't know. All women are superheroes. Really, God. Because I thought they were just going to go somewhere with it. All women?

That's all you need to know. Tommy Lauren too? Sure. All right. Feels pretty broad, honestly. You have to support her. She's a woman. But not enough to get nominated though. No. They're not that super.

You don't like them that much. But women we do like. Women we do like. The birds of prey. The birds of prey. Wow. Look at that transition. That's a smoothy. Wow. Look at that. Good segue. I loved it. That's smooth, smooth segue. Yeah. My thoughts on this movie.

I basically was on board like minute one when it opened with a goddamn cartoon. That was great. It was so good. And it, to me, just like immediately captures like you do kind of have this challenge of like, how do you bring in people who don't necessarily know who Harley is, especially outside the Joker? Because she is, like, you know, essentially, quote, unquote, the Joker's girlfriend. Like, that's her character introduction in Batman the Animated Series. Yeah.

And when she was just, like, a walk-on, like, henchman for a really long time. Like, she was just, like, a fun, like, female character that they just, like, put in. They were like, I don't know, she'll, like, help out the Joker. And then at one point they were like, oh, like, she can be, like, Joker's girlfriend because, like, we like her and she can keep coming on. And then it wasn't until, like, a little later they were like, hey, like, this is actually we could make, like, an interesting, like, origin story out of that. Right.

And then it kind of, like, spiraled from there. Spiraled. Spiraled, if you will. But, yeah, because she really, it's interesting to think of, like, Harley Quinn was never supposed to be, like, a main character ever. Absolutely not. She was supposed to be in the background. And so I think it's awesome that she gets to have her own movie.

Yeah, because it does feel like, yeah, there's, like, the occasional, I feel like the Batman villainess is like, we need a new chicken here. And they're like, it's a new chicken here. And they're like, it's a sexy lady. She likes plants. Here you go. It's poison ivy. Did you... That's what they said in the pitch meeting. She likes plants. I don't know.

Give her a cactus. I don't know. Did you hear that there's now a new girlfriend for the Joker? Now that in the comics... What? Yeah. Breaking news. a new girlfriend for the Joker. Now that, like, in the comics, like... What? Yeah. Who is it? Breaking news.

Scoop. So Harley's now off on doing her own thing, like, broken up with the Joker. Right. But then they just couldn't fathom the Joker not having, like, a sidekick. Even though, like, the Batman... The Batman.

Ruined my own joke. The Joker's real girlfriend is Batman, as established in the Lego Batman movie. Oh, as established. Absolutely. as established in the Lego Batman movie. Oh, as established. Absolutely. As established in the Batman Lego movie. Oh, my God. It was so good.

We can circle back to the Batman Lego movie. I do have thoughts about that as well. Yeah. But no, they were like, okay, Joker needs a girlfriend. And so they gave her another. He's like a wife guy. He's got to. He's very dependent.

I mean, it checks out. But now her name is Punchline. What? No. She's also a clown girl. I've got another clown girl. And she has the word punch in her name. That's fun.

Punchline. I like that. I mean, I like. Historically abusive person. Yeah. With a sidekick named Punchline. Yeah. I like the pun end of list. That's it.

Everything else, I'm just like, why did we do this? There's no reason to... The Joker can only date girls who have fun punny names. We know why. Yeah. We know why. Sigh. But anyway. Harley's better off without him. He's got a bad rebound.

Just how this movie starts with a cartoon and then her, you know, being like, by the way, we know suicide exists. Suicide Squad exists. We know suicide exists. We know suicide exists. We know Suicide Squad exists. It's a rough movie. But I was like immediately, I mean, to me, Batman the Animated Series. And every time people talk about Harley Quinn you know there's like rankings

of like there's been more iterations of her there's you know Harley Quinn Rebirth all these new comics but when it comes down

to it everyone loves Harley because of Batman the Animated Series so it honestly yeah it feels like the correct choice to be like

we're opening with a goddamn cartoon and then we are going to continue this movie even though it is not animated as if it is. And I fucking love that shit.

It really did have that kind of manic tone that you see. She has a mallet. She likes smashing stuff. There have been Looney Tunes comparisons but she was like full on Bugs Bunny the whole movie. She was a stuff. Yeah. No, yeah. I mean, because there have been, like, Looney Tunes comparisons, but she was, like, full-on Bugs Bunny the whole movie. She was a total stinker. Like, I think my favorite was just, like, when Montoya goes to catch her and, like, obviously doesn't freeze for, like, even a split second.

She just, like, grabs her sandwich and then, like, runs across the street. I was like, I feel like they really got Harley. She's, like, she's a little stinker yeah she's like you know she has her like nice moments but like they never

kind of lose sight of her being like a baddie yeah and even like the way she like dressed up with like the cloth

when she breaks into the Boston PD is very like Bugs Bunny like showing up like oh hello Elmer Fudd and like seduces him in full drag I've come to report a

terrible crime terrible crime line read of the year oh it was terrible crime what i like about that bit is that like she dressed up just to deliver that line because then she immediately takes everything over it doesn't matter at all she was just like no i just thought that would be really funny she wanted that little moment for herself. Yeah. That was great. Back to business. Yeah. Yeah. And I think another reason that I really pushed for this episode is because I am a noted Batman

and Robin number one fan. Stan. Correct. Stan. Stan. Even though I come from Eminem. Are we circling back to Eminem? It's like where that time was.

It all comes from Eminem. It all does. Maybe that's why they invited him onto the Oscars. They're like, people like Stans, right? So like Eminem, what if he performed? I stan this movie. I fucking love Batman and Robin. It's a good movie.

It's my favorite Batman movie. You laugh, Emma, but it's so good. I laugh with you. I think because, obviously, Christopher Nolan's fine. You know, Dark Knight's great. Good stuff. We like it. And everyone shits on Batman and Robin for, quote unquote, ruining the franchise.

Ruined. Ruined. Not at all. I'm kidding. If you watch Batman and Robin, to me it's like it's just doing what Adam West did. You know what I mean? It's just like the old 60s.

It's very cheeky. It's very corny. It's a man who dresses up as a bat. Yeah, that's silly. And fights crime. That's funny. With a boy in tights and like a guy in purple and a Riddler.

It's stupid. Batman can be really dumb. So why not just let it be dumb? Give him nipples. Let Mr. Freeze. Let me have nipples. Almost 30 ice puns throughout the course of a

two hour movie and put him ahead of George Clooney. He's like the first credited person. He's like barely. Arnold Schwarzenegger like barely filmed that movie. He set his lines and then like extras play Mr. Freeze the whole time. Did you know that like when they were filming that movie,

apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger had to put like basically the equivalent of like battery acid in his mouth to make his mouth glow blue. It was worth it. It's crazy. Like I can't remember what the concoction is exactly, but it was some crazy chemical that they had to put in there to like... We'll be posting the recipe on the website.

Yes, yes, yes. A fine cocktail of bad decisions. Don't say that's like Mr. Freeze cosplay. There really should be. That would be so complex. Just like a giant... Well, obviously because you need diamonds to power that suit. It's very difficult. You have to steal the diamonds.

You got to go full method for this. Oh, my God. I also brought this up because I bought Batman and Robin and Batman Returns. I did my research for you guys. You're welcome. I also watched Suicide Squad. We'll get there later. You sure did. I sure did. Took one for the team. I really did.

Took one for our squad. This squad. Oh god. The pod squad. With a K. And a W. But Joel Schumacher apparently began almost every take by he would just yell, remember everyone, this is a cartoon.

And I think a lot of people forgot that. And it really felt like Birds of Prey got the opportunity to go back there again. It opens with the cartoon. They're watching Looney Tunes throughout the movie in Harley's apartment. And then there's just a lot of like great like physical humor. I was thinking while I was watching it, I was thinking this is like watching Who Framed Roger Rabbit without any of the cartoon characters in it.

Like the same sort of heightened like performances from the like live action people. Oh my God. Chris Messina is totally like the scary weasel in that movie. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. So that was my take about it.

The weasels are really upsetting in Roger Rabbit. They're frightening. The one with the like straight jacket that like even as a ghost he like fucks up the Acme machine. Don't like that. Don't like it at all. No. It was really nice like getting to see women do that kind of like

active campy humor like absurdist Looney Tunes-esque humor because I feel like we never get to do that kind of like active campy humor like absurdist Looney Tunes esque humor because I feel like we never get to do that. Right. Women don't get to be silly very often especially not in like superhero movies like this where they have to be like hot and cool at the same time. Right. Which is

kind of like I think Wonder Woman had to like break that barrier a little bit. She was funny. She was funny but like Wonder Woman is also, you know what I mean? There was so much pressure because she's such an iconic character. And that's what was so fun about Harley

is they have the freedom to just be this wacky person who's going to be in more of the alleyways of Gotham. But all of them is what I loved about it. It wasn't just Harleyley right it was every single character had moments of like that kind of like like i thought um huntress who's oh my god mary mary elizabeth winston elizabeth winston thank you i was like there's so many names she i thought she was so funny and so good in this role like i obviously like we all know scott

pilgrim and we know how great she was as ramona but it was so deadpan this role. Like, obviously, like, we all know Scott Pilgrim and we know how great she was as Ramona, but it was so deadpan. This, I was like, you get to be silly and funny and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Her parts got, like, the biggest laughs from me personally whenever she did her, like, sad flashbacks to, like, her family.

That was hilarious. No, like... I loved it when her family was murdered in front of her. So funny. But, like, you know know her sort of this like stoicism of her character and then like the fact that she can't get anyone to call her when she wants people to know her practicing in the mirror was a nice touch they call me that's not right that's not right the crossbow killer no cross i no can i brag for a second yeah yeah so when i was in high school i did an internship for the dallas morning news and i got to interview mary elizabeth winstead when she was on the press tour for scott pilgrim i've got a picture with her and brandon

ralph yeah i am 17 years old i'm a wee babe it was probably so insulting for me to walk into the room be like hi i'm here to give the interview. Or whatever. This child is going to talk to us. They're like, Jesus. I would rather be interviewed. I feel like they probably get so many of the same fucking questions. It's more exciting to see.

That's why all my favorite interviews are like, they for some reason look like a five-year-old in the chair. And they're like, Why did you like being Iron Man? Did you like Iron Man? And they're like, Oh, so cute. Yeah, no, exactly. But there's my bragging rights. Man? Did you like? And they're like, oh, so cute. Yeah, no, exactly.

But there's my bragging rights. What was the interview like? What did you get to ask her about? I feel like I blacked out. I like winning. Fair. We saw her in this movie. I wrote all these questions down.

And this is my first time I had ever met a famous person because I grew up in a pretty small town. And yeah, it was just like, and it was weird. You saw Sky High and it blew your mind. Another superhero movie, Meryl Streep. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Winstead is in.

I feel like Griffin would get mad at me if I didn't shout out Sky High today. I had to drop it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Continue. But yeah, I mean, I remember it was like in a like a club in like downtown Dallas. And like they gave us like, I think it was like 15 whole minutes, which is apparently a really long time to spend with talent. And I was like, that doesn't seem like any time at all.

But within five minutes, I had asked the standard questions. And then I was like schvitzing. So, Brandon, are you going to do more Superman or something? And then very suavely, it's just like, well, if they ask me, of course, like has practiced that one. I was just like, okay, they could tell I was nervous, but it was still really fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, I need to

kind of got fired by DC the next day. Exactly. It was just like, whoops. What was it like working with Kevin Spacey? Famous actor that we all love. What year is it anyway? Let me be frank. Mary Elizabeth as the Huntress was amazing.

She was great. I think my favorite was Jurnee Smollett as Black Canary. I loved what she did with that part. All of her outfits were amazing. Jurnee Smollett-Bell? Jurnee Smollett-Bell? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to say the question mark. Smollett-Bell? Journey Smollett-Bell? I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You have to say the question mark. Smollett-Bell? I was going to say that. I don't know. Because I was looking at her outfit and she's like listed as both in like multiple places. So I'm just like, I'm going to go with the one that's always everywhere. So her family, she has like a few brothers and sisters. They're all actors.

Her brother's kind of infamous now. But she's been acting for a while yeah yeah yeah well that was the thing I was just like wait how is this the first thing I'm seeing you in I need to

good question I need to find your entire filmography so good have you seen Roll Bounce? no this is the thing I wanted to talk about the most oh no

I have not and I can feel you raring to go has anyone else seen the movie Roll Bounce? nope oh my gosh none of you watched VH1 Movies That Rock, apparently.

It's like that and The Wedding Singer, just on constantly. So sorry. Roll Bounce is a movie starring Bow Wow. Oh God. Oh my God, I do know this movie. Wait, what is this about? I will tell you.

Okay, I'm sorry. It is Wait, what is this about? What is this? I will tell you. Okay. I'm sorry. It's about Bow Wow. And it's like the 70s. He's in Chicago. And then him and his friends like have fun by like skating on their like four wheel roller skates in the street. And then they like learn choreography. And they enter a competition against this guy Sweetness.

Sweetness is like the star of this like roller skating rink. Uh-huh. Yeah. And it's like a Cinderella story kind of like the rough and tumble kids are like they're going to want to they want to win this competition.

Also Bow Wow's mom died and he like beats up a car and his dad's like you're going to learn today, pow wow. And he's like, my mom died. I'm sad. Oh my God. That's a really good recap, you guys.

I didn't spoil it. You should still watch it because it's like the soundtrack's great. Anyway, Journey Smollett plays like the like nerdy girl who's like friends with all the boys and she has braces and they're like, shut up. We don't care. You're just like in our friend group. Like you're not a real girl. She gets her braces off. Oh, and she was like, she's hot. You're just, like, in our friend group. Like, you're not a real girl. And she gets her braces off. Oh, and she was hot the whole time.

She's hot, and then they all say damn at the same time. That's funny. That's the night of comedy. It's the greatest, like, blow-up moment. It's, like, very iconic. Her outfit is also, like, kind of, like, Black Canary-esque, because it's, like, the very 70s influence. Anyway, I highly recommend watching Roll Bounce.

I think it's on YouTube. Like, $1.99. Wait, when highly recommend watching Roll Bounce. I think it's on YouTube. Like $1.99. Wait, when was this movie released? Like 2003, like Megan Good's in it. Like it's a very early 2000s cast. It's very fun. I will seek it out. I thought of it and I was like, I'm kind of mad that they

didn't get Journey on roller skates. They just had Margot on it. That would have been a good homage to Roll Bounce. No interviews asked her they just had Margot on it. That would have been a good homage to Roll Bounce. No interviewers asked her about it. I'm kind of mad. Oh no. But anyway,

I am proud of at least Margot Robbie taking advantage. She's like, I learned ice skating for I, Tanya. She knows how to do so much stuff.

I watched her hot ones and she talked about She's breaking down in that. Oh my god, it's really good. It's great because she's always like I don't think I can do this one. She stops at like

three but she goes to the end. But she talked about how she learned how to pickpocket and she's like really good at it. This is just stuff you skills you pick up on the road when you're an actor. I'm like low key kind of scared of her in like the best way. Like I'm like

terrified but also like step on me if I ever met her I'd probably explode yeah I feel like after you play Tanya Harding like I would not want to fuck with you but she learned did you guys watch that clip where she was talking about what a big

Harry Potter fan she is on Grandma what no oh my god it's amazing she's sitting next to Daniel Kaluuya who who says that he he's like uh i think i read six of them and she is so horrified that he didn't read the seventh book it's and it gets into that territory where like you're super into something and the people around you are like i regret asking you about this thing. I regret bringing it up because now I feel very uncomfortable about how excited

you are about this random thing. That's how into Harry Potter she is. Maybe that balances out a little bit. Yeah, I was like, we should be friends. Margot, I'd love to be friends with her. Let's talk about Harry Potter. Margot, we'll be your friends.

Margot, probably a Slytherin, I would think. Do you think? She's very ambitious. I mean, that interview, I was like, that was like big Hufflepuff.

I was going to say, like nerding out that hard. I guess I'm associating her with the character, not a person. I mean, Harley's definitely Slytherin. Yeah,

for sure. For sure. Margot's ambitious. It was her own production company. Yeah. Which made I, Tanya. Lucky chap.

Which really pushed for this movie. It's also making the actresses name. I can't think of. Promising Young Woman. I thought of it. I didn't even have to Google it. Oh, yeah. That's a good trailer.

Promising Young Woman is a good trailer. And it's one of those movies that I'm like, I think I want to see it, but I've got to be in a good place before I watch it. Because I'm sure it'll be cathartic but I was just like Wait, is this the Carey Mulligan? Yeah, the Carey Mulligan Oh, I read a terrible

like a terrible review out of Sundance Like a negative one or a badly written one? No, like a negative one Like that movie makes some like hella bad decisions. Oh no. I know critics who liked it so maybe it'll go on and on.

I hope so. Your mileage may vary. Well, while we're on that. Exactly. Because I have ADD and this kind of works in the sense of a Harley Quinn episode, I feel like this is kind of like a good way to talk about, I feel like Birds of Prey kind of makes some of those choices too. There are definitely some moments where I think we all tensed up a little bit. So I feel like Birds of Prey kind of makes some of those choices too where there are definitely some moments where I think we all

tensed up a little bit a little bit so I feel like this is this is the kind of good thing I want to hear women talk about this and that was a big part

of this movie and only women only women if you're a man shut the fuck up shut up but this is this was a movie

that was written by women it was produced by women it was directed by a woman Kathy Ann and there are I think the scariest moments in this movie people's faces get peeled off

that was I didn't expect that oh yeah that was that was rough did not like it it was like it was actually

Griffin's stepdad he played his stepdad on the tick oh my god it was real rough yeah I was just like I could do without the face peeling yeah but like to me he played a stepdad on the tick. Oh my God. It was real rough. Yeah. I was just like,

I could do without the face peeling. Yeah. But like to me, the worst, yeah, the worst scenes were when I, I think, I think was on purpose

is when women, it's because Ewan McGregor is so about control and he's such a control freak that the scariest moment for any of these women is when they have no control over their bodies and you have no idea what's about to happen. Yeah. So what did you guys think of like how this movie. The scene in the club.

The scene in the club. It's so funny. That was so much worse than like. It was horrible to watch. I think that was the worst to watch. Yeah. It was so much worse than like. It was horrible to watch. I think that was the worst to watch.

Yeah. And it was just like, again, we've seen like so much just very graphic violence and like just the act of like a woman like having to like get up on a table and then having someone like rip her clothes off was just like, I was like. That she doesn't even get to do it. Yeah. Exactly. That he specifically tells a man to do it.

Exactly. It was really upsetting. It was really upsetting. I think that was the one scene, and I know why they included it, but it was the one scene I was like, ah. It felt like it went on a little too long.

Yeah, you're pushing it. It's a little bit too long, and I was like, I think they kept it in so that we would remember, like, you hate this guy, remember? He's a bad man. He's a bad man.

I was like, no, I still remember the faces, dude. That did not go away. I didn't need another reason necessarily. And as a woman watching it, I was just like, that was the only part that made me uncomfortable. That felt like maybe there was an outside push

for that scene specifically. It was interesting how differently I felt about that versus the bloody violence. Even the bloody violence even the bloody violence implied against women earlier because I think another one gets her face peeled you know I assume yeah they don't show the woman's they show the guy's face getting peeled off they don't really show the mom and then they cut away quickly yeah um but like the thought of that bothered me a lot but then I think what bothered me more about the club scene was that like this is sort

of a familiar like form of quote-unquote violence to me like in the full room of people that are yeah can't do anything right and then you know I'm not I don't think I'm ever going to find myself in the situation where I'm going to get my face peeled off although that would be a pretty cool way to go out like you know anyone wants to do that, go for it. Oh my gosh. Were they just ripping our face off? Anyway, sorry. Continue.

That's his like character, right? Victor Zaz. You got it. That's his name? Victor Zaz. Zaz. Zaz. A.K.A. the weasel

from Roger Rabbit. Yeah. I mostly know that he like Blonde Christmasy. He does like little he does tick marks on his body for every person he kills.

Right. Okay. I'm not proud of how attracted I was to when he showed his chest. I'm like, I'm just going to ignore all this. Just bury it. I was supposed to be feeling comfortable around you, but also, oh no. That was awesome. This is a gift.

Yeah. The whole dress-tearing scene, I agree, like, really hard to watch and hard to engage with. I do think you could tell that it was still directed by a woman and it still had the hands of, like, women in it because it never felt like we were supposed to kind of be for, oh, my God, I hate this word, but I can't think of another one, but like titillated by it in that sense of like, you know. She doesn't get her dress taken completely off. You don't see her body. Exactly. Like it's about the fear. It's very much about the fear and the anxiety.

And it's not about turning like it wasn't about turning that woman into like a victim for us to look at, but for us to engage with that fear and anxiety that she was going through. And I kind of appreciated the nuance of that because we don't really get that side of the story very often where it's truly about like, no, I want you to understand like what this feels like. I don't want you to feel like a voyeur. I don't want you to feel like you're like witnessing this. It's you need to understand the fear that so many women go through all the time. It's focused on her and not on you.

Yeah, I think, and by contrast, after re-watching Suicide Squad, I noticed that so obviously there's like 20 intros per person for each character in Suicide Squad. How else would we know what was happening? How else would we know?

How else would we know who Katana is? else would we know by making Amanda Waller? Katana doesn't really get it in. She's just like, by the way, it's Katana. She's got a sword, his soul's in it,

fucking whatever. And also Katana is here. Do you think they cut her hair for that movie? David Ayer just like chopped it off because he's like this.

Himself or? Yeah. Maybe with the sword. I don't know. But in both of Harley's scenes I noticed that she's strapped down and like right away in the first one

we see the guard who's the guy from the Mindy project not Chris Messina I can't think of his name right now but he straps her down and there's like some flashback to her kind of like

being crazy in this prison and like they inject her with stuff and he like takes a selfie and like oh yeah I'd forgotten about all that yeah you blocked it out it's really gross and it's just to show like they're like torturing Harley

and then they show her like crumpled up on the floor and like clearly fucking going through something. And then they play like, I don't know, the Rolling Stones. And they're like, moving on. And then in the other flashback scene where they play super freak to establish that she's a sexy girlfriend of the Joker. She is a super freak. You couldn't tell by the song. He's a super freak. You couldn't tell by the song.

Oh, my God. And they show her Harleen Quinzel origins. And, like, basically, Joker's gang goes to, like, break him out. And when they do, he straps her down at Arkham Asylum. And, like, that's when he's like, I'm just going to hurt you real bad. And, of course, we see Margot Robbie, like, strap down, arms down, like, again. So, like, again, total loss of control. But it but it felt very just like there's no reason for this it's just to show like titillating it is to see this woman kind of like all tied up and yeah I think it was a interesting contrast that like

women that didn't really serve the purpose of the story right it wasn't about women in pain right for the sake of women being in pain. Yeah. I think what that scene really did for me I thought

that was a scene where Journey was really great as Black Canary and to me the thing I keep thinking about with this movie is that so much of it

is about how much men get away with Yes. and because they have the power to and they just continue to. Like Rene getting or not demoted but like the other guy. Right. And how much you know men get away with and they take advantage of these situations and how much women just put up with it and put up with it until they say enough is

enough and then they kind of like break free from that so Harley kind of has to get like pushed out of that with the Joker but like Canary is very okay with just working in this club and like if she maybe knows that like Roman's a shady dude but she's not you know yeah she keeps her head down you know she's been through so much with her mom and it's that club scene that kind of really pushes her over the edge. It's the guy outside the club that is taking advantage of Harley,

which is another really hard moment to watch. That was hard to watch, but then immediately gratifying when she roundhouse kicks him through a car door. I was like, oh my god. I have never felt so good in my life like it was it was and those gold pants sorry i'm getting off track but yeah yeah it was that was hard because i was like oh no like i feel like again a realistic thing very realistic yeah yeah

and yeah stuff and it's like oh you'd hope you'd hope that there's a black canary in your corner but but like yeah anytime that happens in the movie and then even at the end with Harley she gets the dart from Victor Zaz and he just uses it to take advantage and he's doing some real creepy shit and she's just bent over

he licked her face when she was tied up so I guess yeah she is tied up in this movie but it doesn't really feel like exploited. She's just like. It was the kind of moment, all of those moments were the sort of moments where I was like, I had to sort of remind myself like, I'm glad a woman is directing this. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. We knew you were kind of like safe. I'm glad this was a woman's choice to show this. Right. You know, for whatever reason. Yeah. Or did I just insert that? When Harley loses control of all of her limbs.

The fact that Harley can't control any of her limbs and then there's this very creepy dude who wants to murder a child that's just leaning into her and showing her these scars. And then he immediately gets an arrow to the fucking neck. We love that.

And then Harley like slowly getting that might be my favorite Harley moment in the whole movie. It's just when she's like slowly getting her motor skills back. She has like an arm on the side of her face. And then she's just like really going for it. It felt very like Tom and Jerry.

Yeah. Well it was great because she's still got like she literally only has like motor controls in in her forearm. That is it. Her forearm on her hand. And she still is able to annihilate this guy, which is just very great. Just very nice. It turned what was uncomfortable into a comedic moment, which was also great.

And what we all want to see, which is a bunch of men get fucking wrecked we want to see that quickly right yes no but like those men there was no like lingering no like oh like we need to feel bad for them it was like no they're just going to they're gonna die yeah we're done with them yeah yeah we're done yep i mean yeah i mean do we want to just go straight to like the big like death at the end? Oh, how satisfying. So good. Oh, my God. So good.

I was, again, overjoyed. It was so great. A 13-year-old blew up Ewan McGregor with a fucking hand grenade. He's dead now. He's dead. It was so fast. In half. Oh, my God.

I just love that we started that scene with like, you know, like Harley's got the one bullet in her gun. And like she this is like the traditional climax is like she takes her shot and she takes care of him. And then her shot misses, which is, you know, too bad. But then Cassandra, our 13 year old hero, you know, just gives him a grenade, pushes him off. And he doesn't even hit the water before he explodes. That's the funniest part of the whole thing. You think he's going to go under and then you see it happen.

It was very much like, you know how in early Star Wars, when they're blowing up the spaceships, they just kind of simply disappear? That was even McGregor. He just simply disappeared. She pulled a hold-on maneuver. She like, vaporized. He just simply disappeared. I was like, ugh. She pulled a hold-on maneuver.

She split him in half. Went to light speed. As we know, a very rare move to make. But you know what? Oh, no, I'm getting PTSD. Sandra Cain did it. That's, you know what? That's what we call Asian excellence right there.

Yes. Exactly. Yes, yes. Oh, it was so great. I really liked her in this movie. She was so cute. Should I know her for something? I haven't seen her before. L.J. Basco. Yeah. Actually, yes. Oh, it was so great. I really liked her in this movie. She was so cute. Should I know her for something? I haven't seen her before.

L.J. Basco. Actually, you would like. Do you know who her uncle is? No. Dante Basco. Dante Basco! No way. What?

Oh, my God. I did not know this. I guess I just don't know his face. Apparently, this is also another family. Yeah, Rufio and everything. This is also, I think their whole family is all in showbiz as well. Oh, gotcha. But I guess she's been working since she was a kid.

She's 13 years old. It's very funny. I highly recommend looking up press tour videos. She's a total sweetie, and she's very sweet. I think my favorite moment was just, she's badass, and she's stealing all this shit in the movie. But at the end, when everyone's kind of cornering like stealing all this shit in the movie. But like at the end when everyone's kind of like cornering them and they're in the hideout. I loved when they were like, she's a child

who needs to be protected. That was really really good. But when she cries, when they see all the guys ganged up outside, because I feel like in most superhero movies, you know, they're so zeroed in on everyone being like you know, we're gearing up, we're going to get these guys. and they really take a minute

to just like you see Cassandra start to cry because she's just a fucking kid she's so she's so young and all she did all she did was just steal some stuff and ate a diamond all she did was eat a diamond she didn't know this would happen

and like she's already got her you know foster parents are terrible like her life is already like her, you know, foster parents are terrible. Like, her life is already, like, rough enough as it is. And now all the men of Gotham want to kill her, which is scary. I like that they had that moment to just be like, obviously she would be afraid. And I think more than, I don't want to, like, draw too many parallels to, like, compare, like, Marvel and DC. But we're going gonna do it the thing you can kind of most compare to the like look at all these women they're on so like bad cgi hill in avengers endgame and you're like all the women are together and they're standing

together and they don't have never interacted up until now, but there's women and there's a lot of them. But in this, I think the perfect alternative wasn't even just all of them kicking ass together. I really like that they,

each person, took time to check in with Cassandra and be like, are you okay? Because the whole point was to get her out safely. And I don't know if I've ever seen that in a superhero movie

where there's so much care being put into like... They're not just like grabbing and like throwing her around. Right, she's not a prop. She's a person who's witnessing a bunch of dudes get their heads bashed in. And like I think Huntress especially like really drove it home. Didn't she say... You shouldn't see this. Yeah I love the like single shot they had

in the funhouse at the end that was just like it was panning to each of the members of the Birds of Prey but they were like basically protectively passing Cassandra around and like making sure like hunching over her like there would be someone coming towards her and one would immediately like punch someone else out or hit him with a hammer or

what have you. Insert violence that we use. Right. But I mean, still, you could see that there was like kind of this like maternal protectiveness that everyone was using. And I thought that was incredibly powerful. Right. To see because it's like, yeah, it's like you don't you don't have to be like the strongest person in the room. Like we are not expecting Cassandra to all of a sudden become like a Kung Fu master and like also, you know, join the fray. It's like, no, she's a kid.

And it never felt super self-conscious either. Like it never felt like like we're doing this because it's a movie about women. They need to be protected. Yeah. It just felt like, you know, a logical. Yeah. I think the kind of going along with the Avengers example of like cringe worthy moments when this has happened, but also in Captain Marvel. Here we go.

Yeah. Backstory. Captain Marvel, the comics meant so much to me. Ashley's the biggest Captain Marvel fan I know. She has a sweater. That's the only reference I'm going to use. She owns a sweater. So technically she's the biggest fan.

No, I remember I was in Boston. I was in college. And I remember I went to the comic store and I got Captain Marvel number one, like written by Kelly Sweetaconic because it had come up. And I was like, this is interesting. And like had been reading it since, like was a total huge fan. And so when they announced the movie, I remember I was so excited. I had like a college like whiteboard that I like drew like a Captain Marvel doodle on. And I was like, it's coming in like 2020, like, or whatever.

But then I went to see Captain Marvel IMAX like Thursday night showing like the whole thing. And I was just so let down by all of it. And especially I think the nail in the coffin for me was that fight scene towards the end where they just start playing just a girl by no doubt and I just was like we get it she's a girl like there's so many

she was a girl the whole time and you idiots didn't even know I was like why do we have to do this I think they were trying to be like this is like a fun 90s song to put along with this but I was like there's we have to do this I was like because I think they were trying to be like oh like this is like a fun 90s song to put along with this but I was like there's a better one that fits the mood more correctly and like you don't have to hit

us over the head with it and like whereas Birds of Prey like the music choice was like Barracuda and I was immediately amped I was like also and Charlie's Angels which felt like Margot Robbie has been talking a lot about how Charlie's Angels was like her big influence.

And I think like, I'm not saying Margot Robbie is queer, but as someone who is queer, probably because of Charlie's Angels. We're just saying stuff. We're just saying stuff. Barracuda scene, pretty great. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Absolutely.

So. I mean, I liked, I really liked Captain Marvel and I really, really actually enjoyed that scene. But part of it was that I can remember being 14 years old and listen to that, like listening to that No Doubt album and getting super excited about I'm Just a Girl. So it felt very much where I was like, oh, this has been a really long journey to go from like, you know, Iron Man to for waiting like a full decade for this film. I was like, oh, this has been a really long journey to go from like, you know, Iron Man to for waiting like a full decade for this film. I was like, fine, hit me over the head with it.

It's fine. This actually, Birds of Prey to me, what it was almost the wrong it was writing for me was Wonder Woman. Because Wonder Woman was like, I cried in the theater when I saw Wonder Woman. Oh, my God. I've never seen a woman on screen but then on second viewing you're like man they're it's really just the like one huh just just just the one and and almost no women of color whatsoever so what Birds of Prey I thought did really strongly was pull in all of that where it's real

like it's more women it's real women and it centers us in a way where you can tell that women had a hand in the creation of it because which I think neither like Captain Marvel had significant issues and Wonder Woman had significant issues for both of those pieces and Birds of Prey actually

like sort of didn't which is such a unique proposition as a viewer. Yeah. I think I, I, Wonder Woman is my go-to, like, I'm going to cry movie. Like I don't cry at films, but like I put it on and like, when she starts like scaling the tower for the first time, I'm like, oops, oops. What are these moisture? I can't do it. But, yeah, my hope is that one day, I mean, I hope that Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are the movies that walked so that more female-centric heroes can run and really thrive. And I hope one day that I'll look back at these films and think that they're quaint. That would be so nice.

And just be like, oh, remember when we thought this was groundbreaking like it really wasn't we could do so much more um which again i think birds of prey is totally a right step in that direction and i think they made a lot of really smart choices um in casting and in directing and writing and um all that yeah what i liked the most one of the things i like the most about this movie uh that I was thinking about in the context of Wonder Woman, which is my one big complaint. Well, I don't know. I have a lot of big complaints about Wonder Woman. But one of the biggest one I think for me is that at the end, she has to fight some like big CGI blob of something, which is like the same thing that happens in every single one of these freaking movies. I think that the big fight is probably the least interesting part.

Yeah. It's just like I look at it and I'm just like. Such a disappointment. Yeah. I'm like, I think that the big fight is probably the least interesting part. It's such a disappointment. Yeah, I'm like, I don't need to be looking at the screen right now. I could be doing anything else. And this movie had none of that shit. And I was very happy about that. It all looked very real, and I think that was probably for a lot

of the fight scenes, they got the John Wick guy, Chad Stahelski, to do a lot of the choreography for that. And so that was like self-consciously sort of being like you're going to watch people pull punches at each other and like kick each other and do stuff and it's going to look like they're actually doing it instead of just like quick cutting around and then

making their hands move with like effects. I think yeah while the movie opens with like a cartoon and it is very fanciful I think it's the way it's kind of rooted in reality Kathy Yen I was just watching an interview where she basically said she tried to kind of hit in between

like the Burton and Schumacher and the Nolan because I think both are pretty beloved but I think it's the people who are rooted and real and there's so many people of color that Harley actually interacts with where like you said it's you know Wonder Woman

I think there's women of color on the island but you know none of them really have lines. There's like one who's like a senator who's like this is a bad idea and they're like anyway moving on. And we have that down. It does feel that way. Like oh my Chris Pine is so hot. That is true. I mean no one's arguing that.

Easy. But yeah I think there's a lot of characters that i would say even i think rosie perez was like the my biggest like i was really genuinely surprised and happy with like how much she got to do in this movie she got a lot of screen time she felt like the real leader of the movie. I was kind of, I anticipated I mean, Harley has that line that I think I really nailed earlier. Where she just, you know, speak for yourself.

Where she kind of, you know, gets everyone to agree to fight these dudes, which also felt like a nice kind of, like, I'm stepping up for this girl that I just fucked over. But it's Renee Montoya, who is Latina, who is a lesbian,

and it's stated very clearly in the movie that is doing all the detective work in this movie, and she's very smart, and she kicks so much ass. There was that great moment where Harley, I think her voiceover, right as Renee was getting demoted or getting fired or something. And she's like, cops in movies never get anything done when they're cops. They always have to be fired. They always have to turn in their badge before they get anything done.

Before they get anything done. There's some complaints about the Harley voiceover, David Sims. there's some complaints about like the Harley voiceover David Sims but I think in some I think it maybe in some places we didn't need it but there were other times where yeah I really got a laugh from me there some of the stuff that yeah like

if we're talking if we're talking complaints the like time jumping bits I thought were like unnecessary okay weird I it like confused me to the point of like I had to sort of remind myself. Kind of like Little Women which is very confusing. Little Women I just can't get through. No whatever.

I had to remind myself like oh right this is happening like a few hours or like a day ago or something like okay I have to like mentally do the math in my head which I just like I don't really. I guess I get why they did it in this. I was okay with it.

It felt like a style decision, not a narrative decision. And so it sacrificed the narrative a little bit to do that, because I agree. I was like, wait, why are we rewinding now? I don't need this. Enough to justify doing it either.

They do it maybe like twice. And then it's over. And then now it's a linear narrative again. And then it makes a piece. I just hate it. I think it kind of tied in. I think my favorite part of the, one of my favorite elements of the movie was the cards that would pop up. Oh, like the text on it. And it would just be like, this person, this is their personal grievance.

That was good. Yeah, which all leads up to like Romans and all, this is their personal grievance. That was good. And yeah, which all leads up to like Romans and all of his, just like, just pick one. And apparently Harley voted for Bernie Sanders. Apparently.

Which makes sense. I buy it. I also just, Bernie is in the DCU now. He should make a cameo in Birds of Prey too. Can you imagine? Gotham City Sirens.

Here comes Birdie. She's my poison ivy choice, I would say. Fantastic. She has a health service provider, so she wants single payer health care. She wants to save the environment. Listen. I think we're really onto something, guys. Burn is very hot.

It's the burn of prey. There we go. Burn of prey. There we go. Burn of prey. Oh my God. Well, speaking of Renee, I need that shirt that she wore that I shaved my balls for this shirt. Like yesterday,

I, I, she, the moment she came out with it, I was like, I wasn't going to do it cause I was in a theater, but I was like ready to get on Amazon and like find out if I could purchase it, which you can't,

they don't have it. They don't have it. This is a mistake. I want this at Hot Topic. It probably will be. It's got to be. That's all I really want. I wonder if they made it for the movie. I was thinking about this in the film.

I don't know if you guys saw Happy Death Day 2U. I did. I did not see Happy Death Day, but I saw Happy Death Day 2U. You don't need to see the first one. I think I pie not see Happy Death Day but I saw Happy Death Day 2 you don't need to see the first one I think I pieced it together but there's a t-shirt that she wears in the movie it has WTF written on it

and I guess for the promotional material they thought that was too rude and so they like digitally changed it to say OMG in the trailer sure And so they digitally changed it to say OMG in the trailer. Yeah. Sure.

And that was something I think about a lot is the fact that they changed that. Do you think that's why they fought for the R rating in this movie? So they could have balls. They're like, this shirt's really fucking funny. You need to put it in there. She was like, I need the R rating because we have to have the shirt in it. That's a pretty good Australian accent. Thank you very much. Again, circling back to Renee and Detective Montoya,

I think we would be remiss to talk about the Birds of Prey without mentioning that this is not from a traditional comic background. This is not the traditional Birds of Prey lineup. Harley Quinn is not involved. You can speak maybe more to this because I know this is one of the shitty of Prey lineup. Harley Quinn is not involved. You can speak maybe more to this, because I know this is one of the shitty dude bro arguments online. It's like, why are they calling it, just call it the Harley Quinn movie.

Don't call it Birds of Prey. Fabulous, because long titles that are interesting that you've never seen before. That's dumb. I don't like it. So Margot Robbie should listen to me. Yeah, I'll flash my credentials so I

one of my like first entry points into comics was Batgirl I am like Barbara Gordon is like my favorite character like I love her so much like her whole backstory is like she's like Commissioner Gordon's daughter and she wants to be a part of the police force but

you know either she's you know not qualified enough a lot of to be a part of the police force. But, you know, either she's, you know, not qualified enough. A lot of times they say she just doesn't meet the height requirements, that kind of thing. And so she sets off to be a vigilante just because she wants to do police work and she's super smart. She has like a photographic memory. And she, in a very unfortunate comment called The Killing Joke gets crippled by the Joker and then she's

in a wheelchair for many many years and then she starts going by the character name Oracle again because she's like

super smart like can you know hack into the mainframe or you know whatever as one does you know

oh yeah she's in she's in that's what they say when they hack into the mainframe, actually. I'm in. Hack the world. Hacking experts.

But, like, so. I got you. From all the movies I've watched about hacking, that's what they're saying. I'm in. But, so she ends up teaming up with Black Canary, and they are, like, the founding members of the Birds of Prey. And then they did the Birds of Prey and then they did the Birds of Prey comics for a while and then it wasn't until

Gail Simone came on and she wrote an arc called Of Like Minds starts with episode or issue 56 you better be right about this people are going to worry about it on the reddit oh my god Ashley I really don't care we're going to cancel you

no I wrote it down. It's the first Simone arc is of like minds number 56 through 61 and 2004. Um, cause I got my credentials. Listen, I honestly, I want to just stress this at the top of the episode. I've,

I really do appreciate your comic background as of, as of about to say, it does not matter. It doesn't. I think you can be a fan without knowing all the details. Without all the details.

If you don't know what Ashley's talking about that's fine. Exactly. What I was mostly getting towards is like when I heard that they were doing

a Birds of Prey movie like I was like so excited because I was like finally we're going to get a Batgirl and then they were like nope she's not there and like

and fuck you Ashley specifically. I was like no like what do you mean? But it makes sense for what they were trying to do. And I think like, again, it's one of those things like you have to get out of your brain of like

adaptations do not have to be direct, like copy paste. Like, you know, it was the exact way in the comics. And so it's going to be the exact way on the film. I think what they did here was way more interesting. They like reinvented what this group means and who it could be and who it could be about and how it's told and like I you know the

birds of prey the the comics are fun to read but they were they were published in 2004 I think they I've gone back to them recently and they show their age and I think this film was like such a loving uh yeah I don't want to say makeover but refresh. It's a makeover. We're girls. We're girls. It really I think they did an excellent job capturing the spirit that they were trying to

without kind of reverting back on like this is like a superhero movie that we've just inserted girls into the main parts. It was really telling like a woman's story. And if you see the movie, there's also, it feels like there's room to work Oracle in. And if you watch the movie, people are complaining, oh, it's not, why isn't it about Birds of Prey?

The movie is about the origins of the Birds of Prey and the emancipation of one Harley Quinn. Birds of Prey origins, if you will. Yeah. If you will. Yeah. And just so you know Ashley Christina Hodgson

the writer of this movie is working on Batgirl currently I heard that and I was like it's in good hands I'm okay and I think

ultimately the reason that all happened I'm sure was legal mumbo jumbo business business Hollywood I'm sure the origins of this

were really that basically Margot Robbie got pulled in for Suicide Squad. And before they even finished filming, they went to Comic-Con. And I think the idea was kind of like already in her head that like she was doing all this research and she was reading Birds of Prey. Margot Robbie was reading Birds of Prey and all these Harley comics. And she got to Comic-Con and there's a million Harleys there. and all these Harley comics.

And she got to Comic-Con, and there's a million Harleys there. And she's like, oh, there's, like, a real demand for this character. And, like, a smart businesswoman is, like, they're probably going to want another. They might want a Harley spinoff. And if they do that, I want to be in control. Yeah. So she immediately started, like, having meetings and pitching a Harley movie, pitching an R-rated movie.

And she has specifically fought for, she wanted a team movie. So I think that's how it eventually led to Birds of Prey. And she also, I'm very excited about this. She's talked about how she really likes the Gotham City Sirens and she likes her relationship with Poison Ivy. Oh my God. So I think they want to explore that. relationship with poison ivy so i think they want to explore that but i think i really respect her decision to be like she keeps talking about how like huntress is actually really interesting and we've never seen her depicted on screen black canary you know she's been on the cw shows and

stuff but we really haven't seen that you know on the big screen and we have to explore some other characters renee Montoya you know gets like slapped in the face by Harvey Dent in the Dark Knight that's it so it really felt

like a really good opportunity to I think like explore more of these characters she's my hero that's awesome

yeah also now I just can't stop thinking about a Gotham City Sirens movie because that would rock like it would be so great yeah also in the in the intro cartoon Yeah. Also, now I just can't stop thinking about a Gotham City Sirens movie because that would rock. Like, it would be so great.

Yeah. Also, in the intro cartoon, Harley's like, there's like a slot machine card of past exes. I was going to ask about that. Is that supposed to be Poison Ivy? I don't know. Some people say it is. It's like a redheaded woman. It's a lady.

There is a lady. So, like, confirmed bisexual. People say it is. It's like a red-headed woman. It's a lady. There is a lady. So, like, confirmed bisexual. But, like, I was like, hmm. Like, this opens the door to another prickly poison friend.

Yeah, I think that would be fun. It would be so fun. Who would play Poison Ivy? I mean, what about, I would love to, I mean, I'm, selfishly, I want, like, some South Asian rep. So, like, and, like, Priyanka Chopra, as much as I have some like issues with her is easily one of the like sexiest women in the world. That would be, that's the thing you have to have.

I feel like you have to be very hot, but you also have to have like big dick energy. I feel like Megan Fox was being talked about in this context. I don't think anything is coming of that. Yeah. No, I don't know. Like I,

I mean, to me, the big thing, it's so funny when you look at fan cast because so many of them are just like dudes being like,

Emma Stone, she's got red hair. I'm like, maybe let's think outside of like the hair color they already have because they can change it. Yep.

I don't know if that's like, it's the same like reaction to the aerial casting. It's like, you know, black women can have red hair crazy idea

what what I know really wild I would yeah I also I would like a woman of color I mean we have I like that changed cat woman who I'm not sure if they'll do that crossover the whole DC I have no idea how it's very confusing

yeah but if anyone could cross over into this Birds of Prey movie, it would be Robert Pattinson. Like, of all of the Batman, Arbats is the one. He's the one who's going to be in The Batman, right?

He's The Batman, yes, indeed. The Batman. That cast is pretty great. What was his quote? It's, quote, so raw and like something else. I love that. Was it sushi? It was like unsanitized and raw. Sounds gross. I'm so fatigued.

Disgusting. Can't wait. I am. But Zoe Kravitz, though, is playing Catwoman. And she's got this cute little pixie cut, and it feels like they're going back to this 60s style. So I would like to see her. I don't know.

I feel like my—I wonder—Eva Mendes hasn't been in anything, and I feel like maybe— Yeah. I feel like maybe it would be a nice opportunity for an unknown to break through, too. Yeah. Because nothing's coming to mind immediately, which means that there's probably someone out there who's like perfect for this role yeah it could be anyone oh my god i just thought of janelle monae as poison oh my god thinking of her in that midsummer has janelle like done yeah it's like janelle done anything that's like specifically like a big lead role I feel like she's been the person

who has like cool lines in a trailer like what's the doll movie what is she the lead in this like in the antebellum horror yes that's sort of her big thing right I think so she would be a great Poison Ivy

cause like I feel like so much of it yeah you're just gonna be able to, if you can stand and put your arms out and it looks like plants would come shooting out. She would do a green tuxedo. That would be what her look would be. Yeah. Into it. Think about it.

Very into it. Warner Brothers, call me. Got some thoughts. Warner Brothers, call me. Got some thoughts. Are we going to talk about the plot of this movie? Oh, shit. Should we?

Just in case. It's blank check, listen. It's kind of fine. I'm surprised when a blank check goes into the plot of a movie. Honestly, it is pretty shocking. I just figured I should say something. We're at what? Personally, my favorite tweets are when everyone sends us tweets being like, they didn't even talk about the movie for an hour in.

We've been talking about the movie. We should talk more about The Bachelor. Guys, what do you think is going to happen? Who do you think is going to pick? Wait, Ashley, I want to hear your thoughts about the Lego Batman movie. Oh, very positive thoughts. I think my biggest takeaway about the Lego Batman movie. Oh, very positive thoughts. I think my biggest takeaway from the Lego Batman movie, it is the best depiction.

I was like, what are words? So Lego Batman movie has the best depiction of Batgirl specifically, as mentioned before. She's my girl. I'm sorry. Yeah, they have done Batgirl on screen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I stand corrected. Played by Rosario Dawson. They do this video montage about like

welcome your new commissioner barbara gordon and they say she was top of her class at harvard for police cleaned up the streets of bloodhaven using statistics and compassion it's just like but like that's barbara so i was like oh it's so good and like they do such a great job of like getting back to like kind of like the cartoony like fun roots of Batman and like the whole DC universe as well. Cartoons. Cartoons, man. I love them.

Yeah, exactly. And I think DC has been like if you're comparing like DC to Marvel, DC has always been rooted in kind of a more cartoony madcap universe than Marvel has always been like, no, we're trying to make this relevant to the real world. It's set in New York City. We're trying to make this as applicable as possible where DC can just have a little bit more fun. And yeah, I thought

the Lego Batman movie did a great job of that. And also Will Arnett as Batman is also great. Michael Cera's there as Robin. Real quick aside for cartoons I actually also want to shout out

the Harley Quinn show if you guys get like a DC Universe free pass that's right I was doing my research diligent research on top of Suicide Squad very diligent

it's very fun apparently also writers from some of them blankies listen to the show what you're going to say some of them women

maybe some of the women and blankies. It certainly feels like it. More importantly than being women, they listen to this show. A blankie first and a woman second. But yeah, back to the plot of Birds of Prey, which we have not

covered over an hour in. It's a good plot. Solid. I don't know. Emily, you're a movie critic. I sure am. As my job It's a good plot. Solid. I don't know. Emma, you're a movie critic. Go next. I sure am. Okay. As my job description as being a movie critic, I will go over the plot of this film.

So it's about Harley Quinn. Sure is. It's thing number one to know about this film. And she, so it starts like as she is, she broke up with the Joker. She gets kicked out of a bar. He breaks up with her. She's not having a great time of being rejected. And she hasn't told anyone that they're not together anymore.

With good reason, though. With good reason because he's pretty much the only thing keeping people from messing with her. And she's like riding high on all this freedom that she has because of that. But she doesn't realize that it's not because she's who she is. It's because he's who he is. Right. So once the connection between them, it becomes apparent that that's not there anymore. After she blows up an ace chemical plant.

A very fun scene. Well, some people have the Eiffel Tower. Some people have the Oligard. Other people have an ace chemical power plant. A very fun scene. Well, some people have the Eiffel Tower. Some people have the Oligard. Other people have an ace chemical power plant. A vat of acid. Great line. And people start coming after her, including the guy,

including Ewan McGregor's character's name. Roman Sionis. Roman Sionis. Victor Zaz is so much more fun to say. Very cool name. Victor Zaz. Like, Roman Sionis. Roman Sionis. Victor Zaz is so much more fun to say. Very cool name. Zaz. Like Roman Sionis is like not. It just sounds like a name of a person.

It just sounds like a very generic like mob, boss, whatever. Yeah. Black mask. Black mask. He does indeed wear the black mask later on. Yeah. And the whole thing of like her kind of being under, quote unquote, the protection of Joker. Right.

I thought it was really interesting because even if your boyfriend is not the clown prince of crime. You've heard me talk about my exes. Clowns. Ladies. No, I think. But it's like a real thing that I feel like happens to women where if you have a boyfriend, men don't bother you as much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like if you're not going to get catcalled if there's a dude walking next to you on the same street where you might be walking by yourself. So I, you totally understand Harley kind of like, obviously it's hard for her to just admit it to herself.

But then also she knows like the very real implications. And it's also just like it's an interesting detail for Roman that he, you know, respects Joker and fears him. But, you know, Harley is pretty kooky and crazy and he just finds her annoying. She keeps breaking people's legs in his bar. Pretty great. he just finds her annoying. She keeps breaking people's legs in his bar. Pretty great.

But she only, you know what I mean? Like she's acting out, but he won't do anything because of the Joker, because he respects this guy. But as soon as he's gone, he was like, oh, I don't care anymore. Right. Shitty dude.

How many of us have ever done the thing where like you're in a bar with your friends and some guy starts talking to you and you like grab one of your guy friends and you're like, this is my boyfriend because I've done that before. 100% have done that. You got it. I thought you were going to say

where you jump on their legs. Who have done that thing? No one has. I found it's a very effective move. Just girly things. I was talking to you and you broke his legs. I found it's a very effective move. Just girly things. I was talking to you. And you broke his legs. I wish.

We love catharsis. I'll only do it if you have a PhD. Right. I love that she keeps mentioning that. Yes. She's like, I went to school. I was a psychiatrist. She has a very quiet kind of line in Suicide Squad where she does some psych language towards Will Smith, who's Mrs.'s daughter.

I don't know. Really convincing. I can't talk about that movie without sighing and melting into the floor. But yeah, throughout this movie, she's saying, oh, classic childhood trauma. I can tell your line to me based off of like your facial reactions and things like that just like makes it very clear

like Harleen Quinzel like went to school god damn it she still knows her shit she has a business card the business card was so fun the business card was good

she can't spell mercenary no to be fair she had a lot of shots before she could spell mercenary yeah um

what else happens in this movie? How many other characters come into it? Because this is the part that I was confused by and it keeps going back and forth. I'm like, I don't know who these people are. The big thing is that, you know, it's like hunting season on Harley once everyone knows that her and the Joker broke up.

It's wabbit season. It's wabbit season. You could say. Wow. Well, it's wabbit season for her. And she can't pull back a sign thatabbit season. You could say. Wow. Well, it's Wabbit season for her. And she can't pull back a sign that says duck season. She can't trick everybody. She can't.

I do feel that Roman would fall for it because he's a big old dummy in this movie. Oh, my gosh. He's such a petulant child. He's just like, my things. I know you're taking my things. He literally yells, my things. My things. It's so great.

You have to respect his suits, though. Oh, yeah. I love them. I was going to say, I do want to talk about how great the suits were. They were so good, right? They were so good. And the part in the club where he has eyeliner on, I would just like to say thank you. Yes.

Just thank you. Thank you for putting Ewan McGregor in makeup. Kathy Yan knows what we want. I did tense up in my seat when that happened. I was like, oh. Oh, it's happening. He borrowed some knows what we want. I did tense up in my seat when that happened. I was like, oh. Oh, it's happening. He borrowed some from Chris Messina. He's got a lot of eyeliner.

Can I step back for a second and say the one thing that I really struggled with in this movie is that Roman is quoted as queer. Yes. We should talk about that. Him being the villain in that, I'm here for queer villains, but it made it very much like this is women versus queer men. And I'm not here for that. Didn't Cathy Yancey in an interview before it came out, she was like, yes, Roman and Victor are together. Oh, I saw an interview where she said she didn't plan it that way.

Okay. To me, it felt more coded. Never feels implicit. Christmas Eve is especially, he's like a little puppy following Ewan McGregor around. The way that they make eye contact. Yes. Something's there. He's so pouty when he's talking to Black Canary.

Yeah. It felt a little explicit, but because they had queer rep on both sides, it didn't feel as, you know, and the queerness wasn't kind of, it never felt like the queerness was the reason for the villainy. Like, right? Like, it didn't feel like it was, like, that level of it. It's complicated. It's uncomfortable. I do was, like, that level of it. It's complicated. It's uncomfortable. I do wish there was a history of it. It's just so many villains are coded as queer.

Just forever. And just very kind of, like, over the top. And it's never made. I think it would have been cool to kind of just make that, like, a little more explicit. Like, just go that extra step. Right, just say it. Because it did work for their characters. Like I wouldn't have wanted to see them as like,

you know what I mean? Like their lingering moments together are really like charged and fun. Right, yeah. So like blowing off some steam. I'm going to go kill Harley, you know, or whatever the line was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's good to mention that it's not necessarily women versus straight men. Which would probably be a little bit more cathartic. Yeah, it would have been more cathartic, but also maybe more ham-fisted. Although he does have that moment where he's like, men of Gotham! Oh my gosh, so good-y.

It is very testosterone-driven. That scene specifically reminded me of when Chris Gethard is in Parks and Rec. And he's standing with like the men's rights activists. That's what that moment was. It felt like he watched that clip. Oh boy. Cinematic parallels.

Birds of Prey is basically men's rights are nothing. Exactly. I thought, but like I think Ewan McGregor played it like really well. Oh, he was having so much fun. Agreed. Agreed. I had recently revisited Moulin Rouge. And so part of the time I was

just like. Big Ewan movie. Big Ewan movie. But then when this movie started I was just like, Christian? What are you doing? He does get to dance and sing to Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend in both movies. Oh, yeah. He didn't get to sing it. I really would like, I wanted him to jump in.

Did we like that number? Preeti, what did you think of that? Oh, yeah. I liked it. I thought it was interesting and fun, and I love that she's wearing pants in it. I thought that was great. I agree. Yeah.

But, yeah, I really, really enjoyed that whole thing. It was such like a weird manic moment, but in a way that worked, unlike the like kind of weird rewinding narrative structure that didn't necessarily work. That moment for me really, really like worked for Harley as a character. I have to say for me,

I have to disagree a little bit because I was like very sorry I'm so sorry I respect you though women stick together um but I was like I remember seeing that like little bits of that in the trailers and being very excited for whatever that was gonna be I assumed that it would be it's Diamonds Are Girls' Best Friend. And it seemed really weirdly, like, chopped and screwed in the actual movie that, like, I wondered if it hadn't been a full scene and they decided to just sort of cut around it. Because I would have liked a full, genuine musical number there.

I feel like that would have been really cool. But they just didn't do it. I want more. I wish it was in Harley's voice, honestly, because it's like someone else's version. Can Margot sing? Probably.

I don't know. She can do whatever she wants. Yeah, is that the only fantasy sequence? I don't think there's any other. Besides the there was the whole movie. What a real fantasy. But yeah, compared to Suicide Squad fantasy where she like has two small children and is married to Jared Leto. Yeah.

No, they have like a nice change. Yeah. Goals. Well, because this was what was what I liked about it, I think, is because this was such a direct result of him, I mean, hitting her in the face in a very jarring moment. Right. Because Ewan McGregor does play the character kind of like, you're laughing at him a lot.

Like, he is very impetuous and very childish, so that when they are these, like, and, like, the first time you see him be truly violent, it's him directing Victor Zsasz to do the work, right? So the first moment where he really backhands her was a really jarring, uncomfortable moment. Right. And so I liked it going into this kind of jarring, uncomfortable musical scene where it felt very right because of what preceded it directly. because of what preceded it directly.

But it was like really, like that moment of her, of him like backhanding her was like, ugh. It was hard. It was hard to see. In the same way that the dress scene was hard to see. It was like a little hard to watch.

Right. You don't want to watch Obi-Wan do that. No. He did have a high ground though. Oh my God. I'll leave. Bye. This has been so much fun you guys.

Sorry. But no yeah I think it made sense for Harley's character in that she kind of like stepped out of it a little bit. It did feel jarring but then I guess it made sense for the scene. I think it was just like an editing issue for me. It's just the way they spliced it in was a little choppy. It seemed like there had

been a reason for it and then they had to take out the reason or something. I don't know what happened with itpy it seemed like it had been there had been a reason for it and then they had to take out the reason or something I don't know what happened with it but it seemed like the reason was to have Megan Thee Stallion and Normani

saw it and the credits great credits soundtrack for this movie very good slaps slaps slaps

very fun honks honks is a thing that Griffin starts like by law. I feel like David says it a lot too. Well, because this is what happens between those two.

Like Victor Zsasz and Roman Sionis, they just feed into each other. Which one of them is which? I mean, I feel like David's got to be Roman, right? He's going to love this. He's not going gonna listen to this what psychopath do you think those two are I mean I feel like

I feel bad not saying that Ben is Victor Zsasz oh my god he's got some serious scumbum energy there's a lot of scumbums in this movie

Ben also cuts little tally marks into his skin fun fact for every pair of pants he buries. He bends like a ginger. It would not look. That would be so bad for his skin.

But yeah, I really liked, I liked black mask. I liked. I like how he puts on the mask. You can tell he did too. He was like, was that what, is that what he says to Zaz?

Like they kind of like get excited for a minute. I feel like I missed that line where he's just like, is that what he says to Zaz? They kind of get excited for a minute. I feel like I missed that line where he's just like, I'm going to put this on tonight. Because he's really not wearing it for most of the movie. He's very showboating. He's very like, because in this version, I don't know if this is him in the comics, but he's kind of just like a trust fund kid. He's like an interesting parallel to Bruce Wayne where, you know, trust fund kid. He has a lot of privilege. Has a lot of privilege.

And yet he still feels like he has something to prove all the time. And he has to control things and he gets upset when things don't go his way. So he decides to become a villain who owns the east side of Gotham. Yeah. Among us. I mean, I would also want to like wear all those fun outfits if I were. I would love to own. That's the best part about being a Gotham? Yeah. Who among us? I mean, I would also want to wear all those fun outfits if I were. That's the best part about being a Gotham villain, right? It's just that

you get to dress real crazy. You get to wear cool stuff, yeah. I would love to own a seedy nightclub with hand decorations all over the place. It would look like the Pan's Labyrinth. Yeah. So I guess that was like, they were originally going to have statues on stage because he's so obsessed with these It looked like the Pan's labyrinth. Yeah. So I guess that was like the,

they were originally going to have statues on stage because he's so obsessed with these like perfect forms everywhere. Sure. And then they thought it looked too weird. So instead they just have like one big statue that kind of like overwhelms the stage. That's cool. And then obviously, did you guys catch, there was a line where he's showing Black Canary his apartment.

Yes. And Zaz is super jealous. And he says something about he points to a statue that is a very tall Ewan McGregor that I know we all want in our homes. Sure. I'm sure it will be sold at Hot Topic very shortly. When they auction that one off at the prop auction, I will be there. I will be there as well. But he says someone made it and then they cut him off. Does anyone think that's supposed to be a nod? I don't remember what the name was. Did you notice this? I did not. as well. But he says someone made it and then they cut him off. Were we, is that,

does anyone think that's supposed to be a nod? I don't remember what the name was. Did you notice this? I did not. I was not 100% sober when I saw this movie.

I like that honesty. Sorry DC fans if we're not getting something. I thought, I was like, tweet at us. Is there supposed to be like a,

I felt like there was supposed to be like a hero or villain we've never heard of that's like the sculptor. Right. Oh, it's a nod. He makes statues.

I mean, Pete. Yeah. With DC's, you know, villain background, like there probably is someone named the sculptor. They have Calendar Man. They have Calendar Man. They have like the kite. They did a really good job with Calendar Man on the long Halloween. Gave him a purpose.

Yes, yes, yes. But Batman villains villains that's why they're all my favorite yeah but yeah but then it ends with the statue so it seems to be kind of like i really like the the founders park it's just like another reminder of like all these men who have like you know gotten credit for i don't fucking know just being rich and founding gotham yeah it doesn't seem like a very good idea to put that many statues on a pier. No, think of the wind. It was falling apart a bit.

I feel like that might have had to do with the, like, 30 statues that were lined up on a wooden pier. Some of them look kind of crumbly. They looked pretty crumbly. One gunshot destroyed the whole head. They're probably hollow on the inside. Shoddy workmanship. Like real men. Whoa.

If I could drop this mic, I would. Except they wouldn't. That's actually really bad for audio equipment. You shouldn't do it. I know things. I don't bat them. Like James... Oh my god.

There's too many James who host late night shows. James Corden at the Oscars. They were like messing with the microphone because they were cats. And all I could think was like the audio people are pissed right now. So mad. I wonder if that was a prop microphone. It seemed like it was bouncing back unusually. Oh, yeah.

I guess, yeah, if they rehearsed that. Do you think they rehearsed in the cat makeup too? I bet they've spent weeks on that bit. Oh my God. Probably longer than they did on Cats. I will never watch Cats. Honestly. No, don't look at me like that.

High cinema. I will not. No, no. People are still mad at us for not covering that. Guys, please stop telling us to cover cats. I'm sorry. I brought up a sore subject. No, we might be covering it in like a March Madness bracket.

But like, don't. Tom Hooper's going to win. Don't encourage people to vote for that. It would be fun to talk about. But also, please stop tweeting at us to cover cats. Skimble Shanks. Skimble Shanks is the real world cat. He's the cat on the rail world cat. He's the cat

on the rail. Anyway. It's beautiful. Trying to think what other parts of Birds of Prey could there be like guys? I like

speaking of statues and stuff I liked in the fun house when they're on that spinny table when she's rollerblading around the carousel

thank you the word that I was looking for I liked how the hands you could bend them back and smack people with them. Very cool. It's just shenanigans, man. It's just all good fun. That was so great.

I think we have to, I don't think this episode is complete if we don't give a shout out to the egg and cheese sandwich. That was actually. Hell yes. That was like Harley's. Legitimately the best part. So good. And like, I'm really sad because I wanted to bring egg and cheese sandwiches for everyone to this recording.

And it happened to be after the breakfast hour. So I couldn't get any. And I was really furious. Um, but we probably shouldn't be eating on Mike anyway. Um, people, it'll bring it back.

Oh, okay. Really sad. If you guys were eating egg and cheese sandwich. That's true. It's hard enough to watch the movie and they have like this. I was so hungry. I was like, I want an egg and cheese and a margarita.

Yeah. Like I just put it in my mouth. But yeah, it's like I think it's interesting that like she breaks up with the Joker and like it's not even like her breaking up. It's definitely like implied that he did that. and like it's not even like her breaking up it's definitely like implied that he did that um but the thing that actually like led her to have you know a breakthrough she cries and it's like it's because this egg and cheese sandwich got fridged like like totally like we had to have this egg and cheese sandwich die for her to see the error of her ways and like grow past that and like it was so it was so great i love that she finally got it in the end yeah yeah i mean who amongst us hasn't had that experience with

a bodega breakfast sandwich like there's nothing worse in the world than you think you're gonna get this amazing thing this amazing sandwich and then something goes wrong. Absolutely. It's really. So that was like representation matters. It does. Egg sandwiches. Yes. Specifically, apparently like a lot of care went into crafting like the exact type of like. Oh, that's funny.

Egg sandwich that they make in New York. Like because like they were like they would bring them and they were like, no, that looks too nice. It has to look sloppy. It has to have Armenian hair in it. It has to be legit. No disrespect to the egg sandwiches of new york it was good it looked like a good new york egg sandwich it did have like the right like like foil wrapping and stuff yeah and then the foil and then the paper underneath and then the paper back i love the montage when they're cooking it on the yes the. With Barry White appropriately playing.

Because that's what I hear in my head. Every time. Every time. Yeah. I'm hungry, guys. I've fixed many a hangover with an egg and cheese from my bodega down the street. I feel like that's why it would be hard for me to live. Every time I've been to LA, I'm like, how can't just like walk around a corner and get an egg and cheese sandwich

you gotta go to scroll you gotta drive around the corner worse no no let me just alienate all our listeners

in that whole bye guys sorry LA sorry LA but you gotta try the second cheese you'll change your mind we don't like men

or people from LA it is funny though that like every time like occasionally listeners will like post in our reddit like I'm going to New York like what like movie stuff should I do?

And, like, responses are always, like, get an egg and cheese sandwich. Do it. It is, like, kind of, like, the quintessential thing to do. And Gotham is kind of, like, the, you know, it's supposed to be, like, New York. Yeah. It's sometimes Chicago. It's sometimes Chicago. Christopher Nolan's version, I guess.

When it has like nerve gas and shit. Trucks flopping over. All those trucks, you know? I really liked this Gotham though. Did we feel like this felt like Gotham watching it? Did it feel like a regular city? Back to your earlier point about how this feels like a Schumacher film. Yes.

Those are the only films in which I believe that like Gotham is this gross place of corruption and just like everything is dirty and terrible well yeah because there's a bunch of gangs

that paint neon on their faces so now that's how you know they're bad yeah it's kind of radical anyway because like

I remember I watched like the I love the Nolan Batman trilogy I think they're great but they're always like this city is dirty and gross I'm like this city

it looks fine. Yeah, it's just a normal scale. Yeah, it's just sort of boring, but I don't think it's gross. But this movie in particular, it looked like sticky. Like I felt like if I touched the movie, my hand would come away with something on it. Yes. Yeah, I feel like Harley's apartment was like appropriately small. She did get a studio, which felt pretty unrealistic.

I wonder how much do we think Harley's paying rent on that place. She made a deal with that very nice man. I guess so. Can I say, that was great. That was also another one of my favorite. A theme that I thought was pretty strong, that was, I think, kind of subtly layered throughout, is that Harley is so,

she really struggles to connect with people. And it felt like, I mean, the first thing you see is like her dad kind of like didn't want her. And they kind of like brush it off as a joke, but it is, she's an unreliable narrator. And she's like, yeah, you know, my dad didn't want me, but I kept showing up anyway. I ended up in like this orphanage with like these nuns.

And then like, she has that line with Doc that says he's like the father I never had and she kind of like says it like a throwaway but like she's so genuinely hurt

when he sells her out and I think like it it really hurts when she sells out Cassandra Cain like right after that but it

it made sense for her to just like you can tell it's so hard for her to like she she can't really like rely on anyone. And like every time she tries to make connections, she's really bad at it. And it sucks because like she immediately kind of gets it too when he does that. She's like, yeah, you know, I guess I would have done the same thing.

And then of course she does. That's just sort of like the world until now she's lived in. And then she gets the girl gang and everything goes great for her and then she turns on them which again felt good so good Ange do you want to try the box office game?

fuck no it's from this week I'm not like a box office what movies are coming out? what movies are already out? are already out From this week? I can't. I'm not like a box office officiant. What movies are coming out? What movies are already out? Are already out. I don't know. I mean, I guess we can talk

about the box office with this movie. It's not doing well. It's not doing as well as we would like. Do you know if David does the worldwide or the domestic? I don't know.

I'm going to go for the worldwide. I literally listen to the show for my job and I don't know. I'm going to go for the worldwide. I literally listen to this show for my job and I don't know. I sit next to David and I have no idea what he's doing over there. Listen, I'm not a numbers girl. I just talk a lot. Birds of Prey is number three.

Number one is a sequel to a sequel with Will Smith in it. Oh. Oh, Bad Boys for Life. Yeah, Bad Boys for Life. Number two is a movie I didn't know came out, but everyone has been really mad about it. It's got Robert Downey Jr. Do it all.

I saw it. That's number two? It's number two. Jesus Christ. I mean, but that's, isn't that par for the course, though? Like a children's movie? Because, you know. Yeah. Yeah. It's a children's movie cause you know yeah

parents and children like this is a rated R superhero movie like right that limits the audience right is this international unless you bring your

10 year old I guess yeah I think like international like CGI he does stick his hand up a dragon's asshole in that movie

he sure does whoa wait you saw that movie spoiler I didn't see it David I just like saw David immediately after he saw it

and he was like still reeling from it and then Ben was like he asked the dragon farts a lot this is like the main compelling point of the movie. This is the climax of the film the climax of the film is the dragon is farting and then Ben asked

does the dragon at least fart fire and then David yelled no really upset perfect opportunity missed I'm bummed that I know that yeah I'm sorry anyone listening you are now you have to live your life

with this information I have hopes that I think this has had like a slower opening than maybe the studio was expecting but I have hopes that I think this has had like a slower opening than maybe the studio was expecting. But I have hopes that like because I feel like I was also in this boat. I was going to wait to see what people said about this one because it was so closely tied to like Suicide Squad. And like I was like, I don't know, are we going to do like another like Harley is a fuck toy movie? A movie where the trailer was great.

Yeah, exactly. I was just like, I don't know. I was like, I want to make sure this is something that like I would actually enjoy. Like as like a, as a woman viewer, like knowing that there isn't like excessive, like, you know, violence against women. No, just normal excessive violence.

Normal excessive violence. Exactly. And, you know, I think if I had waited, I would totally go and see it now, but I had to because I was gonna be on a podcast um but uh but uh but yeah but I think there's a lot of people that are like oh like the reviews are in they've heard that this is a movie that's like safe for me to see um or I would feel good about it for 10 year olds to see as well well maybe I don't know

but uh but yeah I have hopes that this is gonna be like you know I don't know if that's 10 year olds I think she got there for the 10 year sets honestly but yeah I have hopes that this is gonna be like you know I don't think it's going to break any like records set by your Wonder Woman's

and your Captain Marvel's the world which is a ridiculous standard to put a movie to anyway that it can't just exist it has to prove itself every time any movie

every single time created by women or featuring all these women just like it has to it has to be great. Yeah. It's just the thing about that is that movies about women are bad, you know? And like. As we all know.

We shouldn't be making about women. Harley wasn't sexy enough. She didn't have the sequined booty shorts. So that's where the studios went wrong. That's why it's going to fail. that's why it's going to fail. That's why it was destined to fail. I can't even say that. Like, it's so frustrating.

Can we all agree? We need to talk about this before we wrap up the episode. Did we all fucking love the costumes? Yes. Very much. Again, I shaved my balls for this. And like fucking Black and Aary's like yellow pants. Yes.

Doing some stuff to me. I was like, I need that. The gold pants, the hair. The suit that she wears with the bell-bottom jeans. Oh my God. I like the gold overalls so badly. I also like the nod to like, I knew Harley was going to be on roller skates for that fight scene and she's

in boots for the beginning of it. So I, the whole time, I was kind of like, when are the skates going to come out? And as someone who did roller derby for five whole minutes and by that I mean I did like the training, sort of, and then I started missing classes because it was hard

and other reasons. Like podcasting, it was hard. And other reasons. Like podcasting, it's hard. It's hard, yeah. I'm a girl. It takes a while to sit and tie up your laces. I feel like I didn't have to mention that I did derby. I just needed to.

Did you ever roll a derby name? Yeah, actually. It was going to be A-D-H-D. Like A-I-D-Y and like the H stands for like hurricane or something I didn't get that far

the point is that's great then Black Canary goes like when did she have time to tie her shoes I did not that's a good

yeah I appreciated it because when she skates right out you're like oh okay sure

just go with it we're fighting I would also like to point out that um Journey specifically requested um a black hairstylist on set because she wanted to like she it's you know obviously it's important for a woman of color and specifically a black woman to have black women doing her hair and not just like a white woman who might not might be hired on set and might be hired to do everyone else

and not be able to work with her like she should be and her hair looked really cool it did look really cool and she got a hair tie she did

she got a hair tie really important small detail would not have been in Suicide Squad yeah that's how you know it was you know made by women

they got a hair tie in a fight scene that's great I feel like we need to talk about Huntress's outfit Huntress's kind of got this like sporty yeah That's how you know it was made by women. They got a hair tie in a fight scene. That's great. I feel like we didn't talk about Huntress' outfit. Huntress has kind of got this sporty. She's got a track suit thing. It's like a crop top.

And then a big jacket. She somehow can ride the motorcycle with the big jacket on. I love that. It's cool. I love the scene where she's on the bike and she has the rope and she swings Harley around. Yes. That was great. She whips her. Whip her.

Also, Renee Montoya, most practical running around outfit. Yes. Yes. I'm sure she has. I think it goes to sensible shoes. I liked Harley's gun of surprises. Oh, it was the fun gun. Oh, my God.

I can't believe we didn't talk about the fun gun. Oh, I love that. Just wanted to mention. I think that was one of my favorite scenes in the movie was the one where she, you know. I agree. Comes and says she's here to commit a crime. And then she like goes into the precinct and then just the way they filmed it and the like, not only did we have beanbags, we had glitter.

We had this like, these like colored, like, smoke bombs that were going off, and, like, the lighting was so cool, and the action was, like, I feel like they did a great job of, like, slowing down any of the fights, like, right for, like, the really good punch or a really good hit. The guy gets hit with, I don't know what it was, and he, like, flips in the

air, and she's just standing there. I love that stuff. Yeah, it was so good. And I like that every member of the team had their own kind of like fighting style. Like Harley definitely reminded me of like a pro wrestler. Like she was like here to get down and get dirty. Like she was like kicking with

like both feet. Like she might as well have grabbed like a metal chair and like hit someone over the head. She has her cool flashy costume. Yeah, yeah exactly. And then everyone else had like various styles of like martial arts. Like Renee was just like, you could tell like Krav Maga police training, like brass knuckles, like Black Canary was using her feet exclusively. I think I read this somewhere. Renee used handcuffs as brass knuckles in one shot, which I thought ruled.

I did not catch that. Yeah, yeah. And like, yeah, Black Canary was using her feet mostly. yeah yeah and like yeah Black Canary was using um her feet mostly and I was I was reading a little bit about the fight choreography and someone had said they were like yeah we want to make sure that she uses her feet because if you're using your hands like if you're working at a club people are going to see that but like you know your legs and your feet it's easier to cover up with your awesome gold pants um and I was like oh such such a good. I loved it. I like that Cassandra had a cast because she seems like a cast kid. Yeah.

She does. Oh, my God. A cast kid. Just like that one kid that shows up and you're like, yeah. You're up to trouble. And she can stuff stuff inside it. Exactly. Very tactical.

I know part of me thinks it was fake. There's stuff there to put things inside. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then Harley finds the belonging in someone else that isn't a man, which is really nice. And then, yeah, Harley's like her mom now. Her guardian, I guess, technically. Her guardian's like her big sister.

Yeah. Like a big sister, big brother, big sister kind of Gotham. Yeah. I think that's a great relationship. Oh, quick aside. I'm very happy that the booby trap was where this took place. I was kind of wondering, like, why they're in, like, a carousel place. Because that did feel very, like, Joker-y.

And then it's made clear that this used to be, like, a Joker and Harley hideout. Which I appreciated as someone who loves, like, the animated series. And, like, all the best Joker hideouts are an abandoned amusement park. This is always the mouth of a clown. There's like, how many amusement parks? Exactly.

His brand is strong. Luckily, there's at least five to six abandoned amusement parks within walking distance of Gotham City at all times. I don't think Gotham has any working amusement parks. And then, of course, the reason you know Harley shows that they took

all the guns, but also the ha-ha-has were written in lipstick or blood, maybe, I don't know, on a window. I hate that I know that Jared Leto supposedly did that. Also, RE guns. Very minimal gun usage in this film.

Harley shoots that guy in the head and then chucks it. I really liked that. That was cool. She was like, I don't want this. She wants her fun gun.

That was cool. No, I like that very much as well. And the fun gun, I especially liked again because like, I don't want to watch someone shoot up a freaking anything.

Like, at this point. That felt like a specific choice. Yeah. Like the kind of challenge is how does Harley break into this police station? Right. With being nice.

Get rid of all these cops. Mm-hmm. And overpower them. But it's fun. It's fun. You actually like Harley at the end of this. It's like, what if the gun had glitter?

We're like, good, good, good idea. The secret is fun and cocaine. Yes. Apparently. Oh, the cocaine. My mom loved, good, good, good idea. The secret is fun and cocaine. Yes. Apparently. Oh, the cocaine. My mom loved the cocaine. My mom texted me.

I shouldn't say my mom loved the cocaine. My mom doubled it. Keep it in double it. I'm sorry, mom, that I phrased that that way. My mom texted that she specifically liked the cocaine power up. And I thought it was like a really fun detail. It's like funny in the movie. But also that's that feels like a fuck boy complaint that you see a lot that like with John Wick.

You're like, oh, he's just like the best and he can keep going. He's like a tank. Right. And but there's so many movies where people just keep fighting and fighting and fighting. And you're like any person would be kind of like falling over by this point. So like how is like Harley going to recharge? kind of like falling over by this point. So like, how is like Harley gonna recharge? And she doesn't have any superpowers. The only character who has them is Black Canary.

And she does it once. And she does it one time. And passes out. Yeah, as you would. Which makes sense for someone who has been refusing to use them for so long. Right. We're good?

I did do an extremely nerdy thing. And I brought my trade issue of Mad Love by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. You did. And I was going to do a little reading from the forward by Paul Dini. And this was published in like 2004, 2003 or something. And I think it's still relevant how he mentions this. But he says, it's been a while since we created these stories but i always look back at them with a lot of pride and affection i don't think of mad love

as a victim's tale but a cautionary one about what happens when someone loves recklessly obsessively and for too long through harley's tragicomic experiences we catch a glimpse of ourselves in a funhouse mirror distorted and all too willing to play the fool for someone we'd be much better off without. And even Harley has changed a little in the interim. No longer content to follow after the Joker, she's off on new adventures, both on screen and in the comics. Sometimes she's paired up with her gal pal, Poison Ivy.

Sometimes she's out causing mischief on her own in a way that's gratifying as no one should stay pining for someone, particularly that someone for too long. And even when she slips and links up with her old beau again, Harley's his equal partner in crime and not the eager to please hinch winch of old. That's not a reformation by a long shot, but it's a tentatively hopeful step in a debatably right direction. And if there's hope for Harley Quinn, then there's a tentatively hopeful step in a debatably right direction. And if there's hope for Harley Quinn, then there's hope for the mad lovers and us all. Yay!

Galsby and pals. Just gal pals. I was like, I'm with you, Paul. I'm with you. Oh, Paul, no. Don't say gal pal. We stan a gal pal. Definitely just friends. Confirmed bisexual. Harley Quinn.

Confirmed. Same girl. Alright. And then is there anything you guys would like people to check you out at? Emma. I'm at Thrillist.com writing about stuff every day. I don't know if I publish

every day. I should. But yeah you can find me on online there at thrillist.com slash entertainment I write about you know TV movies stuff like this that we're talking about right now so if you like this then you'll probably like

the subjects that I cover in my work and you can find me on Twitter at Stefabski it's my name with a typo in it. Great. And that's, yeah. That's me. Preeti, do you want to shout out? Where can people find your work? Sure.

You can find me on Twitter mostly at RunWithSkizzers because I'm an adult. And you can find me on sci-fi.com most days both writing and podcasting for strong female characters. And you can find me on sci-fi.com most days both writing and podcasting for strong female characters and you can pre-order some of my many projects over on my website pre-thedripper.com there's star wars there's marvel like please go check it out and pre-order my books because it means i can

write more books um yeah pre-thedripper.com there are lots of extra letters in there, but good luck. Ashley, would you like people to find your work? Or are there any books that you're working on that you would like people to know about? If you like podcasts and you like specifically D&D podcasts, we are publishing the Critical Role book this September. So if you're interested in that, it's available for pre-order. so if you're interested in that it's available for pre-order um also if you like fun science fiction adventures that maybe feature bisexual space boys in them um i highly recommend bonds of brass by emily scruzzi that's coming out in april um it's a lot of fun um and if you want to follow me on social media you can do that at ashley de. I spell my name differently because I am difficult. Google it! Google it! Whatever.

But yeah. And I am Angela Ferraguto. You can follow me at Magna Farda spelled like how it sounds. I am also an adult. You can follow. It's a good one. Thank you. I was really locked that shit in.

You can follow me on Instagram at Magna Farda. I post very silly, dumb comics there. They're great. They're not silly and dumb. They're silly and delightful. Thank you. Kind of like one Harley Quinn. Anyway.

And also follow Blank Check Pod, obviously, on Twitter and Instagram. So that about wraps it up. Thanks for listening, guys. I would like to thank Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for their artwork thank you to Lane Montgomery for our theme song thank you to me for our social media

thank you Angela thank you to Rachel Jacobs for editing you can go on reddit for some real nerdy shit blankies.reddit go to tpublic for some real nerdy shit. Blankies.reddit. You can go to TeePublic for some real nerdy shirts.

And then also keep an eye on our social channels because we will be posting some new merch on the horizon on a special website that will also be posting our live shows. We do have tickets still available for our show on March 23rd at the Bell House at the 10pm show. So if you are in New York March 23rd come see Blank Check

live. Griffin and David will be there. I will be there and Ben will be there. And we're going to do that. And as always girls rule and boys stroll. Yeah. Break their legs. Great.

Just as a heads up, Preeti, we're going to do like a open. Griffin always opens the show with like a quote from a movie and then he just throws in the word podcast. And sometimes blank check. Yeah. It's hard to explain. And then just mentally prepare yourself for the ad reads which are

equally as stupid.