Blank Check with Griffin & David - Justice League

Episode Date: November 26, 2017

On the week of it’s release in November of 2017, Griffin and David discussed the newest film in DC Extended Universe: Justice League. But is Superman still gone even though Henry Cavill is second billed? Just how many times was this movie reshot and is it very noticeable? Will the seven be united? Together they examine using CGI to remove a person’s mustache, Martha boxes and Batmansplaining. This episode is sponsored by Casper.

What are you superpowers again? I podcast Great Hello everybody, my name is Griffin Newman Great David Sims, that's me What are your superpowers again? I podcast. Great. Hello, everybody. My name is Griffin Newman. Great. David Sims. That's me.

We're hashtag the two friends. Unite the two. You can't podcast the world alone. You need two. Might be temporary. Maybe temporary. This is a podcast called Blank Check with Griffin and David. My man. My man.

My man right here. We are each other's men. Booyah. I'm going to get him all out of the way. My man. All these great lines. Just like a bat. My man.

I hear you talk to fish. Yeah. This is a podcast about filmography. Filmography is directors who have massive success early on in their careers and grant a series of blank checks

make whatever crazy passion projects they want David is cleaning his eyes rubbing the sleep out of my eyes very dramatically sort of daintily

casting it off sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce baby sometimes they unite the bounce. I don't know.

Yeah. Now, this is a kind of stealth miniseries that we've been doing. That we sort of backed into. We backed into. But it's fun. Yes. The E-U-D-C-E-U. The Extended Universe of Detective Comics Extended Universe.

Great. No, because it came out that DCEU was a false term. They don't actually use that. Right, so why don't we just create a new term? Well, I've stopped using it in my writing, and I just refer to the DC universe because it's dumb. Extended universe? It doesn't make any sense.

No. What's the extension of? I think MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe. Makes sense. Cinematic, I get it. Right. So you're talking about the movie universe

of the Marvel comics. Okay, but DCU, which is used for like the comic universe, the DC universe, you can't put another C in there because you already got a C. It sounds goofy

if you go DCCU. Sounds okay. Sounds... It's like the Demetri Martin joke about trying to buy B batteries when you have a stutter okay i don't remember i'd like to buy b batteries please yeah i get it dccu you know uh-huh so they were like uh e extended but like someone just said that

and then entertainment canon right right so i'm saying let's establish a new canon here the e-u-d-c-e-u that just rolls oh and what a what was that oh m o-m the extended universe of dc extended universe of movies okay so it's the this is what we're leading with the t u d c e u m so we did a like jokey podcast about batman versus superman and now we just have to review every single one of those things that's that's that's what's happening that's what's happening just just fyi right um because david refuses to ever do the snide kids miniseries yeah uh yeah i refuse we'll break it down one day will we we will break it down one day don't you want to fly with the the owls of gahoo yeah i mean sure the the guardian but the guardian of the guardians

of the guardians they're the owls of gahool. Yes. Justice League could have learned some lessons from the Owls of Gahool. Those alt-right owls. So this is kind of the movie that all these movies that we've been talking about has been building up to. Yeah, except no, it isn't. That's not true. In theory. In theory, yes, but actually not.

In terms of like... Like if you would run this right, then yes, this would be the convergence point. I'm saying in terms of investor phone calls. In 2017, we're going to have Justice League and that's going to be the payoff for everything we've been working on. That's definitely what the WB executives said to their investors four years ago. Then we're going to make the highest grossing movie of all time.

It's called Justice League that's coming in 2017. Now when Marvel did this, who DC are copying, Yes. they had your Iron Man, Hulk, Iron Man 2,

and then, you know, they were like, okay, okay, okay, we're going to build up to a team movie. They had Thor. They had Thor.

They had Captain America. And so now they had everyone ready to put them all together in Avengers. They didn't introduce anyone new in Avengers except for like Hawkeye. That is Thor's scene, but essentially was being set up in there.

Exactly, right. But you know what I mean? They didn't have to do a lot. The idea was just the thrill of them all together, right? The movie hit the ground running. Whereas with Justice League or whatever, it was like, okay, we did aman movie okay that people didn't like that people didn't like so we did a sequel to that that's batman and superman and then wonder woman will show up in it right okay okay everyone cool with that yeah all right now we're doing a suicide squad movie it's unrelated no one

in that is going to be in justice but bartman's in it for a second and flash is in it and he punches a woman in the face. No, Flash is in Batman vs. Superman. And in Suicide Squad. Oh yeah, I guess for like one second. He catches Captain Bummerang. But that's the first time you saw Flash. I literally forgot it.

No, no, no. The first time you see him is in Batman vs. Superman. In costume. No, he's in costume. He's in his weird future costume when he comes through the park. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, so it just, but I mean, and then they're his weird future costume when he comes through the park. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, so it just, but I mean,

and then they're like, then we'll do Justice League. Yeah. We have Batman. We've established him. And they did the Wonder Woman movie. Kind of. They've established him in media res.

They've gone like, here's a Batman who's existed for a while. We're not really going to wind and dine. Wonder Woman, we've established her. She showed up in Batman vs. Superman. She got her own movie.

Right. Aquaman. We've done no work on him. We've seen him on own movie. Right. Aquaman, we've done no work on him. We've seen him on a cell phone video. Cyborg, we've done no work on him. Cell phone video. The Flash. Cell phone video. Nightmare, Captain Boomerang.

And Superman's dead, so we're going to have to bring him back. So essentially, instead of just the easy task of everyone we know comes together, it's more like a guy we know and a girl we know meet three people we don't know and then revive a fourth person we don't know. I mean, that we do know. Correct. That's a lot of story. It's a big task.

And I'll say, I kept on having the feeling watching this movie. Ben and I saw it last night. Yeah, I saw the press screening on... Producer Ben and I saw it last night. Purdueer Ben and I saw it last night. The Benducer and I saw it last night producer Ben and I saw it last night the Ben Ducer and I saw it last night yeah

the Haas saw it with me last night and Mr. Positive and I saw it last night with Draw Draw Milligan, John Braylock and Tessa Hirsch Tessa Claire Hirsch you heard two of those three people on last week's episode correct so they're real fresh in the noggin but yeah Tessa Claire Hirsch. You heard two of those three people on last week's episode. Correct.

Correct. So they're real fresh in the noggin. But yeah, those three people saw it with myself and also the fart detective. The meat lover. The peeper. The poet laureate. Our finest film critic. So can wet Benny.

Dirt bike Benny. Birthday Benny. The tiebreaker. I was surprised, David. I really like Cyborg. We're going to talk about Cyborg. Gerard wished him a hello fennel.

Okay. They did, yeah. Okay? Yeah. But then, Bray called him Professor Crispy. And I got mad

because I'm not a professor nor am I Crispy. It was a problem. But then Tessa who's lovely, I've pointed I crispy. It was a problem. But then Tessa Who's lovely. She pointed out something. Ray's fiance said

no he's the fuck master. Oh no. And I don't say that from professional experience and maybe Griffin is now backed into a corner because I was the last one to speak and it sounds gendered.

You made a huge mistake. I'm sorry Griffin. I was going to say that Tessa pointed out that he graduated certain titles of the Course in Different Miniseries. Well, no,

now I pointed that out. Why don't we flip it? I said, Tessa, apology accepted. I'm glad that you said that out loud so everyone knows that I wasn't meaning anything

by the distribution. Can you just wrap this up? I'm getting out of here. It's graduate student titles of the Course in Different Miniseries such as Kylo Ben-Prusher, Ben Kenobi, Ben Eichelm,

Ben Sey, Say Benny thing Ailey Benz with a dollar sign Sure Warhaz Purdue Urbane and then also of course B19 the fennel maker

Ben 19 the fennel maker Damn right We saw the movie and you went to a critic screening I went to a critic screening because you're fancy humble brag I sat with the

past and future guest Esther Esther Zuckerman. I said Martha Tahour a lot throughout. Was this a New York Film Critics Circle screening? No. Let's give you a round of applause. This is the first episode chronologically we're recording since you went on vacation, since all this shit has happened.

I went on vacation and stayed very quiet. Yeah, you break the internet no i had one goal i said go on vacation don't break the internet leave the internet unbroken unbroken yes angelina jolie's unbroken yes i did thank you ben i did make the new york film critics circle which is really exciting we'll be voting a few days after this episode posts on our best films of the year. Shout out to past and future guest Richard Lawson for mentoring me in terms of my application. When we do our Blankies episode or Blankie Award

episode, will you be citing the things you voted for that year? I guess so. I mean, my winners will be whoever I voted for initially. In the first round. Right, and then, of course, candidates get eliminated, and you kind of have to pick a, maybe, you know, you have to move your vote.

Maybe if you're... First round, you go Ray Fisher for Cyborg. Round three, you end up having to go Momoa for Aquaman. Yeah, which is fine. Good consensus pick. Yeah. My man. So that's great. No, it was just a regular warner brothers critic screening all the critics were there all our friends were there all many past guests on

this uh show were there not tv show they united the 71 exactly that was guesstimating i was with esther uh when someone said mother. I leaned over and I said, Martha Box. I think I did a lot of shit like that. How do you know that box? Who are your boxes? When Batman did that whole moment, like scene where he just yells at everyone,

where he's like, do you think Steppenwolf's teaching ethics? He's like telling Wonder Woman. There's even a fraction of a chance. I leaned over. I remember the day Damon Wayans came up to me and said, I'm just going to do a jazz box. I leaned over to Esther and I said, he's mansplaining and Esther

laughed out loud. Well, he's batmansplaining. I just plus that you would have gotten one more comedy point if I had been there to punch her. Very true. I'm your vlanch. I feel like I had some other great bit with Esther. We had a lot of bits. Martha Box, though. I'll say, I said they're mostly in silence,

but speaking of the beginning of the film. Now, you guys saw it at the Regal Union Square, I believe? How's it looking these days, the Regal Union Square? I haven't been there in a while. Pretty solid. Yeah? I saw Zero Rats. They haven't plussed it lately.

They haven't done the in a while. Pretty solid. I saw zero rats. I haven't plussed it lately. They haven't done the AMC Times Square thing where they put in some recliners or nothing like that. The aisles are so narrow. We had a hard time. It was like an airline. Which theater were you in? The big one. The really big one with the balcony?

Yes, correct. And I got the tallest man sitting in front of me. He was 6'5", like above. Very tall man. And he also then put his hair into a man bun. I went to see the square, Ruben Aslan's The Square. Yeah, which you didn't like that much. I thought it was okay.

She thought it was okay. Did I tell you that? No, I think I saw on your letterbox that you had put it kind of low on your list. Oh, you're keeping tabs. Oh, I keep tabs. I'll say this, because I know Blinkies would sometimes want to look at my letterbox and be disappointed that it was not...

High or low? Well, it was not maintained very well. I've become very diligent with letterbox. Oh, sure, sure. You've gotten better because you're trying to keep track, I feel like. Of everything. So, you know, just feel free to check in. I got some hot takes on things like The Boss Baby,

which I watched on an airplane. Yeah, which you were like initially very into and then you kind of brought it back. The first 30 minutes I was like, why are these fucking assholes not telling me that The Boss Baby is a masterpiece? And then a stunning thing happens. A shocking, completely unexpected thing happens. The movie continues?

It turns out that concept cannot sustain a feature length film. Stunning! I was totally caught off guard. First 30 minutes of Boss Baby ruled, though. Okay. Well, I haven't seen it. It's like a fucking UPA cartoon. It's like Gerald McBoing.

I got to catch up because the critics have an animated feature category. And this is not a fantastic year for animated features. I have seen three animated movies I like, period. Sure. But none you loved, right? My number one movie of the year is called the Lego Batman movie 3D. So you are a turd, my friend.

Forgot about that. You have proven yourself to be a real Lego Richard T. Joker. I mean, that honestly might be my number one animated movie of the year because your name is my number one. That's my number two, but it technically was released last year.

In LA. Right. But not in New York. So I'm going to have to ask. I think for your critics group you're good, but for the Oscars it qualified last year,

which sucks. It did, which was annoying. It's like a dumb move they pulled. Because I think it would've got nominated this year. It might well have.

What won last year? Last year was Zootopia. Zootopes. Zootopes. Anyway. Captain Underpants is good. Yeah, you kind of like that one.

I like that a lot. Those are the three I liked. The Boss Baby I was watching. First three minutes I was like, we got ourselves a nominee and then, oh boy, that baby will not stop bossing. Yeah, I don't like it. I'm not into it. No good, very bad, don't do it. Wreck-It Ralph was good.

I know that's an old movie. I saw it recently though. Ben lost his fucking mind. Ben lost his fucking mind and started texting me at three o'clock in the morning because he knew I'd be awake. I think we might talk about this on a later episode. I can't remember. We Ben lost his fucking mind. Ben lost his fucking mind and started texting me at 3 o'clock in the morning because he knew I'd be awake. I think we might talk about this on a later episode. I can't remember. We can still talk about it.

Yeah, sure. Ben got very impassioned about the glitches in the world. Started identifying people we know as glitches. Or, I'm sorry. No, identifying people we know as King Candies. Yeah. Saying that they would not hesitate to call us a glitch. Turn your phone off.

I just did. It's an 800 number. as King Candy's. Yeah. Saying that they would not hesitate to call us a glitch. Turn your phone off. I just did. It's an 800 number. I get a lot of those. It's very annoying. Hold on one second. Let me pick this up. Hello?

He actually picked it up. Ben, it's King Candy. What? He said he wants me to tell you that you're a glitch. Unite the seven. No. Yeah.

So King Candy is in this movie. Yes. King Candy is one of the seven no yeah so king candy is in this movie yes king candy is one of the seven oh man it wasn't it great in this movie when they united the seven so when this movie when the justice league is superman batman wonder woman uh aquaman the flash cyborg and alfred yeah alfred yeah yeah that's it yeah yeah alfred wayne the 7th I don't know Alfred is in the 7th I mean he's he's involved

kinda yeah he's sitting on his desk what's his power good keyboards he's got one really good sweater have you noticed he's wearing the same sweater yeah

in both BDS how much do you think Jay Irons is pulling down here's a real question there was someone I was trying to fuck who is the person I was trying to wonder

oh how much did J.K. Simmons get for this movie I don't know a few hundred grand he signs up for this he signs up for this right after Whiplash don't talk about him getting swole though because he is out here denying that those pictures of him lifting

were for Justice League he said they were just basic body movements. He's like, I'm just keeping fit. I just want to be swole all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He said he saw Lady Killers, thought he looked really fat, and was like, ever since then, I want to be swole. I mean, good for you, JK.

Yeah. He looks a little aggro in those pictures of him lifting, but yeah. Yeah, JK, LOL. But I think, no, I'm not going to talk about the swole thing. Sure, okay. But I do think this was one of his first. Sure, his first gig. Right, it's taken a while to come out.

Yeah. And when I saw the opening of the movie with the credits are starting, I was astonished that he didn't get the and. Because there's no and in this movie. It's just with. No with. No, there was a with. I could have sworn there was a with.

I believe there was nary a with, nor an and. And I will say here. You probably. Joe Morton didn't get a with? No. He got. At a certain point, it goes from single card billing to shared card billing. And then it's a couple groups of three.

But no withs, no ands. Joe Morton, I think, was on a shared card of three. With Amber Heard. I'm making a grimacing face right now. Connie Nielsen got single card billing. She did, yeah. I'll tell you the billing as I remember it because it's astonishing. I know the billing.

Number one, Bafleck. Ben Affleck. Number two, Henry Cavill. What? But he is dead. How can he be in this movie? Seniority, baby. Superman is dead, he will be dead forever How is he? Spoilers Number 3 though, this is where it gets wild

5 time Academy Award nominee, Amy Adams Amy Adams gets in right above Gal Gadot Number 4, Ezra Miller No, no, no, Gal Gadot's number 4 Oh, I'm sorry, Gadot, 4 Ezra Miller, number 5 6, Momoa 7, Fisher Gal Gadot's number four. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Gadot, four. Yeah. Ezra Miller, number five. Six. Momoa.

Correct. Seven. Fisher? Ray Fisher. Eight. Hines? Irons. Nine.

Connie Nielsen? Diane Lane. I remember Connie Nielsen being weirdly high. I believe she's 10th. Okay. And then I think it's Simmons, and then I think it's Hines. I don't think either of them got a with or an and. Maybe not. I remember not seeing withs nor got a with or an and. Maybe not.

I remember not seeing withs nor ands. No alsos? No alsos. No those? But. What is that? Joe Morton, but Robin Wright. Robin Wright was not in this, right?

She is in this. She's credited. Did you see her in the movie? She is in the battle scene for like half a second it they probably just put her face on someone or something bizarre bizarre she probably got 50 grand good for her okay cool um but yeah no whiz no ends i was like jk simmons didn't get the and that feels like a an iconic and part a perfect and role is Commissioner Gordon. But he doesn't do anything in this movie. No, no.

I think he got a mil. I think he got a mil, but I think he originally did more than we saw. So this movie has a reported budget of $300 million, which would make one of the most expensive films ever made. It's all on the screen. It's all on Steppenwolf. Where? Where on the screen is it? There's this scene where they just drive past like this big

briefcase full of money a pile of money I didn't see that David here's the thing with this budget 300 million dollars for one movie each that's expensive but it's actually kind of a bargain when you factor in that they shot this movie two and a half times yeah they did shoot this movie a couple times

300 for two and a half movies isn't terrible they got it right the second time. But if that's the case, then each movie was like 52 minutes long or whatever. No, I think they shot two and a half, two hour movies. I think they shot two and a half, two hour, 30 movies. So let's just sort of, I mean, everyone knows or I think a lot of listeners probably know. Okay, BVS, Dawn of Justice is announced. The title is clearly a nod to, we're building out this universe.

Because after Man of Steel, it wasn't clear if they were going to try to do anything. Yeah, but then they were like, why don't we have Justice Dawn in this movie? Everyone was saying like, you know what, I'd love to see Justice just kind of crest the mountain. And Dawn. As they're producing BVS yeah Snyder starts releasing photos oh here's the first look as Moa

because he started casting the people yeah yeah yeah Ezra Miller and then hashtags on them unite the seven okay clearly what they're ramping up here is

the Gadot Justice League movie yeah cast all these actors we don't know how large the roles are going to be in this movie Gadot Miller

Fisher yeah they're all they're all there yeah. They're all there. Yeah, they're all there. We're uniting the seven. And then BVS comes out. Nod.

People generally aren't crazy about it. Makes a lot of money. It makes a decent amount of money. It gets very bad reviews. And it comes out, was it February or March March 2016

it's a March yeah sure and right after it comes out yeah they're already shooting this movie they start shooting this film

I think within six weeks of BVS being released and so a lot of my friends or some of my pals including for sure i think a past guest mike ryan okay humble brag went to the set of this movie in london and they all wrote their sort of set visit story this was like a sort of thing where snyder made it clear brighter

uh funnier lighter yes we're trying we understand that people didn't love uh just how oppressively dark batman or superman was so yeah like we got jokes they show them a reel that i think includes that i think maybe was centered around the scene where batman throws the batarang at the flash and he catches it and they have like banter and so they were kind of like trying to be like hey hey hey we know the narrative and we're trying to sort of uh address it and like you guys all criticize my movie and i wanted to look you in the face and like you know not be a jerk about it and like i remember everyone coming back from that step is it not being like oh justice league is going to be great yeah but at least being like well they seem to at least know they're listening they're not like head in the ground BVS was great you know like well let's say the script was already

had long been written right Chris Terrio Academy Award winner had written the script the original plan as they announced it was they were going to

shoot two Justice League movies back to back yeah they were going to do it like Avengers 3 and 4 which talk about jumping the gun right

and they were going to make them kind of two half movies yes a sort of prelude movie with Steppenwolf that leads to Darkseid at the end of the first one and the second one would be the big dark side movie right at a certain point sort of the big bad the sort of thanos-esque i mean thanos is a ripoff of him

in fact like dc villain he's like this godlike being at a certain point they go too much too fast let's ice the second one for a little bit right not rush into it they never announced that it just kind of dropped off the schedule right yeah because dc has had so many movies on and off the schedule you know they've been like we're definitely doing black adam yeah uh i don't know before no after shazam no before you know so they have a lot of like untitled movies on the uh yes um but uh they have this script and they very quickly try to change the movie but it's you know not it's not putting lipstick on a pig but it's trying to dress a pig up to look like a duck it's just kind of the classic thing that they've done this whole time

where they just seem to be making a movie two movies too early every single time and also really like writing the movie on their feet like like coming strategizing after they just big decisions have been made yeah it's like no sense of big picture planning yeah it's like they hand you a like bit of ham and they're like there's your sandwich one second because you're like oh it's not and they're like no no it's fine and they sort of slide a bread under it like no it was always a sandwich you know right and you also go like but now i'm holding loose meat which is the antithesis of a sandwich i the whole reason a sandwich exists is i don't want to hold loose meat in my hands and they're like just fucking take the meat right now we'll bring you bread later we know you want bread we'll get the bread eventually uh yeah hold

your horses and now right it's more yeah they give you like uh ham and then the next time they're like no we got plenty of bread we can't give you like a five bread sandwich you're like this is too much bread like no no no then they take tape and they tape it together for you yeah exactly like it's great it's great it's great and then they take some out and they're like no no we got a ciabatta now you know like you know we changed it would you like chipotle mayo and you're like yeah eventually but once i have the bread i don't want to have Chipotle mayo dripping on my hands. Well, I'll put it in your mouth. It's fine.

So the option is either I put the Chipotle mayo in my mouth now, the sandwich has to meet it later, or I don't get it at all. Or no, forget it. There won't be Chipotle mayo, but 2018, there's a whole mayo movie we're going to do. Just all mayo. You'll find out how they added the Chipotle. Yeah, right, right, right.

But the sandwich will be done at that point. Fine, okay. You have some here. I will have either eaten the sandwich or the sandwich will have rotted. Oh, God. So they definitely shot this movie last year. Early last year. Right, exactly.

Because they had a lot of stuff to show at Comic-Con. They were shooting this film in April of last year. Right, and yeah, they had a whole sizzle reel at Comic-Con that was again very like, funny! And wasn't just like, oh, here's the one scene we've shot. Like, it was a lot of stuff. And that came out. They've had trailers for the last

year plus. Yeah, they have. And then, you know, there were rumors swirling, oh, they're going to do extensive reshoots, they're going to do extensive reshoots, they're going to do extensive reshoots this big bombshell story comes out this March or April? It was May 2017.

Okay, so it's about a year after they started filming the movie. Yeah, when they're in post-production. Right, that Zack Snyder has stepped off of the movie when the film is ostensibly done and just in post-production, that's what everyone had been led to believe.

Right. Because his daughter had committed suicide. Yes. Which is horrific. This terrible tragedy in his family. And of course his wife is his producing partner. Yes. And is like a key part of the whole Snyder thing.

Right. She's in charge of those movies just with him. Right. And the thing I never knew. So they're stepping away. They have a lot of kids. They have a lot of kids. Some of them are adopted.

And some I think are from a previous marriage. I believe this daughter was from his previous marriage, I think. It doesn't really matter. Anyway, they have a very large family. He's very involved with his family. Yeah, this terrible thing happened to him. So he steps away. Right.

And Joss Whedon, who had been- Joss Whedon had already been hired for some sort of a script polish or something. Right. Oh, but also, they brought him into the DC fold. They had brought him in with this idea of he'll do a back girl movie yeah great pick uh have you been reading the new back girl comic uh no no it's great i mean i like back girl back girl a burnside fucking rules and there is a good movie to be made out of the most recent incarnation of back girl um correct that's my hot take. That's fine. I'm just not sure Whedon's the guy,

but whatever. I agree with that. Whedon's making it, I guess. I mean, who knows with DC. And then in July, and to be clear,

right now it's November. Yes. When we're talking. Yeah. In July, they announced there's going to be two months of reshoots. July,

August, September. So that's wild. wild right because originally it was like oh he's gonna do a little rewriting yeah maybe a little re-editing any movie like this is gonna be a week or two exactly any movie like this i think standard with the contract your actors will have like two weeks of reshoots built in yeah and like eight ten million dollar budget maybe for reshoots this costs like 25 at least and that's like reported sure and for the reshoots it was two months worth yeah and most importantly henry cavill had a mustache okay so let's talk about because he was shooting

mission impossible six which is not a warner movie. No. And so Paramount was like, you cannot shave your mustache. But here's the other crazy aspect to that. He suddenly had a break in scheduling because Tom Cruise broke his ankle on Mission Impossible. Aha, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure. Paramount said we're only going to be down for like six weeks. So he can't shave the mustache because he won't have time to shoot all your stuff and grow it back.

Right. And we need it for continuity. Yeah. And we're going to be back shooting in six weeks. Yeah. Mission Impossible has still not resumed filming.

And it's coming out next summer? Yes. Okay. Alright. Okay. Next July. I guess they have time.

His recovery time has been longer than expected. He's old. Maybe they're Okay. Next July. I guess they have time. His recovery time has been longer than expected. He's old. Maybe they're just starting again now. They could have shaved his mustache and it would have grown back in time. Right. But Paramount was a jerk about it. A jerk.

First position. They had their right to do that. That's what they did. So the final announcement is that the movie's coming out. It is a Zack Snyder film. He gets sole directing credit uh Joss Whedon will get a writing credit

with Chris Terrio so you know that's his I'm sure that Whedon who has throughout this process been like

this is Zack's movie not my movie I'm just helping you know made no fuss about trying to get a director's credit I'm sure he had no interest in it but let's just state this

okay in terms of like Writers Guild credits, the arbitration that usually goes into who gets credits. And the WGA is crazy and their rules are crazy. But a big thing they have is if you rewrite a script in that you take the script and you rewrite every scene, you polish the dialogue, you tighten it up, you don't qualify for a credit on the movie, even if you've affected every scene. You polish the dialogue, you tighten it up. You don't qualify for a credit on the movie.

Even if you've affected every scene. There needs to be more of a substantial... You have to create new stuff whole cloth. So in order to get a co-writing on that credit, he needs to have created 40% of the script as it shows up on screen. Which means his rewrites,

which are what he re-shot, were at least that substantial. Right. Another thing I find very interesting is at a certain point, memes started going around from the more recent trailers. Love a meme. Memes.

Unite the memes. Meme. Who are your memes? I remember one time Damon Wayne said he was going to do a jazz meme. There were memes I saw going around where people did side-by-side photo comparisons

of moments from the more recent trailers and ads that seemed Whedon-y. Whedon-esque, if you will. You know, had that whatever dialogue pop. I'm kind of shrugging. Right, okay? Yeah. And compared it to the earlier trailers side by side and said, look, the lighting styles look different.

Because they're very different visual filmmakers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whedon's a lot more workmanlike. Yeah, Snyder has a whole visual motif that he loves. Very deliberate compositions and saturations and all of that, right? I mean, this movie still felt more Zack Snyder-y to me, but yes. They were doing these side-by-side comparisons.

Look how different from scenes that are, shots that are sensibly in the same scene, right? What's your point? I watched this movie, and a lot of the things that we know for a fact, because we'll never know exactly what was shot by him. No, we will not. I mean, unless they come out and say it. But a lot of things we know for a fact were shot by Snyder because they were in that first San Diego reel.

Feels like it has been recolor timed. Yeah, no, for sure. It looks less Snyder-y. It does. You can tell at certain points, like, that's a Snyder angle. That's a Snyder composition. Here's my hot take. Snyder's self looks better.

I agree. Yeah. He's a better visual filmmaker. Unquestionably. I mean, he's, I think it's, I don't yeah he's a better visual filmmaker unquestionably i mean he's i think it's i don't think he's a i think it's just more he has his thing he has a thing and this movie kind of lacks a thing i don't think his thing is good i tend to not like it but at least it's a thing it's a thing whereas this movie's kind of he has immense control over his visual style whether or not you like that style aesthetically it's not my favorite thing no it's terrible's terrible because I think Zack Snyder's big decision for the finale was going to be like, it's all red.

Yeah. And then Whedon was kind of like— Red. Right. Yeah, exactly. He's like, it's red. And Whedon's like, it could be red. Yeah.

You know, like, it's just sort of like a little less red. There's another aspect to this, too. Talk about the movie not having a thing, which is a movie that is this reliant on CGI where you shoot all of it in green screens in July. You're really rushed and the thing just kind of looks sloppy. And I would find even within scenes there would be like a look

and then suddenly there's one like you're going in coverage between Batman and Flash. And then suddenly one of the shots looks really weird. And it's literally like they were like, oh we came up with a new joke to add in. Yeah, you know, one of the shots looks really weird. And it's literally like they were like, oh, we came up with a new joke to add in.

Yeah, you know, I mean, you have more of an eye for this than I do. I have an eye for this stuff. I also just don't remember this movie. I saw it like four days ago. It does kind of evaporate. It does.

I just like, I sat down to write my review and I was like, the fuck? I'll say this. I don't hate this movie. Oh, okay. I guess so.

Hate's strong. I kind of shrugged at it. No, I'm not that forgiving. I went like, whatever. No, it's bad. I think it's bad. No, it's pretty bad. But I'll say this.

Something like Suicide Squad or BVS, I'm sitting there and I'm pulling my hair out and I'm aggravated. Batman v Superman is a way better movie than this movie. Way better. It is. It is. That movie. Way better. It is. It is. That movie has an idea.

That movie has this whole gothic dawn of the ubermensch sort of like insane idea. Yes. It has a wonderful opening sequence. Agreed. It has, you know, it's very extra. Sure. This movie sucks. It just kind of sucks.

I'll say this. This movie is exactly what I thought Avengers was going to be. Right, but then Avengers was good. But I remember in the wind-up to Avengers, I went, there's no way that's a fucking movie. A, all these Marvel movies, they've been pushing them all into this very bland house style to make them all fit in with each other. Yeah. And I think that's going to backfire now. I don't think the characters have been built up well enough that it will be

that exciting to see them all together. And I also just felt like it's going to feel like a fucking season finale of a TV show. It's just going to feel like mush, mush. And then it ended up being the trailer, more functional screenplays. Yeah.

Uh, and a blockbuster from last year. And then, then of course, that's probably what they're thinking when they're bringing Whedon on board where it's

like Whedon's good with the team. Yes. He's a teamy guy. He did a great job on a tough project of the Avengers. Unite the Seven.

Can he do it? He had to unite the Seven. But do you remember have you ever heard like Dan Harmon's rant about doing punch up for

DreamWorks animation? Yes I have. Where they brought him in for Kung Fu Panda, and they were like, so we've already started animating. 80% of the movie has to be locked. We have 20% of money put aside

to either, you can either pick 20% of the movie that you want to change whole cloth, or you can change 20% of each scene. So if Kung Fu Panda is walking downstairs and he has a bucket, is there something funnier that could be in the bucket? That's the example he always throws out

that they said to him. Is there something funny that could be in the bucket? And that feels like the position they put Whedon into. Where it's like, you can shoot 20% nude scenes, or in this one scene can you think of one funny joke to put in? Which is where that discrepancy in the visual style comes in that I saw. Where it's like you know the the run that the uh the flash has about brunch

uh yeah yeah yeah of course yeah ezra miller's hair looks totally different that's obviously in that one shot because they were like can you add in one more joke that is in the scene that they were hyping from the beginning the Batman meets Flash scene and yeah obviously Whedon was just like let's just dial this up a little more and let me add in one more joke have this whole joke where he's in brunch and then you look at that and he has the haircut he has in Fantastic Beasts which was filming

the same time as this Fantastic Beasts 2 that was the whole thing they were like negotiating everyone's schedules so it's like well yeah I understand your logic of wanting to hire Whedon to do it, but you can't hire him after you've finished shooting the movie. But that's what they did,

and this is the movie we've got, and I think we should talk about the movie. Okay, so the movie opens with Henry Cavill's completely animated face. Yes, it does. That's the cell phone scene. Right. I totally forgot about that very opening that's a whedon idea 100 but what are the kids doing they're interviewing superman for a

podcast oh is it for a podcast oh i didn't know if it was for competition oh the two kids so we see him on screen and he's talking and his face looks like a Snapchat filter. Yeah, but they're getting away with it, I guess, because it's like, well, it's a cell phone camera. But already it looks weird, especially when he smiles. I kind of like that, though. I mean, not how he looks. He looks weird. I mean, I just liked their little cell phone scene.

Oh, I like the old man. I think it's well written, well acted. Yeah. I just like where he's like, it should be like a river. You know, like he's trying, it should be like a river. He's trying to explain the meaning of his emblem. But you know how when you use a Snapchat filter, it tries to keep up with your face,

but it's like a second behind in lag time. The physics aren't totally right because the dimensions of your face might be different than, God forbid, Bob Marley's face. This feels like that, where it's like your mouth moves differently if you have a mustache. So even if you paint the mustache out

his upper lip is behaving differently. Right. It looks weird and I turn to draw Milligan and I just go like fuck this is going to be a problem. And he just went

this is going to be rough. It's like immediately the mustache thing is jarring. And this is already when it's like filtered through cell phone video footage. Yeah.

So then the movie starts. And I got kind of excited by this first Batman scene. What's the first Batman scene? It's Holt McElhaney on a rooftop as some petty criminal trying to run away. Yeah, he's playing the great DC character Cube Man. Yes. Because Holt McElhaney on a rooftop as some petty criminal trying to run away. Yeah, he's playing the great DC character Cube Man. Yes. Because Holt McElhaney is a cube. He's a cube on a cube.

Yep. Cube on a cube. Sir is a cube. Have we did this rant on the pod? We definitely had this rant. Jack Reacher. Oh, yeah. Never go back.

Holt. And now he's mind hunting. Now he's mind hunting. And he's monster trucking. Well. He smokes so monster trucking. Well. He smokes so much in Mindhunter. Every scene he's in, he's smoking a cigarette. It's the 70s, baby.

They smoked. Yeah. Does he smoke like a cube cigarette? I don't know. I don't know. Yeah. So he hunts. Batman like hunts Holt McElhaney.

But it's kind of. It felt very Batman the Animated Series to me. It felt very heightened and very stylized without being overly dark. It felt kind of light and fun, but you have the super gothic Gotham architecture, which is nice to see after being in a Nolanverse where everything's

really grounded. Even BVS has a pretty grounded view of Gotham. His stylization comes from how he makes his images, not necessarily the art direction of the city. And this was like a lot of browns and he's climbing on the walls and I was like, this is kind of fun.

I like the way Batman's moving. I like that he's chasing a criminal off the side of the building. Maybe this will just be goofy fun. Maybe this movie will be dumb, but it will be goofy and comic book-y and I won't give a shit. Right. And then it will be like goofy and comic booky and i won't give a shit right and then it goes to like i'm just i'm just waiting for you to get to what then happens i can't even remember what the next scene after this is is it maybe lois lane

no they go to her pretty fast no wait finish the scene oh he captures holt mcculaney to use his fear to lure a parademon. Correct. He then like splats the parademon or he catches it with a net, but then the parademon explodes. Catches himself on fire. He explodes. And leaves behind an imprint of three cubes.

None of this makes any fucking sense. Hashtag the three cubes. Hashtag the three cubes. It's a proprietary advantage. Mark the box. Here's what really pisses me off. Yeah. Here's what Batman does after that.

Leaves. He leaves. He doesn't capture Holt McElhinney the criminal. And he goes to Alfred and he's like, what do you think's going on with the symbol? We keep on seeing the symbol. Or he's talking to him over intercom. I don't know, maybe take the bank robber or whatever the fuck Holt McElhinney is. Take him to jail. You're Batman. But Alfred says, hashtag unite the

boxes. And the movie keeps on tracking. I think then we go to Lois Lane and she's grieving. Yeah. I think you have the Lois Lane scene where it's like she's not ready to write a Pulitzer Prize winning article yet. What's she doing?

She's kind of just, she's sad. You see the bank foreclosing on the Kent house you see a lot of Diane Lane and Amy Adams this is all two Academy Award nominated actresses two of our finest living screen actresses

Amy Adams is like top Amy Adams is killing it Diane Lane I think is really solid yeah whatever they're in this movie almost feels ridiculous but whatever they're in this movie almost feels ridiculous, but whatever. They're in it.

Yeah, sure. And then I think pretty early on, oh, I think when Batman's on the rooftop, he still says to Alfred, or Alfred's like, what do you want to do next? And he's like, I think it's time we unite the team. Yeah, pretty much. Right, and then you see Alfred pull up the headshots. To be clear, this movie is 118 minutes long.

It trucks. It's short. This movie moves. I guess so. It kind of just walks, I think. It's more like it just doesn't walk very far. I'd say this moves, but this movie moves in the way that a kid riding a tricycle down the aisles of a Walmart moves. Where it's like, with no regard for anything around it, and with no end goal of where to arrive because the idea is i guess just superman died yes bruce feels bad about that because it's like 80 his

fault we've had two movies now where america cannot get over their grief at the loss of superman even though the two movies before that were about how much of a dick superman was now we hated him whatever they're mad about it like super Superman was Edward Snowden for two movies and now we're treating him like he's JFK. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is busy at her job dusting a giant statue. She's dusting. That first Wonder Woman action scene's kind of cool.

Well, so that to me is probably an added sequence. Feels like they need to beef her up. Because it looks different. Yes. And it also just... Exactly. It has no relevance to anything. You think it's going to, like, this will be some parademon stooge.

Right. She stops a heist. But no, it's just like, she just stops a heist, does, like, four Wonder Woman things, you know, blocks some bullets, skids around. But wasn't she supposed to since World War I not been active as a superhero so the idea is now she's back no no because she showed up to fight doomsday right so now she's a little bit

back in the public eye and then in wonder woman i can't believe you guys don't remember the wonderful epilogue and prologue of wonder woman where she answers her emails okay but she leaps out right i remember that's her going to do deal with this specifically i don't know why not so the idea is that she lay dormant boarded a plane saw on the plane satellite tv that was airing before the plane took off the doomsday was attacking yeah rejoined the workforce, right? And then after that went back to her little office, decided I'm not going to be a superhero again until she got the briefcase

from Bruce Wayne, which then made her decide to permanently become a superhero again, I guess. Ben? You're saying correct? Yes, that's what he's saying. Anyway, so that happens. And then we get Miles Dyson.

I might be fucking up this word, but who gives a shit? Sure. Miles Dyson from Terminator 2. Right, and he goes... He swore to never work for Skynet again, but clearly he went back on his promise. Yeah. No, he's working for Star Labs, I guess.

Yeah. You got your Star Labs. Star Labs Industries. And he hung up that endo arm for an endo body? Yeah. I don't know. We saw it. Do you want me to put a record scratch in for that?

Yeah. I saw this movie 12 hours ago. I mean, in Batman vs. Superman, we saw this clip of him playing with a mother box. Right. Cell phone footage. And it kind of makes a cyborg out of his son. Yes, who had died. Who had either died or been horribly wounded.

All-American football star. Right, was near death. Played by Ray Fisher, who is a total unknown. And is pretty good. I liked him a lot in this. He's pretty charismatic for considering his whole arc in this movie is, I want to die. He did that play where he got spotted. I think it was

the Ali Frazier play. Yes. Is that correct? Correct. Yes. And off of that everyone was like this guy might be a movie star and Warren Brothers signed him to like a five picture deal. He had never been in a movie before. Good for him. Cyborg not historically a member of the

Justice League. No but more recently correct. He was a Teen Titan. Yes. That was his prominent role and he sort of became the elder statesman of the Justice League. No, but more recently. He was a Teen Titan. That was his prominent role and he sort of became the elder statesman of the Teen Titans. He was like the big brother figure. And in some of the I don't know, two of the three most recent DC Universe reboots, they sort of elevated him to be

A-list Justice League status. Booyah. Right. Because Jon Stewart, who had been the sort of diversity hire within the Justice League. Sadoyah. Right. Because Jon Stewart, who had been the sort of diversity hire within the Justice League. It's sad but true. I mean, DC always sort of

makes that. Right? Yeah. Had stepped down because they wanted to bring back to life Hal Jordan, who had been dead for a long time.

DC's fucking... It's sort of the most classic. So then Cyborg got promoted to the big leagues. Yeah. But he's always sort of

been shoehorned in there because he doesn't sort of have the same stature as those guys. He works better as a younger character. The whole Cyborg thing works better as sort of a metaphor for teen angst development. So that was the character when they announced, we're going to make a Cyborg movie. It was met with a lot of derision.

Ben and I had been making cyborg jokes for like the last two years but from the moment this guy came on screen I was like I like this guy this guy is he's an honest

natural performer with a lot of gravitas considering he's wearing a fucking body stocking practice yeah yeah I mean first of all

he's got a great voice yeah he sounds like a fucking superhero sure but I also think this is a thing I really like in actors when I feel like they're not showing everything they got

they don't feel the need to put it all on the table they're holding something back and he could have gone real big with this like I was dead I'm a monster right right truly right and I feel like he's pretty pulled back in this, which I liked a lot.

And the opening chunks of the movie when he's in his sort of disguise, when he's wearing his sweatpants over it, and you're just seeing the red glowing through, I was like really into him in all these scenes. When he takes the sweatpants off and then he's just CGI goop man, it becomes very hard to discern a performance there.

He's not very interesting. His face looks like it's floating. He's like an action hero. He's not very interesting. His face looks like it's floating. As like an action hero he's not very interesting. Cyborg's not that interesting. He's a cyborg. Who gives a shit? Yeah, it's kind of 1992.

Right. Where they're like, ooh, a cyborg. But he's a robot? He's a cybernetic organism. Right. Yeah. Also in like the comics

and the cartoons and that's the other thing. Cyborg's very popular now because Teen Titans Go is very popular. But that character is very fun. He's vuncular. He's kind of like Aquaman. I haven't watched that. I assume that's the other thing. Cyborg's very popular now because Teen Titans Go is very popular. But that character is very fun. He's vuncular. He's kind of like Aquaman.

I haven't watched that. I assume that's one of the animated shows where it's like those are actually really good. Yes. And everyone's like, DC should really think about

like its TV and its animation like when trying to come up with its movies. They've done two good Teen Titan cartoon shows. Yeah. In both of them,

Cyborg's like the big brother character. He's kind of the fun-loving guy. He's sort of worked through his pain at his whole Frankenstein complex. But also, he is a cyborg. He is part man, part machine.

Like, he has a lot of exposed flesh. He still has human bits. Do we have to talk anymore about Cyborg? In this, the only part of him that's human is like a Phantom of the Opera mask. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's one third of a face. Right. Otherwise, he's 100% rabbit. Mm-hmm.

This movie is like top to bottom full of flubber. Flubber as we defined it. Guys who haven't listened back to a Star Wars episode. In a Revenge of the Sith episode where it's just like weightless CGI gook that's just like bouncing around as brightly colored and feels like it has no substance, no weight, no impact. Right.

And like from the way his body moves to like the composition or the compositing and all these things that feel kind of reshot in a green screen that they have to insert into. Like a lot of scenes start with a master shot, a wide shot, a group shot in a real set that feels real. And then the second they cut into coverage, it's like this was shot a year and a half later on green screen. The movement a lot of times looks like someone's clicking and dragging

it with a mouse. Right. And that gets to the video game cut scenes in this movie starring the world's greatest supervillain, Steppenwolf. Darkseid's uncle, Steppenwolf. Theseid's uncle, Steppenwolf. The threat so large you must unite the seven, Steppenwolf.

And he looks like he's straight out of Injustice 2, Gods Among Us, right? Every one of these scenes just looks like... So this is why the movie is just putrid, in my opinion. Because there's absolutely no stakes whatsoever to this movie. The only stake in this movie is will the Justice League come together? It's not will they come together right now.

Remember when they used that in the trailer? In the movie too. It's in the credits. It's Junkie XL. It's not will they come together to defeat this great crisis yeah no stephan wolf is like immediately obviously like no big deal he just wants to put three boxes together and the comics the mother boxes are like very powerful but they're not the infinity stones it's not like if you put the three together the world will end it's just like this is a fucking thing this is what's so maddening about this movie it's like they did everything so mcguffin it'd be yeah it feels

almost mean to compare to marvel but it's like they did all the marvel shit and they kind of just did a slightly worse job like ding dong infinity stones mother boxes ding dong who's Ben, will you get the door quickly? Hi, what's up? Hello, is David here? Yeah, it's me. David, did you expect someone? Maybe, I don't know. Okay, guys, I'm going to go to the bathroom while whatever's about to happen plays out.

David. David, it's me. It's me, Detective Dormer. From Christopher Nolan's Insomnia. Sure. Pacino himself. No, Detective Dormer. Will Dormer.

Pile of garbage. Yeah. Roger, Roger. David, I need your help. Okay. I can't sleep. I got insomnia. It's tough to sleep sometimes. insomnia it's it's it's it's uh it's tough to sleep sometimes especially when it's light out the hotel room and they gave me a bag of rocks put your alarm

clock in the drawer i did it okay okay still not sleeping well take pillows to the window david uh i cannot sleep well what do you think about if you could get like a new mattress delivered that's sort of like in a box like the size of a mini fridge? What? Like a really small, like how did they fit it in there kind of size box. Did you read my mind? And you're in Nightmead, Alaska? Correct. Yeah, so it's in the-

They'll ship it to the hotel. Of course. But David, David, I can't believe you predicted that. Because I was going to say the biggest conflict I have right now, the reason they're giving me a bag of rocks to sleep on is the door to my hotel room is the size of a mini fridge. All that can get in or out is a mini fridge. I got to kneel.

I got to walk on my knees. You're telling me this box is the size of a mini fridge? We're going to have to pay them Ben I'm kidding no this is good David what is this company uh we're

we're talking about Casper what like the ghost I'm scared oh I'm frightened no Casper's a sleep brand oh okay now

uh they've created this amazingly comfortable mattress oh fears quelled that uh you don't have to like go quelled that you don't have to like go to the store you don't have to like get some complicated

you know truck delivery set up or you know Mariterni can sign for it at the front desk there's no like salesman who's trying to get a commission out of you

to like you know sell the right mattress to you and like inflate the prices or upsell you it's just in house

developed mattress radical radical sleek design, and it comes in a tiny little box. Like a how-did-they-do-that-size box? How do they do that? Look, David, I got to be honest with you. Okay, Will. Something's been keeping me up at night. Sorry, I'm sorry.

Detective Dormer. Thank you. Respect the title. No, I'm talking to a member of the LAPD. Look, I'm a guilt-ridden man. I got demons. I can't sleep at night. Yes.

And here's the thing that haunts me every night, much like Casper the Ghost haunts me. As well? Yes. A thing that haunts me is that the mattress industry has forced consumers into paying notoriously high markups. Yeah. It scares me down to my bones.

Instead of going to a showroom and having to deal with a salesman, Casper's just revolutionized it, and you just can get a mattress straight. You're telling me they're passing those savings directly to the consumer? Yeah. And it's got a mattress that was developed by in-house team engineers. It's got supportive memory foams. Supportive? Sleep surface.

You can just got the right sink and right bounce. Bounce, baby. It's got supportive memory foams supportive sleep surface you can just got the right sink and right bounce bounce baby he's got the right bounce baby and he's got a breathable design so it's not hot because remember how like back in the day the foamy mattresses they were hot oh too hot not hot anymore look i got one you got one yeah and i think it's been it's been great it's got the right firmness it's got the right bounce it's not hot it's breathable not like when I was in

The Devil's Advocate and if I don't like it too hot yeah that was too hot I was Satan no wait you're Will Dormer to be clear

yes no and it's if you don't like it you have a hundred days what home trial and you can return at any time they'll come pick it up they'll refund you everything now david i'm in nightmare alaska right now but my next case might take me to canada can i get it shipped there uh yeah we've got free shipping returns anywhere in the u.s and canada what yep it's an affordable price they sell

directly to consumers they've got 20 000, average of 4.8 stars. What? That's about what Insomnia got upon its release. I would say Insomnia had about 4.8 stars because you had Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Maura Tierney, Paul Dooley. He's the.8. I'm interested, though, in that, right? Is there some kind of special deal or something that we're offering to Detective Dormer potentially?

Or our fans listening to this episode? I don't order stuff unless I got a unique URL and a promo code. So listen up. If you go to casper.com slash check. Oh, good. Unique URL. And you use the promo code check. So you got to check to make sure

that you type CHECK into the promo box. Yeah, type in CHECK in that promo code. Double check. For a special offer, you can get $50 off a mattress. This is only applicable to the purchase of a mattress and terms and conditions do apply. But casper.com slash CHECK, promo code CHECK, and get yourself a mattress mattress 50 bucks off.

My friend, the devil's advocate. I misspoke earlier and implied that was the same person that I was, but it was just a friend of mine, a cousin who looks very similar. He would be very adamant about the fact that terms and conditions apply. Would he be adamant about the fact that these things are made and developed and assembled in the USA? Oh, that's what I like because I'm a jingoist. All right. and developed and assembled in the USA? Oh, that's what I like because I'm a jingoist. Alright. And would he like the fact that you

can just try it out? What? Test your performance. And if you don't like it, you can get rid of it. What? You can just send it back. They'll get it for you. A refund? Yeah. Oh, hey, Griff. Yeah? Hey, what's up? We just went on this whole long thing about caster mattresses

with Detective Dormer here. I'm sorry, I know I promised that I was going to do the ad read. He's a sleepy guy. I'm so tired. Let me sleep. Let me sleep. Why are you saying my line? Let me sleep.

All right. I guess it's okay if he sleeps in the corner. Detective Will Dormer sleeping in the corner. Good night, Dormer. So, Casper, we got it all, right? Dormer's bleeding heavily. Have you noticed this? Oh, yeah.

Let him sleep. Let him go to casper.com slash check, put in promo code check, and let him sleep. Terms and conditions apply. He's a tie-tie boy. He is a tie-tie boy. So, anyway, Justice League. Yeah, Steppenppenwolf our greatest villain played by Kieran Hines

an actor we talked about many times on this podcast we talked about a lot he was in Munich he was in trying to think of other movies The Weight of Water

yes he was he was on the USA original series Political Animals with one Will Dorman Griffin Newman uh huh characters were not welcome because it got the lowest ratings USA original series, Political Animals. With one Will Dorman. Griffin Newman.

Uh-huh. Characters were not welcome because it got the lowest ratings of any USA show in 10 years. Really? It really did. I remember being on set with Academy Award nominee Dan Futterman, who was on that show. For screenwriting? Yes. Twice.

Twice nominated, I believe, for Foxcatcher and Capote. He got a Foxcatcher nom? I think he did. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Let me look it up. Emax Frye and Dan Futterman shared credit on that film. Yes, they did. Did he get the nom?

Was he nom? Yes. Hell yeah. Original screenplay. Can you name the five nominations that film got? Five. One, two, three, four, five. Best Actor, Steve Carell. Crazy.

Best Supporting Actor, Mark Ruffalo., 5 Best Actor Steve Carell Crazy Best Supporting Actor Mark Ruffalo True Best Director Bennett Miller The craziest one Because it did not get nominated for Best Picture

despite there being 9 nominees Correct And the other nomination would have been I've gotten 4 out of 5 You've gotten 4 out of 5 Editing?

Nope Cinematography? Nope Think Think about what Foxcatcher had you got four out of five editing no cinematography no think think about what Foxcatcher had a lot of wrestling

true makeup yeah there you go had a lot of nose yeah that's the fifth alright unite the five Kieran Hines

who's a nice guy and very good actor I'm sure he had a great time collecting a check and doing some voiceover. He has voice through five filters. It does not feel like he mo-capped this performance because it feels very physically unfocused.

It doesn't feel like anyone mo-capped this. You never know because I know they just do so much mo-cap these days, but there's nothing in this guy's design, in his face. It feels like a video game cutscene, right? When he's in these scenes collecting the mother boxes, it just feels like CGI goop.

Well, also, he's... Yeah, so what is Steppenwolf? Okay, he has... A general. Someone pointed out all the DC Universe villains have been generals. Uh-huh. Which kind of says something weird. Like, it's like Zod, Danny Houston.

True. Ares is like the general of war. Yeah, you're right. You're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it's always these like- Suicide Squad, it's not though. It's Enchantress.

Oh, right. Enchantress. General Enchantress. Four out of five have featured general. And yeah, and then Doomsday is just mutated General Zod in BVS. Good point. It's a very militant cinematic universe they're developing. He is a general.

He is Darkseid's uncle. Do they say that in the movie, that he's Darkseid's uncle? That's his comic book origin. Yes. He's one of Kirby's new gods. Yes. Yes. Which they kind of, they say new god a lot in this movie. I guess so. And he mentions Darkseid once. Yes. Yes. Yes. Which they kind of, they, they say new God a lot in this movie.

I guess so. And he mentions dark side once, I believe sort of in passing, but that's sort of the whole idea is that the Amazons are the old gods. He's trying to get rid of the old gods. He wants to rise to the level of new gods. It seems like he wants a promotion. He thinks uniting the boxes will,

but we get, we get this flashback. I'm trying to remember if it's, it doesn't fucking matter. Who cares? So there's this flashback of like'm trying to remember if it's, it doesn't fucking matter. Who cares? So there's this flashback of like the last time Steppenwolf tried some shit. And he killed everybody.

And it was like many ages ago. Pulled the ring off a lantern. But it was like he tried to unite the three mother boxes. And so the worlds of men, Amazon, and Atlanteans united to stop him. They did it it we get this whole like cgi lord of the rings shit they each took a box there's a green lantern there a martha box they each take

a martha box and they like put it away so it's like the atlanteans put it in their atlantis bank and the amazons put it in some sort of like an amazon pyramid yes and the humans bury it in a hole yes yes uh so it's very lord of the rings it's very lord it's it's like the sauron opening it really is like down to the sort of like three realms uniting and like the humans it's kind of like humans couldn't be trusted to actually deal with this because one of them would just try to use it so we just buried it right uh and i guess i said this thing that the atlanteans and the amazonians have a have a weird uneasy alliance but like they don't talk about it they it's not so okay sometime around now now now batman bartman i'm sorry bartman is actively trying to unite the seven he's going about and he

goes to see wonder woman and she's kind of like it's happening the mother boxes are waking up yeah it's too late it's already too late it too late. He's going to bring war, and she says war is already here. Well, they did my favorite thing in superhero movies because Wonder Woman finds out that it's going down because they shoot the arrow. Yes, at this point, Steppenwolf has already stolen the boxes. Right. And they say the humans will not know what this means.

And then Connie Nielsen says, but she will. But no, I just love when they have newscasts in superhero movies and it just totally doesn't look real at all. It's so ridiculous. I always love to see who they got though. It's like RoboCop level. Like ridiculousness.

It's like RoboCop. RoboCop, which we'll never talk about. Cyborg. Cyborg's kind of a RoboCop when you think about it. I know. And here's the thing. I was saying this to Jirah made me wish they made a physical suit for him

because I think he moves too easily because he's CGI goo this is the sickness of modern filming they'll never do it because they're like fuck that that's complicated and I'll talk about it here because we're never going to talk about it on a future episode but one of the beauties of Robocop is you see how pained he is in every movement

how uneasy that suit is for him. How long ago did that movie come out? 30 years ago. 30 years ago on the nugget. It came out July 1987. So we... I don't remember the order,

but here's the thing. He goes to Wonder Woman, they form their uneasy alliance, right? But then we have this scene where Steppenwolf attacks the Amazon. amazon yes and there's a whole big scene where he kills like a ton of them uh-huh uh he sort of beams down from like a spaceship that we don't see apparently robin wright's in it i guess so no no she's in the flashback scene she's in the flashback war because that's when she would have been alive she's dead now that was bray's big question is who's teleporting him we don't know we don't see it we don't see the ship he goes to because that feels like something where third act was supposed

to go haha dark side but instead it just seems like he's got teleportation powers maybe who cares i don't know doesn't come up don't know he just attacks with his parademons he gets the mother box he kills a bunch of amazons but then like more amazons like the whole army sort of comes and he's like all right i'll see you later which also looks very lord of the rings yeah it looks shit looks like shit it looks lord of the shit yeah okay shit of the rings can i just because i don't remember what order these scenes happening because they're just fucking jumbled up in like a doritos mixed bag but uh just the couple things. It's a bag of munchies, right? Yeah.

A couple of things that happen. We see the flash. Yeah, we've seen the flash. Socially awkward boy. His dad's in jail for the murder of his mother, which he was falsely accused of. Yes. Good casting.

Old Zack Snyder collaborator, you know. Yes. But Crudup and Miller, I think, is pretty good father-son. Sure. It seems to work for me. Yeah. And he's going to visit his dad at jail, talking about trying to figure out the case. And his dad's like, you got to move on.

You got to forget it. You just got to live your life. Right. We see Arthur Curry, a.k.a. Aquaman. Batman visits him first. In like a fishing town. Yeah, in like Iceland or something. And he's like, I hear there's a guy who comes up to land and gives you fish.

And they're like, fuck you, rich guy. Like, no one's coming in a boat in years. And he goes,, I hear there's a guy who comes up to land and gives you fish. And they're like, fuck you, rich guy. Like, no one's coming in a boat in years. And he goes, he isn't coming on a boat. And then he looks at the painting on the wall and it looks like Jason Momoa. Arthur is in this scene the whole time. He's translating the guy. He's just there. And then

finally Bruce Wayne's like, you're the Aquaman. I heard you talk to fish. And he's like, my man. My man, fuck you. Yeah. And he leaves. Right. Because he comes back later.

Is this the part where he takes the bottle of whiskey? Yeah, probably. And then drinks some of it, throws it on the ground, takes off his shirt, he's in his slacks. He's like, done his tab. Right.

And then he like, Batman chases him out, Bartman, I'm sorry, chases him out to the water and he's half in the water in a scene that feels totally reshot because they look really green screened in front of these like whatever it's supposed to be Icelandic

landscapes and they have this conversation where he's like strong man stronger alone that's not the same that's the opposite of the same which feels very Weedney it does and it's just not working because it's not part of the movie's tone which is sort of like will slip into sort of jokier tone refusal to

call but but who cares here's another thing when they're the same time cyborgs refusing the call because Wonder Woman approaches which will slip into jokier tones. Refusal to call. Who cares? At the same time, Cyborg is refusing to call because Wonder Woman approaches him and he's like, I'm a freak. I'm a monster. He's in his apartment. He's like, I keep getting firmware updates. I can't believe. He's upset that he keeps on getting new iOS updates. All true.

Those are the basic instructions for all these characters. None of them want to join. What was the thing I was going to say? the thing I kept on thinking about watching this movie was like the way the DC universe is going about constructing these characters and their mythologies Wonder Woman they were able to undo this because the movie is a prequel right

yes but it feels like they're dropping us in on the fifth date okay in that like your first date with someone has like all this charge to it, you know? This is the fifth movie. Right. But I'm saying you have all this charge and you're meeting each other and

you're finding the connection points and you're building that relationship to want to keep on seeing this person. Yeah. By the time you get to the fifth date, it's less electrifying because you've settled into something and hopefully it's become something more sustainable. Yeah. But you need that first date to like get you interested.

Do you know what I'm saying? But the first date was this movie about like General Zod. That's my point. My point is the entire way they've gone about all of this, they skip the first date and they just assume you like all these characters. Well, yeah. And like, look, it's hard to do Batman over and over again, right? I get it. You know, I get why you'd want to do shortcuts sometimes. Well, but here's a it. You know, I get why you'd want to do shortcuts sometimes. Well, but here's a key distinction for me. I'm totally fine with them being like, here's Batman.

We're not doing origin story. We're setting him up. He's been in the universe for a long time. You still have to find a way to make me like this Batman. It doesn't mean you have to start at the beginning with every character. No, he's a grump. Most movies don't start with the character being born or getting their job for the first time. You know? Most movies deal with the character at this phase in their life.

But you have to like wine and dine me a little bit to get me on board with these characters. And these movies don't do that. They just assume, oh you like Aquaman right? You're excited that Aquaman's finally in a movie. My man. He is my man. But here's the thing.

It's a fifth date movie. That's a fine read. But they never give us the first date. Ezra Miller is pretty cute as the thing. It's a fifth date movie. That's a fine read. But they never give us the first date. Like, Ezra Miller is pretty cute as the Flash. Yeah. I kind of liked him.

I could see enjoying an Ezra Miller Flash movie. I'm biased. He's an old friend of mine. Yeah. I like him a lot. How are you guys doing? Horny Rob?

Horny Rob, yeah. We also, I was the summer camp counselor. Do you know that? I think I did. We were like the John Wade and John Ford of summer camp sketch comedy.

So how's he doing? He seems to be doing well. I haven't talked to him in a little bit. He's been busy. He's been shooting a movie for four years. I'd love to have him on the podcast and ask him about all this bullshit. I would too. I wouldn't phrase it to him that way.

And he's going to be in a movie, but they don't have a director, so who knows when that's coming out. And it was originally a Flash movie, but now it's a Flash point movie now it's called flash point which is a whole different storyline where they sort of reset the universe which makes people think they're going to use that to sort of recast to other cast members maybe but i mean to me it seems like because everyone's like there's a lot of rumors today in fact on the internet that jake gyllenhaal is gonna play the bartman ready to play bartman in the matt reeves Bartman movie in which he will do the Bartman and people are like

are they just going to have him play Bruce Wayne will he play someone else will he just be the Ben Affleck character, new casting and to me it's like, what do you mean you've already set up that Bruce Wayne in these movies is kind of old and over it have him retire

I think that's a cool thing they could do. Then you can even have Ben Affleck, you know, come in if you need him to come in. Yeah. I think that's exactly what they should do. And he should play Jason Todd or something. Yeah, play. No, Jason Todd's dead in this universe. Well, what I'm saying is they could do it.

They could make fucking Red Hood part of some other movie and allow him to pass the torch and then Jason Todd reveals. Damien Wayne, I don't give a shit what you do. Like, just have. That's fine. Don't just do where he's like, I'm Bruce Wayne, but younger. Don't do that. I think that would be fucked.

Ezra and I used to be on the improv team together. I did comedy with Ezra. That's what I knew him from doing. He has been cast a lot playing broodingoding intense types which he's very good at but I'm always very excited when I get to say him

be lighter and do comedy so this felt to me this character is closest to like Perks of Being a Wallflower of the stuff he's done which I still think is his best performance

far and away I guess so not a fan of that movie I think he's phenomenal in that movie he's good I think I think Kevin I guess is my favorite performance of his I think he's phenomenal in that movie. He's good. I think Kevin, I guess, is my favorite performance of his.

I think he's really good at playing very avuncular misfits. He was the gonzo. He was the gonzo, and we bore him. I was going to say, I like Ezra, and I think I would enjoy a Flash movie. I like Jason, and I think I could enjoy an Aquaman movie, although the Aquaman-specific scene in this film is one of the dodgiest.

He goes down to Atlantis. We should actually get to that, because that's right around now. He sees Amber Heard, who plays Mira. They've set him up as, oh, he spends half his time in the water, half his time in this bar.

But Amber Heard seems to be like, hey, what's up? Where the fuck have you been? Haven't heard from you in a while, and you're like where were you going underwater to the fish suburbs you weren't going home no one's seen you

this scene is completely incomprehensible it's nonsense and here's another thing that happens because Gerard and I were talking before the movie and we were like how are they going to do a whole fucking Aquaman movie how are they going to do all the underwater stuff how are they going to have dialogue scenes this movie has has just him

kind of floating around clearly in front of a green screen. It doesn't really look weightless. It doesn't really look like swimming. It's like they put a water filter in front of it and then when he lands on this pedestal Mera makes a bubble, like a cone of silence

from Get Smart and then they have their dialogue in an air bubble, and it's like, is that how fucking every dialogue scene in the Aquaman movie's gonna go? Are they gonna have to make an air bubble every time they want to talk? Probably not. Because my guess is there will be some sort of Atlantean cities that have air bubbles built in. It'll be like

Odogunga. I like James Wan. Pull that out, Odogunga. Nice, five reference points. Five Gungan points. Yeah. She's like, why have you left us? My mother. Your mother cared about you.

She wouldn't leave you. I don't know what the fuck is happening. Is this his sister? Is this his wife? Is this his betrothed? What happened to his mother? What happened to his dad? Yeah. Where's he been? I don't understand this scene at all. And then there's this, you know, then Steppenwolf, I really, I had to think for his name. He steals a Martha box.

He shows up to steal their Martha box. They have like a whole war scene, fight scene that looks even more bizarre. And that's the like moment when Aquaman's like, okay, I guess I'll join the Justice League. My man. Um, so at this point now, I think, I think,

uh, Bartman has gone to go see the flash. Uh, he's a poor kid whose dad's incarcerated. His mom's in jail. He's unemployed because that comes in later. Then he gets a job for the first time. Sure.

Whatever. Yeah. At the crime lab. He lives like Brewster McCloud. He lives like in some weird underground layer with a bunch of TV screens. Yeah. He lives in some crazy lab

and he's got this super expensive looking costume. He has a space shuttle design for his costume. But look, I don't know what the fuck he's supposed to do. And he says he's like essentially he has this whole monologue about how everyone's boring to him because he's life is so fast

can't figure out their rhythm can't figure out their speed and Batman's like I want you to join and he's like I'm in yeah that's the joke where it's like everyone else is kind of like no I have my demons and he's just like cool I need friends brunch brunch brunch brunch brunch brunch brunch brunch

brunch brunch brunch brunch yeah which like all this would be more effective if there was like a functional flash movie about the flash not knowing how to work alone i honestly i don't mind it i don't mind it in this movie the flash stuff works the best for me just because it's like i get it i know what the flash is like i'll say the cyborg one is the one that bumps me out the most because if they cy Well, the Cyborg one has like so much backstory that they can't get into. And it's also like

now they've negated the origin movie where it's like Cyborg's the one of these characters who you want to see the origin story for because the transformation's interesting. Him dealing with

his transformation. It's okay. Do you want to see some movie where it's just now Cyborg, Cyborg? Fine. Sure. No, I want to see the movie where it gets on the car accident no i'm sick of car accidents dr strange just did one of those enough we get it i love car accident you like cyborg yeah i didn't

realize i thought it was an explosion it's confusing yeah there's a car explosion i don't know it's a car explosion his mother died because it's's Joe Morton's wife died. His Martha died. Exactly. Martha died. And so Martha Jr., a.k.a. Cyborg. Yes. He didn't die, but he's wounded and all fucked up. He becomes my man.

So Jordan, I mean Jordan, fuck. Miles Dyson. Joe Morton. Miles Dyson. Miles Dyson from T2. Sky labs him into a... Sky nets him. And he used the box as what? A way to bring him back to life?

Or the box made his body? Yeah, correct. Weird. Anyway, I just like Cyborg. I've been into future stuff lately. And I like the design of his character. I like that his robotic parts are still sort of organic and that he can plug into other devices.

I think that's cool. Yeah, he's sort of Robocopy, honestly, when you think about it. That's why I was getting into him. And it's also like he's got the Martha box in his head. So it can kind of control him. He keeps evolving and they're like, we don't know if we can trust him. But again, all of these are like an idea that's floated with one

line you know it's like none of it's like baked into the movie it's just kind of like a lot of ideas kind of get tossed out right and then there's no time to really dig into it because like we gotta go so then there's that first big fight where they fight the parademons yes where it's like james gordon commissioner gordon played by a county award winner, J.K. Elowal Simmons. Exactly. He puts up the bat signal, and the Flash is like, ha, bat signal, bat, bat, bat man, brunch, brunch man. He's doing a jazz set.

Exactly. He does a jazz set, and then James Gordon is like, hey, there's parademons in the sewers. And so Batman's like, great, let's hit the sewers. Right. I know it. Well, you know you know the batmobile yeah you know the bat plane right do they have the nightcrawler at this point

what's that this one's got a lot of bad vehicles what i'm saying like that one that's like that's where he's introducing he's like what about the bat sewer right thing flying fox yeah these are the real names great um there's the there's a moment i like that i think's pretty good characterization where the Flash owns up to the fact that he's never been in a battle before. And Batman says, just save one person. Just save one person and it'll sort of go from there. Right. I guess that's in this scene. Yeah.

Because Wonder Woman's in this scene. Yeah. Fighting the parademons. You got Batman. I guess, does Cyborg show up? I guess he's involved. Yes. Aquaman comes in later.

Aquaman comes in when there's this big wave just sort of shows he's involved. Yes. Aquaman comes in later. Aquaman comes in when there's this like big wave just sort of shows up. Yeah. And then Aquaman's just there, which is laughable, but whatever. Well, because later in the movie, he kind of says like, I don't talk to fish. I talk to the water. Yeah. So he's Moana. Oh, Moana.

Make way. The coconut. Yeah. He does consider the coconut uh yeah he does consider the coconut he does if by coconut you mean mother box yes consider the mother box

uh okay so they try to kill the parademons and they do some of it but they're whatever who don't I don't know this is when Doomsday

is questioning the Steppenwolf Steppenwolf yeah Steppenwolf shows up sorry yeah it's right he's kidnapped people because they smell of mother box yes This is when Doomsday is questioning the- It's Steppenwolf, not Doomsday. Yeah, Steppenwolf shows up. Sorry, sorry. Yeah, it's right. He's kidnapped people because they smell of Mother Box. Yes.

This is another of those, like, maybe we didn't thought of this later, where it's like- Because there's a bunch of scenes where they're, like, civilians, though. You know? Well, there's this one family they keep on cutting to. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. But they're being set up this early, right? I know.

We're seeing this family in Siberia or somewhere in Russia. It's the Sicario move. Let's keep on cutting to this guy with his son who has no connection to the plot and you just know from the beginning these people are going to be in danger.

You're just trying to humanize specific civilians. It's a pile of garbage. Oh, someone say my name. David, let him say I'm so tired. Let me sleep.

Sorry. I like garbage. Sleep. Roger. Sleep on your cast. Roger. Promo code check. Um,

Dormer is bleeding again. Oh man. It's really soaked into the carpet. Someone call more tyranny. All right, Steppenwolf. So then they get in a big fight. Why does he leave again? I guess he just leaves again. They get in a big fight.

It's another scene that feels very weenie because it specifically feels like that scene in Avengers where they're all like, I don't know if we should be a team. I guess so. And then Loki kills Coulson in that scene. Right. A fact that has been kind of conveniently forgotten in the MCU.

Yep. Because now they're just sort of like, Loki's our bro. He's funny. Yeah. Coulson's still alive, but we're never going to know it. And they're like, Coulson's alive, but we're forbidden from talking about it in the movies. So... Yeah.

But Affleck in this scene has the if there's even a fraction of a chance right this got laughs from the whole audience this is the scene where he full-on affleck explains batman explains yeah to wonder woman that they need to revive superman using using the mother box the martha box and putting they have to put superman in the poop water from the last movie return him to the diarrhea chamber yes they're gonna put him

in it we have to go back we have to go back to the poop chamber and we're gonna put him in it and we're gonna get a Martha box

and we're gonna like and then the Flash is gonna run around yes and make an electric charge and all that soup together will revive Superman maybe

if there's a fraction of a chance we have to do it. Wonder Woman's kind of like, what if he comes back evil? They bring up a bunch of valid concerns. You don't die and come back with everything intact. Sure. You know, you're going to have lost something.

What if it's his humanity? What if it's his memory? What if it's this? Also, you're the guy who he thinks kind of killed him. Sure, he's mad at you. He's not going to be happy to see your face. You had to fight him. It was the dawn of justice.

Right. And so he's like well okay alfred get plan b ready cammy award winner jeremy irons all right sir sure i'm here at my console i suppose right so they go they put him in the poop water they need electricity at just the right moment it's like literally just like brown mur murky poop. Brown. But now there's like scaffolding. And then Superman returns. He is shirtless.

Yep. Braylock pointed out. He's wearing what appears to be sweatpants. And I leaned over to Esther and said, they buried him in sweatpants? And Esther started laughing. When you see him, because there's also a scene where they have to dig up his grave.

Yes, I think Richard actually had the joke, like this is a screenplay that has the direction Aquaman opens Superman's grave. There's a scene where the Flash and Cyborg dig up his coffin. But he's wearing a suit. Yeah, I guess so. And he's holding the picture of K-Kaz.

That's right. The Kaz. That's right. That's his only appearance in this movie. Yes. And he probably got two million dollars. Sure, fine. But he comes back to life

and I think Bray was the one who said why couldn't he just have a beard if they knew Cavill had the mustache and it's clear that all of Cavill's stuff was done in reshoots because his face looks weird in all but two shots his face looks totally weird

in all but two shots I counted in the movie his face looks weird they Yeah. They should have just built a fake beard around his mustache. Your hair supposedly grows for a little bit anyway, right? Like when you're dead. He's a crotonian. He gives a shit. He pops out and oh, who's here to greet me?

Two total strangers. Yeah, don't know them. And then someone I kind of met for like a minute. Yeah, he x-ray visions them. He's like looking at them. Right, and he sees some weird things. Cyborg's got a crazy rabbit body. Flash is freaking out.

He's scared. Or Aquaman's scared. Whatever. Right. And he starts going bananas. So then they go to plan B. Plan B is, let's bring out Batman, that guy you fought. No, no, plan B is Lois.

That's C. Oh, whatever. That's what I'm saying. My point I'm trying to build up here is Lois should have been the plan A. Right. Yeah, because it works, but whatever. No, it's just their excuse to have another Superman fights everyone scene. Yeah. Because he kind of, you know, digs in with Wonder Woman

for a second. They kind of bash each other around. Yeah. I don't even remember how to run him but then he realizes they're the same he's grumpy he's mad right they sort of he fast that was kind of funny with that looks back at the flash well the flash is kind of funny yeah and then lois shows up and he's like oh lois yes right i love you okay clark kent's back and now he's superman again should we talk about the fact that dann Elfman's using his original Batman theme in this movie and also some notes of the William Superman

a little bit a little bit he subverts it but yeah he uses the Batman theme in this which I think rules I think it's cute of him to do it but it is also I was just kind of like

no I liked the Batman you did the music for like way back when uh i will say i really like zimmer's bat in case people don't know yeah uh i really like zimmer's uh superman theme it's fantastic i think it's really good i think it's actually this man of steel score is fantastic phenomenal yes best part of that movie unquestionably. I don't know. What about the big bug Russell Crowe flies around? Oh, that part was also very good.

Correct. I will find him. There's some good stuff in that movie. Yeah, that movie's kind of interesting. That movie's like a five. Yeah.

That's like a gentleman's five or six. Agreed. That's a gentleman's five. BVS is a gentleman's four. But it's like an intriguing This is like a gentleman's three.

Yes, exactly. See, I was watching this and I was like, how do I rank this against BVS? And like Suicide Squad is like a minus eight. Like that's like just on a whole other level of incompetent. But like BVS, I was watching it and I was like fascinated, but also furious. Yeah. And this I was like kind of bored, but indifferent. Yeah, that's fine. So it's sort of like pick your poison. Like I was kind of like but indifferent yeah that's fine so it's sort of

like pick your poison like i was kind of like i guess these are both fours to me for different reasons this movie is also so simple where it's just like the whole movie is he's got three boxes he's trying to put them together there are seven they have to unite them before they're six well then why would the hashtag be unite the seven? Alfred. David. That would almost look like they didn't know what they were doing if they sent out a hashtag years in advance

and then cut one member from the team. I mean, imagine Green Lantern showing up in this. It would be cool. I guess so. So finally, spoiler alert,

you thought he was dead. Well, we've already covered these fights all that. I know. I'm just saying. He's back. I can't believe it. He was second building. He's in the movie. He has we've already covered these fights all that. I know. I'm just saying. He's back. I can't believe it.

He was second building. He's in the movie. He has a whole scene where he strokes some corn. Well, then he goes back home. They bring him back to life, and then he's just like, well, peace. And then he's like, maybe I'll show up at the right time in the point of the movie that I need to show up. And you're like, really?

Won't he? Who knows? I don't know. Superman will show up. But they cut to him stroking corn in the field, and I was like, oh, right, this is what it looks like when they put a camera in a place and they film actors in that place. Does it? That looks like fake Korn to me.

That stuff looked real to me. When they go to his face, then you see weird mustache. All of that would look disastrous to me. I think the whole movie kind of looks disastrous. It doesn't look great. Yeah. Yeah, he has like a moment with Lois, but again,

this all the whole movie, everything feels crowbarred in. Yeah. It's just like, yeah, we need five minutes of him meeting his mom again. Okay. We did it.

It's a weird Lois Diane Lane scene where they talk about grieving him early on. That just feels like, well, we can't have Diane Lane in the movie and not give him anything to do. I guess so. But then it's like Lois Lane's arc in this movie is that she doesn't feel ready to be a journalist again. Right. She's not ready for another piece.

I'm sorry. It's a boom tube. What? That's what Steppenwolf is teleporting on. It's called a boom tube. Okay. According to Wikipedia. Okay.

So now they decide we're gonna fight seven go fight seven so they go to the land of the red where this family that's been foreshadowed yeah they're kind of like where is he get away on their pickup truck it's also just outrageous so like they go to bruce wayne or star labs or something and they're like where could he be he's off the grid i don't know like well and then they figure out, I guess, using science or something, like where he is. They arrive there. It's like he has made hell on Earth. It would be covered.

I think you might spot it. Yeah. I think you could see that. Look for the red spot. Yeah. Because it's just like, hell has, he's like,

opened the pits of hell somewhere in Russia. So then, they fucking fight. And oh my God, Superman comes back. What a surprise. Like like name me one hero moment that happens i don't remember aquaman has his trident he sort of throws it at some parademons

he says my man he goes like yeah uh there's one point where he he lands on a parademon and surfs him down the building and the building collapses don't remember that you don't remember that when he surfs on a parademon's body? Nope. That's a thing that happens. Flash runs around. I guess the Flash like pushes the car of the nice family who turn out to be not important. And he feels proud and he sees Superman carrying a building.

Ha ha ha. Batman doesn't really do much. Let him be. Batman doesn't need to get in some big robot and do robot shit. Just let him do some other shit. I mean, it feels like four different movies mushed together. Yeah, it does. And it also feels like, you know, in animation...

But four bad movies. Yeah. You know, it's like they didn't really think through any of the movies. Right. In animation, because animation is so expensive, they make sure their whole story tracks before they start animating anything. They do extensive storyboardings and they record voiceovers

for those storyboardings and they film those storyboards tying to the voices so that they can watch the movie play out and still images and know what the shots are and what the beats are and how the dialogue sounds coming out of a human being's mouth so that they can go, oh let's change this, let's change this. That's the

big reason animation takes so long, because they spend two years on the story before they even start animating. Right? Yeah. And that's one of the reasons that, like, Pixar built this reputation is that they're just relentless about finessing every detail and making sure they don't push the movie into production until the story is perfect.

Right? And even then, once they start animating, they'll still be comfortable throwing out what they have if they come up with something better. Andrew Stanton, when he did John Carter, and shot the whole movie, and then they cut it together and said, oh, this doesn't cut together. It's lacking most of the necessary emotional beats. He's

missing coverage for these things. He had to go back and reshoot a ton of it for a really high amount of money. And that's the big thing they slammed him for when that movie cost so much and it bombed so hard. Right, it was like, he's an animator who doesn't understand. And because of his lack of understanding, we had to shoot the movie two and a half times.

And he said, I think in his sort of defensive, like, you know, narrative rewriting afterwards, he said, you know, I just realized the way in which live action films are made is so counterintuitive. I would like to try to advance the development cycle so it's more like animated films so that you don't shoot

the whole thing all at once and you can go through. And it was this thing that's like, you fundamentally don't understand the difference of these mediums, right? But what's weird is, in the time since... John Carter's bad. Agreed. It is. Like, it's had this sort of critical revival. i think it's okay it's okay and it has these good ideas yeah but it's not a particularly good movie i like i've

tried with that movie sure it's like up my alley to like that movie but it's more functional than this and this movie has a very similar production history and so did rogue one and all these humongous movies rogue one's the most functional of all these movies. No, it is. It is. I'm not crazy about Rogue One, as you know. But what's nuts is that like when John Carter bombed so hard it was like this is a big lesson and instead all these

big movies have been made John Carter style where they like push it in without a script. It wasn't a big lesson. The big lesson was we have to do that better. Because what John Carter was, as you're saying, it was just like the precursor to this but they were like oh we realized our mistakes and now we know how to like previs an entire movie but these things where they just shoot

the movie three times are like fucking insane well this movie is going to make a billion dollars so go eat a poopy sandwich I guess but like Thor's going to make a lot more it's no this movie is going to make about as much as Thor. And that's what...

I disagree with that. Thor's been doing so crazy well overseas. That's true. I mean, maybe I'm wrong. I think this movie will do well overseas too. Thor is currently outpacing Wonder Woman, which is crazy because it's doing so well overseas. But none of this is important.

Even if this movie makes kind of... Because its big rival this month is Thor Ragnarok, right? And it looks like it's going to open to about $1.15, something like that, which is similar to what Thor opened to. But significantly down from BVS and Suicide Squad. Down from BVS, but up from Wonder Woman. Which multiplied really well, which I don't think this is going to. No, I don't think it is.

I'm just saying, even if it made Thor money, that's not what your Justice League movie is supposed to do. Justice League's movie is supposed to make more. Yes. You know, that's supposed to be your big League movie is supposed to do. No. Justice League's movie is supposed to make more. Yes. You know, that's supposed to be your big team movie, like the Avengers, which always makes more. That's supposed to be your biggest event. Their breaking point is like $700 million.

That's what they need to make essentially to go into profit. Yeah. So if they make like a billion on the nugget, yeah, but are they really going to make money? I mean, they're going to like have spent like $600 million in order to make like 10 million dollars i know you know yeah yeah on and on it goes what is when are we gonna stop with this i don't know i don't know i mean there's i don't i i like this stuff because i like these kind of movies because i could check out when i watch them but there's been so many fucking superhero movies there's fatigue i mean it'll come the fatigue is coming it's just the next thing though it's just not gonna happen I watch them. But there's been so many fucking superhero movies. Where are we going to stop?

It'll come. The fatigue is coming. What's the next thing, though? It's just not going to happen yet. And it also doesn't seem like it's going to happen to Marvel. Marvel remains kind of like a step ahead on all this. They stay on their feet, and they're like two steps ahead of the curve by trying to change up the genres and everything. Right.

And they're also just, yeah, they're right. They're in their late phase where they're kind of like, Taika Waititi comes and they're like, yeah, make your movie. They're doing jazz sets. Ryan Coogler comes and he's like, I want to make an Afro-futurist movie. They're like, perfect, just do it.

We need variety. And they also just have a track record. Even if all the complaints against those movies are valid, they're all like fucking functional. But then like, if you look at like 2018 yeah there's still a ton of superhero movies on the docket it's like they're not gonna like decelerate anytime soon right we've still like we have like an x-men movie coming we have like two x-men movies next year announced multiple man yesterday i'm actually so i'm kind of i'm not really a person who creatively writes,

but years ago I wrote a multiple man movie. Really? Yes. You finished a full multiple man script? Todd Vanderwerf knows about it. He's read it. Can I read it? No.

It's bad. Whenever I was 18, it was probably okay. This is like my high school Fantastic Four script. Exactly. Multiple man was always the one where I was like, that'd be cool if you did it right. But also it always seemed really hard because visually it's just hard to do. Yeah.

And my multiple man was always going to be Paul Rudd. Now Paul Rudd's, he's, you know, he's Ant-Man now. And who is it? Franco? Fine. You know,

they're, they're in the similar pocket. Right. But that's like, they're doing it now. Right. Like they're doing the Peter David. Yeah.

Multiple man thing. Yeah. I don't know what's going to happen with all this. I mean, I'll say there are tinges. There were moments where like, and I'm not a DC guy, you know? Yeah. There were moments where I was like, it is cool seeing all these characters on screen together. Agreed.

Agreed. Yes. I agree with you. It's kind of nice seeing them all together. Yeah. Kind of. Right. They're brief moments.

And again, I'll see an Aquaman movie. Sure. I'll see a Flash movie. Like, it's not like I was so disgusted. And there were moments where things were so goofily comic book-y that I got a little tinge of joy. Just like, this is so untethered.

You know? But the movie is like it's like a cloud. It doesn't exist. We saw it less than 24 hours ago. I can barely remember it. But do you remember the great post-c credit scenes of this movie ok so one of them is

the Flash and Superman they're gonna race to see should we say the end of the movie what's the end of the movie they beat Steppenwolf we didn't say that some people were on the edge of their seat he squishes the mother boxes together he unites the boxes.

And then Superman and someone else pull them apart. Yeah, okay. Wonder Woman's good in this movie. I feel like we haven't talked about her much. You see her butt a bunch. Yeah. It's rough. Yeah.

And even when they go to Themyscira, the Amazon's costumes, I know this has gone viral. It's gone viral. It's not quite as distinct as it looks in that tweet that kind of went out some of them have more of the uh it's also less distinct because you never get clear shots of them you never get some of them definitely have more basically like kind of just metal bikini costumes yes some of them look a little slave leia and nonetheless with all that shit said and this movie's obviously less Wonder Woman than Wonder Woman she's still like the best part of the movie

and just such a movie star. Yeah. So I got a couple things to say about it. One is yes almost every like entry point into a scene

is they start on like Wonder Woman's legs and pan up her butt and then reveal everyone else. They do the thing that Patty Jenkins you know avoided. They do it over and over again.

There's so much butt stuff in this movie. The way they dress her too is just so much more revealing. I mean David said her butt you see her cleavage. Right. Her legs there's just like a lot of like framing her around that. A little bit. But here's the thought I had watching this.

I could take a big swing on this one. Okay. I kind of think Gal Gadot is the female John Wayne. Okay. In this sense. Sure. What's the sense? The best thing I've ever heard about John Wayne,

I forget who said this, this is like a thing a critic said. You mean the character Jackie Chan plays in Shanghai Noon, right? Yes, exactly. John Wayne. Yeah. You know that's that character's name is John Wayne. Yeah, we've brought it up before.

Sounds like John Wayne. Yes. That's a terrible name for a cowboy. Go on. I'm Lightning McQueen. That was before. Sounds like John Wayne. Yes. That's a terrible name for a cowboy. Go on. I'm Lightning McQueen. That was good. Thank you. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Wow. John Wayne. What, is Melissa Villasenor in here? I know. That's her big impression. The line I love about John Wayne.

I saw Rio Bravo recently, and I've never seen it before. It's a phenomenal movie. Yeah, you saw it in Paris? I saw it in Paris. Humble brag. I had an aunt who lived in Paris once. She left without looking? I felt so proud of the fact that I was this artsy fuck,

and I went to Paris for three weeks, and I read my books. He got so mad at me about this. Do you know that David... Oh, God. I lived in Paris for a second. No, but tell Ben what you told me I was a bartender don't you want to fuck him

isn't that the most romantic thing you've ever heard it's like right out of college David moved to Paris he lived there for half a year and he was a bartender it was like right after I graduated from college you at least got to go have fun in Paris I've lived in New Jersey and New York City

that's it I've lived in New Jersey and New York City. That's it. I've left the country once. I remember one time, you know, I used to be- That was Cabo. I used to be like a city reporter. That's the only time you ever left the country? Cabo, that's it, baby. Cabo, baby.

Mother, whatever. One time I was at some city reporting. I used to be a city reporter. Did you speak fluent French? Fluent is very strong. I took French my whole life. I read and write okay.

When I live there, I feel like... Hey, you're a professional critic. You read and write more than okay. When I live there, I do feel like I got my spoken French up from embarrassing to barely functional. Okay.

And then it just, you know, it just sort of slips back to nothing. I can still only do transactional. I'm, right. I mean, mostly,

I, yeah, I wasn't ever great. And, you know, Paris, you were just in Paris, you know,

they're, they, they kind of read you right away, you know. A hundred percent. Yeah. And they'll answer you in English. I'm rusty.

I can still do body shots, sort of. I don't know. Something I was going to say. I'm rusty. I can still do body shots, sort of. I don't know. Something I was going to say. I was watching Rob Bravo, which is a phenomenal movie, and I'd never seen it before, and I was so taken with John Wayne in it. And there's always this big argument because so many people love John Wayne and so many people hate John Wayne.

Well, I mean, maybe you hate John Wayne the man, but, you know, screen presence is a lot. Well, that's the thing. People go, like, he's a shitty actor. And it's like, he almost transcends acting ability. For sure. Yeah, he's a movie star. He's a movie star. He's the thing. People go like he's a shitty actor. And it's like he almost transcends acting ability. For sure. Yeah, he's a movie star. He's a movie star. He's a presence.

And the thing that I read this critic saying, I don't remember who it is, which I think is so spot on, is that John Wayne never told a lie on screen. He is so unflappably honest. Even when he's heightened, even when he's not realistic, his line readings are like a little bit off. Everything he says just reeks of honesty and integrity. like a little bit off everything he says just reeks of honesty and integrity and Gal Gadot has that fucking thing

where it's like she's not the most technically adept actress in the world I think she's underrated a little bit as an actress I think she is but I also just think

as a fucking screen presence it's that weird thing about movies where like watching this film where they give her a lot less to do where she's in it a lot

but she doesn't really have they're trying to give her stuff to do I think because again they realize like oh fuck Wonder Woman was a huge hit but yeah she doesn't have a ton. They're trying to give her stuff to do, I think, because again, they realize like, oh fuck, Wonder Woman was a huge hit. But yeah, she doesn't have a ton to do. But you watch the scenes where anyone else has to go like,

Steppenwolf, he has the three mother boxes and no one can make that stuff sing. Yeah, but she has so much authority on screen. You just believe her. She doesn't tell a lie on screen. Like she's so fucking honest. Like honestly, if I were Whedon or whoever and I'm being brought in,

I would really have been like, we need to totally retool this movie take it away from Bruce Wayne and make it about Wonder Woman like you know make her the leader of the team that's at that point

literally scrapping no that's I know I know they would have probably just said we can't do that and they also didn't know at the point that they hired Whedon

that Wonder Woman was going to be like the most well received superhero movie in years well they knew by the time he was reshooting it. I know. It just made a little face.

Anyway. She is very good in this. In the post-credits scene, yeah, Superman races the Flash. So, Dara and I are sitting there, and we're like, man, who are all the actors who were supposed to be in this who are cut out of it? Jesse Eisenberg, right? Yeah.

Joe Manganiello, and then final credit scene starts, and it's Jesse Eisenberg and Joe Manganiello. So, Jesse Eisenberg's out's out of prison i guess now he's got a suit he's more like lex luther yeah toned down the frenetic a little bit still basically doing his thing but he's being a little more still here comes deathstroke who i think might have the same problem that dark side will have if they ever try to do them where people are going to be like that's deadpool yeah he looks like wilson his name name's Wilson is parodying but of course Deadpool right was a spin on Deathstroke he got applause from our audience

that's horseshit can I tell you the other moments that got applause yes the the when Superman says the do you bleed thing to Batman that got applause yeah right yeah and then Batman has like a funny line where he's like something's definitely bleeding that didn't get applause and then he goes i farted he doesn't do that i think when

superman came back that's what the joke lines are like in this movie i know somebody smells when superman comes back and says like i stand for truth and justice that got applause fucking hell this audio this is a real loose audience. This is just a Pavlovian response. You're just applauding that a character you know is on screen. I guess so. Takes off his helmet. He's Joe Manganiello with white hair.

Isn't it time we started around, Lee? So they're going to have Deathstroke and Deadshot in one cinematic universe? Yeah. Those guys kind of cancel each other out. Big time. And one of them is Will Smith. The other one is Joe Manganiello. I think I know who I pick.

So that's Justice League. It's a movie, I guess. This is a bummer. Yeah. I thought we were really going to have fun dunking on it, but honestly. It's not a dunkable movie. That's the thing. It's not that funny.

It's just whatever. I don't know. They'll make a better movie later, I guess. The other problem is they blew their wad. Next year, they have Aquaman in December. That's it. That's the only one. That's the only one on the docket.

And then after that, it's Shazam and Wonder Woman 2 are the only... Shazam. Those are the two that are actively... I believe those are both on the slate for 2019. Obviously, Wonder Woman 2 is their crown jewel these days patty jenkins is returning gaga doe is returning you know and it's like atlantis is cool yeah you know like that mythology yes is so cool and i i have zero faith that they're gonna do anything but james wan is cool yeah i like james wan a lot yeah you like him more than i do i like him okay he could make a good movie

he could make a good movie I think he's got good sense of humor I'm not opposed to I like the Conjuring movie so much right but like you know I don't like you know

Saw that much he only did the first one I'm not crazy about that one either yeah but I mean like he set like a palette you know it was an influential movie.

Right. But I don't think there were a lot of good lessons learned from Saw. No, but I don't think blame him for the sequels. I think, have you ever seen Death Sentence with your boy Bacon? I have. That movie's really solid. It's solid. I think that's a really solid movie.

I think it's a solid movie. And Furious 7's an American masterpiece. Yeah. It's okay. He did an okay job with it. I think the Conjuring movies are his good movies. I agree. The Insidious movies are okay.

I've never seen the Insidious film. They're pretty good. He's okay. I think he's a good filmmaker. I want to see that movie. Sure. I want to see that movie.

Give me that bill. Now we're just stealing other people's bits. Pile of garbage. Box office game. Say my catchphrase. Who's talking about my garbage? How you been sleeping?

Not great. I need a Casper. All right. Well, it's coming. Tell me that promo code again. Check. Ah, cool. Casper.com slash check.

Let me sleep. Box office prediction game? Yeah. We don't get to do this often. We don't get to do this often. So last week's box office. Right. Was 60? 50? Yeah. Thor. don't get to do this often uh we don't get to do this often so last week's box office right did was 60 uh with yeah thor uh what did we have here let me call up the weekend uh yeah so in its second week thor did 57 okay daddy's home 2 30 did 29.6 murder on the Orient Express did 28.6. Bad Mom's Christmas did 11.

Jigsaw did 3. Not that great. And nothing else opened this weekend other than Juiceless League? The Dressed Us League? I guess there's not any other wides because it's like, well, I think Three Billboards is expanding, but I don't think

it's going wide. Lady Bird's going to continue to grow. Lady Bird will probably make a couple mil this weekend. Lady Bird is kicking ass because it's like, well, I think Three Billboards is expanding, but I don't think it's going wide. Lady Bird's going to continue to grow. Lady Bird will probably make a couple mil this weekend. Lady Bird is kicking ass because it's in barely any theaters and it's already in the top ten. And also because it's charming. It's the king of charm. Yeah, The Star and Wonder are wide this week.

Oh, okay. Wonder, I think, might do a little better than people are expecting. Wonder will get like ten, but it'll sort of linger, I think, might do a little better than people are expecting. Wonder will get like 10, but it'll sort of, it'll linger. I think Wonder will do like 9 or 10.

I think the Star's going to fucking belly flop. The Star's going to delgo it up there. It's going to do like 5, right? It's going to do 5 dollars. It might break the Strange Magic's record.

Yeah. And then, yeah, you've got Thor and Murder on the Union Express lingering around. I guess you have Daddy's Home. Yeah, so what? I mean, Thor does 30 this weekend Union Express Lingering Ground. I guess you have Daddy's Home. Yeah, so what? I mean, Thor does 30 this weekend.

Justice League will open, like I said, like 1.15, something like that. I think it did 13 in Midnight Previews, which is not great. It's not terrible. It's comparable to Wonder Woman. Right. Yeah. So I think it'll do 1.12 is my prediction. You got Thor, it'll do 30.

Daddy's Home and Murder will probably have sort of decent drops and they'll do like... I think they'll both do high teens. Yeah, 15, 16. I think 18, 19. I think they're not gonna drop. Bad Moms has been dropping really low,

so, you know, like a nice short drop, so it'll do like seven. They're gonna need to come out with Bad Dads to revive the franchise. Remember when they announced Bad Dads?

Remember when they announced a male Ghostbusters movie. Yeah. Fuck everything. I hate this industry. It's terrible. What are we doing? Uh,

well, we are wrapping up. Yeah. Uh, the year. Oh, oh, let's do this.

And we're going to talk about the stuff we have coming up. Let's talk about 218. Okay. Well, next week. Many people have surmised that we are not starting a new miniseries before this year's end. No, why would we? Well, we never officially announced that. I guess we did and put out the calendar.

Next week, we got quite a bonus episode for you. We are going to journey to the land of Pandora. Yes, that's right, my friends. I took a trip toora. Yes, that's right, my friends. I took a trip to Avatar Land. And that's right, my friends. I didn't. You're lost. Boy, did I have a ball of a time.

You seem to get very sick. I got very sick. I killed my immune system. I'm too old. I can't do it anymore. It was a very fatalistic trip where I realized I have age. Right. So we're going to talk about that.

Yes. Ben and I were talking. I think we're going to take some, you know, user questions. Sure. It might be a little bit of a mailbag. Do some mailbaggy stuff. We've been doing a lot of these episodes banked up way in advance, and we're already recording episodes for next year.

So we thought, let's do an episode that we record very shortly before it comes out, and we're able to address more current events. People like when we got hot takes on new movies. Yeah, we'll do a little of that. Probably be some new bummer controversy. Yeah, right. How many different

fucking men are going to destroy their reputations and I don't know. I hate everything. I do too. Just have to unite the seven. Look forward to that.

Look forward to that episode. Oh no, but before that Is it before that yes next week's episode okay is our second sibling episode it's a sibling's choice episode we brought on the great joey sims joey c sims and we talk about the film lost in space the stephen hopkins film blarp uh we blarp it up uh that was awesome we did that a while ago but in space. The Stephen Hopkins film. Blarp. We blarp it up. That was awesome.

We did that a while ago, but that was good. We did that five years ago. That movie is fucking insane. Yep, it's crazy. That was the thing. Yeah, we were going to do SWAT. Joey didn't really want to do SWAT. We spent a while kind of talking around various ideas. Swatting around different ideas. And then like near the end, Joey was like, wait a second, Lost in Space. And we were all just sort of like, yeah,

great. Okay, so we do a Lost in Space episode. Then we go to Avatar Land. Correct. Then the week after that is The Last Jedi. Correct. Then we go on. Then it's Christmas. Christmas break.

When we come back, first week of Jan, you're getting The Post. Yeah, baby. And then we are starting our next miniseries, which we can officially announce. Second week of Jan. Correct. On January 8th, 7th, whatever. We began a miniseries on the Hollywood films of Paul Verhoeven. That's right.

It is called Pod Ship Casters. But Griffin, you said we would never talk about RoboCop. I am giggling because I have pulled a fast one on all of you. I pulled the wool over your eyes. We're talking about Robocop, my favorite movie. And it's a five-hour episode. Oh, God. Yeah, that episode was intolerable.

No, it was fun. It was great. You had fun, right? I had fun. I'm so excited we're doing the whole event. We just sort of indulge Griffin. Even for a podcast that always indulges him. I Robocop-splained you.

Yeah, he just goes on and on about it. It's great. Yeah. It's great. So, it's great. So get ready for that miniseries coming up in January. We've got some exciting guests. But we're also going to do The Post. Yeah, our New Year's Day episode, The Post.

The new Steven Spielberg movie. Which we'll be seeing in 48 hours. Yeah, we're going to see it real soon. All three of us. All three of us. I don't know much about it based on the poster. It looks like it's about stairs. Yeah, it's a big old stair.

I think it's a really good poster. I think it's a really good poster. I actually think it's a good poster. I also think that trailer's a lot better than a lot of people do. Yeah, I think the trailer's fine, but I also am kind of like, hey, guys, I mean, like, the Bridge of Spies trailer's pretty mediocre, you know. That's how I feel, because everyone's tweeting at me, asking me for my hot takes on the Hotel Transylvania 3 trailer, and my response is, all the Hotel Transylvania trailers are bad. But also, isn't this one kind of exciting

because Tartakovsky wrote it? He wrote it. Like, maybe it's good. Yes. I mean, Catch-22. He had two original films set up at Sony. He really wanted to make a Popeye movie, and he had an original film called Can You Imagine? Yeah. Both of those got shut down. He said he didn't want to do Hotel Transylvania anymore.

Now he's doing it. And then he said I came up with an idea I really liked and I said if you let me write it I'll do it so I'm a little excited by the fact that he's writing it I know it's fun and he's such a good filmmaker and he did get to bring back Samurai Jack and that was cool it's not like he's completely

I just want someone to let him make a movie and for him to get the respect he deserves squash and stretch yes squash and stretch bro HG2 is a, but it's still more interesting as a piece of animation direction than most American films. So that's what we got coming up next year.

And we'll have our Blankie Awards, obviously, sometime in February. When HT3 comes out, can we do a bonus episode where we do all three? I feel like I've talked about them enough. When does it come out? I don't know. Literally, when? Spring.

Let's see when it comes out. July 13th. Oh, that's fine. Come on. Can we do a Hotel Transylvania trilogy episode? Yes. That's fun. That's fun.

Ben, that's fun. People will like that. All right. It'll be like the Jack Reacher episode. Great. I'm slotting it in. Great. Get ready for that.

PodtelEL Castlevania I just wrote Hotel Transylvania mega episode great I'm so excited I have won thank you all for listening all we do is let you win that's not true you guys are fighting against me you press me at every turn

I never get to express my thoughts on this podcast yeah that's the real... I have no voice. I've been muffled. Thanks for listening, everybody. Oh, can I do a quick merchandise spotlight? Very quick. There's a lot of talking toys for Justice League.

They have the figures that talk and also the masks that talk. And the Batman one sounds like Bartman because they just do the modulated voice. It's just like, swear to me. But the other ones are so incredibly

off-base, I find them amusing. Okay. So the Gal Gadot doll has an American accent. She just goes like, I'm from Themyscira.

My name is Wonder Woman. Uh-huh. And, uh, the, uh, the Flash, uh, toy sounds like, uh, Bill and or Ted from The Excellent Adventure. Uh-huh. And the Flash toy sounds like Bill and or Ted from The Excellent Adventure. Mm-hmm. I just think they're funny.

If you're in a Target or a Walmart and you walk by the Justice League aisle, push that try me button. Those voices are funny. And don't forget to go to Casper.com. Yeah, please. Get a mattress. I got one. It was awesome.

To make sure that you typed in, check. Yep. Promo code, check. Casper.com, backslash, check. Term a mattress. I got one. It was awesome. To make sure that you typed in, check. Yep. Promo code, check. Casper.com, backslash, check. Terms and conditions apply. A box the size of a mini fridge. Right. I got to call 911 or something.

He's bleeding. Yeah, he's very close to death. Thank you, Will Dormer. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks to Andrew Freguto for our social media. Thanks to Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Thanks to Andrew Freguto for our social media. Thanks to Joe Bowen and Pat Reynolds for our artwork. Thanks to Lane Montgomery for our theme song.

And remember to check reddit.blankies.com for some real nerdy shit. And as always, Martha Box. Great.