The Ringer-Verse - Netflix's 'Avatar The Last Airbender' Season One Reactions | The Midnight Boys

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

Yip yip! Time to dive into the hotly anticipated first season of Netflix's 'Avatar the Last Airbender' (09:57). The Midnight Boys discuss what the newest live-action adaptation of this beloved cartoon gets right and mostly wrong, along with what could make some good adaptations and the struggles of bad ones. Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We are. Steve, the architect almond, the builder and tinker of things. We are. I called you Steve almond. I like that. Almond's Steve almond milk. You and every other kid in kindergarten. Oh, the kid.

You're mad because what's going to happen later on in the podcast. We are. Jomi, the explainer. I did her on. You've got questions. He's got answers. old man van he of the receding resurgent

hairline we are Coop baby Chuck 24 karat closer aka the brunch hotty together we are known as of the midnight boys also on socials Instagram Twitter

Facebook TikTok save Jomi Jomi Jomi Jomi What's up? What's going on over on the socials buddy? Social is going great again continue to like follow. Appreciate everybody who does that. It's going great guys. I've had

a fantastic week. Just got back from All Star. You know what I'm saying? Cooking some stuff over there. It's good times, man. We're doing great things on the socials, guys. How was the food in Indiana? Not as bad as you would think, honestly. The food wasn't, okay, well,

here's the thing, right? I had Culver's for the first time. Fire. Oh, Coler. That was the first time you had Culver? First time, yeah, I'd never I don't know. I don't be going to y'all Midwest. You know what I'm saying? We got some good stuff out there. Fly over. Is it a Denny?

Is it like a Denny's? What's the fucking Culver's? Nah, Culver's like a burger joint. They got like, they got a huge menu, but the burgers, I ain't a lot was pretty fire.

Burgers great. Smash burgers is pretty cool. On the flip side, I had Skyline Chili for the first time. Ooh. Absolutely disgusting. Nah, I don't mind like the chili dog,

chili cheese dog, cool. Y'all put that thing on spaghetti? Have some shame. What? Okay, no. I don't, I don't endorse that.

I don't endorse that. The white folks are doing what? No, we're not putting that. You don't know about this, Charles? No, no, no, no. I don't support this. I don't support this.

I don't claim this. Chili and cheese on spaghetti, brother. Yo, what is, I don't. What are we talking about right now? What the fuck is Skyline chili? What is this stuff? What is Colvers?

What is Skyline chili? What are these places? Where are these places? Charles, you know about these places? He would, Joe Me, I was on his socials. Jomi was that All-Star. He was eating all these white people's shit. I didn't know it was on

fucking spaghetti, though. God damn. It's, I don't endorse it on spaghetti, but Skyline Chili is just, it's a lot more cheese on the chili. It's a lot of cheese. We've talked too much about it. It's gone too far. Jomi, Jomi, the cheese on spaghetti, the chili cheese spaghetti is, it's angering me. Why does that make me mad, Chuck? It made me mad too, don't worry. Google a picture of Skyline Chili. You're going to get

really upset. Just fucking too far. Here, because if we want to be real, White people, like, rule the culinary world. But sometimes they'd be slipping shit in there where I'm just like, I think we need to take the reins from y'all. Like, I just think we just need to like. You gave us raisins and we went crazy. Do white people rule the culinary world or is that just the way that it's framed? No, I mean, I think not like quality wise. They probably rule it.

Yeah, they probably, yeah, they got it. Because, like, they don't want us. You know what? And this is the thing with white people in the way that do stuff. Oh, man. They always take something and then go, this is inspired by this. Yeah, yeah, I got this fried chicken inspired keesh that I like to do and blah, blah, blah. And then that shit goes crazy.

You got to play $500 for it in French laundry when it's just fucking somewhere niggas making fried chicken and wings. Go get the real shit. The rest of piece, Anthony Bourdain. I used to see Anthony Bordane in Hollywood eating at the same taco stand, like right there, off LeBreya and I would go do my fucking laundry and I would be like, yo man, what are you doing? Like, why are you here? He's like, it's the best taco.

Was it the best taco? It was, there was this little taco stand. It can't be the best taco, by the way. This is the taco he liked. There was this little taco stand. Yeah, there was this little taco stand and it was outside this laundromat like on LaBrella.

There's this place on LaBrea called the Woods. Upstairs, there's this place called Mashty Malone's ice cream. and there's a laundromat right there. And me and Kalika for a long time didn't know that there was actually laundry at our place where we lived. So we would have to go over to this place and do the laundry. And I would see Anthony Bourdain out there eating a goddamn taco, rest and peace to him. And then I would be like, yo, why are you eating the tacos here?

Shouldn't you be eating the tacos in the fanciest taco restaurant? He was like, no. He was eating laundromat tacos. And that's what I fuck with. Man of the people. I don't know if I can do laundry mat tacos. tacos. Like, I'll, like, I'll, I'll try. Hey, no, we got, we got some good people making some good food out here. Yeah, man. No, no, no, I'll try some tacos. It's just the laundromat. I've seen some shit go down at the

laundromat where I'm like, I don't. So, so the tacos weren't inside the luncheon. Oh, I was a lot to say, I was like, this one set too far, but it was a taco stand all in the parking lot of the locker. Oh, we get two parking lot. Tocos saying, that's fine. Come on, man. Just eating in the establishment? Come on. That's not up decode. It smells crazy in there.

Because Charles is right. I wouldn't eat the tacos that they served inside the laundromat. No. I guess it's like bounce. They're going to taste like bounce. Yeah, the whole thing, man. All right. I don't know how we got on that.

Bromers! Okay. This Monday Mint Edition returns for another edition of here comes the pitch. It comes the pitch. He comes the pitch. He comes the pitch, nigga. Here comes the pitch. We got a brand new theme song now.

Oh, that's the theme song. Go ahead and use that. You guys got it. I'm the jingle master. Also on Monday, the House of R gives you a deep dive into Netflix's Avatar. Wednesday, the Midnight Boys are back to give you their Dune double feature in anticipation of Dune 2. So we're going to be doing both the 1980s Dune, David Lynch, June. The OG Dune, as well as the Dune from 2000.

2021, Denise Dune, which is great. Both of these are great. I can't wait. Who hasn't seen the original 85 doing? Who hasn't seen it? Just Joe me.

You went for a treat, Joe. Oh, boy. You went for a treat. That original Dune's great. It's a vibe. It's a vibe. It is. It was my Dune.

It was the way I understood Dune. Can't wait for everybody to see it. It's going to be great. Well, just Jomey, I guess. And then on Friday, the Midnight boys give their reactions to Doom part two. The streets are already talking. Charles is already being negative. I'm not being negative.

It's that spice. I don't be negative. I'm excited. I'm not being negative. Look, the streets are talking. The only thing I don't like is they've set such a high bar for doing at this point. Yeah, it's crazy, bro. It's flat.

A lot of gas. A lot of gas. Hey, if it's not Empire Strikes back, I'm a lot of. have like some worse I'm just gonna say I'm just gonna say what does that even are mean

that's what that's what people are saying they just like dog this is the greatest sci-fi movie I know ever that I'm like all right y'all

like all right like this is Dune's Empire Strikes back I'm like what does that mean why it was in there for years though but every time a sequel is a little darker or a little you know more more

more like violent they're like just Empire Strikes back of sequels and like what do What do we like, yeah, like, cool. That's a beautiful. It's weird.

The meatballs are getting a little spicy, so. Spicy meatball. All right. Okay, on today's show, we're going to give you our reactions to the first seasons of Netflix's Avatar, the last airbender. Woo! Spoiler warning for the Netflix show, Avatar, the last airbender. Spoiler warning. for the animated

and the M-night Shemelon version of Avatar the last Airbedder, which I watched on the plane to Atlanta just to give me all primed and ready for Avatar. Was the boy, was Aang and the original M-night as white as I remember him?

Is that like a white child? It wasn't, yeah, I mean, not really, yeah, yeah, yeah, basically. I think he was a white child, right? I'm not miserable. It was a white child. I can't, yeah, no, I mean, this was on a plane. So, yeah, he was basically white.

They even think about it because he seemed white to me in the show. But look, it, it, this is what we'll do real quick. We'll run the spoiler warning and then we'll get into this. Because this is going to be an interesting episode of the Midnight Boys. All right. It's going to be a lot of fun. Steve. We're getting ready to talk about, oh, my cabbages.

You're listening to a reaction. podcast. The spoilers are coming. Begin our reactions. We have to put you in the know. The only person with the big enough brain to do that is Chuck with the Midnight Manifest. Chuck, take it away. All right.

This is your Midnight Manifest for Netflix's Avatar, The Last Airbender, developed by Albert Kim, based on the original Nickelodeon cartoon by Michael Dante D. Martino and Brian Kinezkyo. We begin Netflix's adaptation closely following the contours of the original animated shows per season. In this world, each nation is comprised of vendors that can control four elements, fire, water, earth, and air. The avatar is a spiritual figure that can master all four elements and thus bring balance to the world. The live action avatar begins 100 years in the past when the fire nation decides to eradicate the air vendors and bring the world under its control. A young air vendor known as Aang discovers these the latest in this long line of reincarnated avatars, but is unable to master the four elements before the fire nation begins their campaign.

the world domination. After being caught in a bad storm, Ang is frozen in an iceberg for 100 years when he's found by two Southern Water Tribe children, Qatar and Saka. Prince Zuko, as Uncle Iro, discovered the Avatar's whereabouts and attacked Qatar and Saka's village, as the prince needs to capture the avatar to restore his honor. After defeating Zuko in this initial confrontation, Ang Katar and Saka formed team Avatar and embark on a journey to get Ang to the Northern Water Tribe so we can do two things. The first is learn water bending and start the cycle. of bringing balance to the world. And second is to stop a vision that he has

of the Fire Nation attacking the Water Nation and ridding them of most of their water benders. And that has been the Midnight Manifest for Netflix's Avatar. All right. We're going to get to the reaction. So just full disclosure, I never liked this shit.

You couldn't have worded it any better? I never liked this. You could have just been like it wasn't my cup of tea did it. I'm here so I can't, so I won't get fined. No, no, no, no, no. I'm just, no, no, no, I'm talking about in general, though. I'm talking about in general, I've never liked this shit. I've never, I know that it's, everyone loves it. And so I am at the beginning of this, I am copping to the fact that I've never liked this shit. It is not my type of shit. I was probably too, remember, this shit is

dropping y'all is still i'm like in my 30s so like i'm not fucking with this as much as everybody else is i went and saw the original and i in the m night shaman one and i reviewed it for flicksided and it fucking drove me crazy the movie was so bad so um i am not the target audience of being super excited about this i tried to watch oh when you guys tried tell me to watch it's just too much plucked for me this shit is plucked as fuck Okay. And this one that was a pluck overdose as well. This was very hard to watch for me.

I don't have any connection to the cartoon. It was, it was, I felt like Charles. I don't have any, I don't have any connection to the cartoon. I did not. It, it, to me, this was very, this was, this was, this is the job. This is the job. This is the job. This is the job.

This is the job. This is the job. this is the first time, and I have to admit it because I'm always honest with the audience, this is the first time where I had to put on

that 1.5 speed on Netflix. Just because that's how hard. 1.5, not 1.2? Wow. It was getting to the point with some of the scenes where I was just like, all right, man, like,

this was not only was this just not good. This hurt, I think, more than the other ones. Like, I don't know if I ever really thought a live action avatar was going to work. but this one felt especially to me like just grave robbing my childhood and playing in my face like I just wouldn't

that's too far I think that's personally too far as someone who like you are probably the biggest fan of Avatar of all of us you like did this not make you feel a little gross watching it where you're just like this is just

I wouldn't say gross but I would say say I just lifeless is too far too. It just, I just felt empty. Yes. I'm just like, I think the big question for me, it was

why. I mean, why? I mean, but like, other than that, obviously, right? Like, why am I here? Why am I eight? I want my six and a half hours deep into this binge, right? Like, not to quote Charles literally,

but what are we doing here? Why are you six and a half deep? Okay, so we didn't, so. Oh my God. We didn't grown a little bit. Christ alive. So we didn't grown a little bit. Okay, Jomey.

Six and a half inch deep, June. Six and a half deep. Why am I six and a half deep? Hashtag coming soon. We got to change it now. Hashtag six and a half warrior. Jesus, we got to change it. My man had come up.

He's still going. through puberty. You know what I'm saying? We got to change it. We were from five to six and a half. Why am I six and a half deep? Ultimately, I mean, for me, we'll talk about it more in depth later,

but the show doesn't do anything new or anything, or let me not say new. It doesn't do anything better than the original adaptation. So you're left watching it, especially if you're a fan of the content. You're like, cool. The things that are happening, here were done either way better

or explained way more interestingly in the show why am I now why am I still watching this when I can go back and watch something that's infinitely better. Okay can I ask you guys a question? I want to ask you guys a question if it's fair to do something. Yeah. I want to ask a question if it's fair to do

something and it might not be fair to do it. Is it fair? Because once again, I'm less and I want to make sure we get to Steve but before we get to see if I just want to make sure this is fair. Is it fair here for us not to compare this to the animated version? And let me tell you. So there's not new ground for any of us, right? You have Transformers where animated and stuff.

They take them and they make a live action movie. They've done this before. Sometimes they get it right. Sometimes they get it wrong. Is it fair for us to ask ourselves? in this conversation to judge this based upon what they were able to do and not able to do as a live action show

and not continuously compare it to a beloved cartoon that has a special place in you guys' heart. So actually I don't think that it's fair. I was like being like Mr. like critic, like journalist writer about it because I think the reason, reason that's something this is curse is you have to go all the way back. I was reading an interview with the creators who helped bring this to live action, and they were basically describing how

for something like this to work, for Netflix who probably spent over 200 million on this, this is a very expensive series, they admitted, like, we need to capture people who not only love the cartoon, but we need to capture the same people who love Game of Thrones. Now, what anybody who loves cartoons would tell you watching avatars, the original avatar works because it is a cartoon. It is beautiful. It has the physics of animation. So when you see Ang popping around in the air jumping around,

like he's weightless, that's something that only animation can do. So when I say this is cursed from the beginning is because what makes avatar work is that because it's a kid series, they have guardrails. They just can't show people dying a bunch of times. They can't make everything literal.

They have to use their pen. They have to make us care about these characters, all of these things. What this show does instead, which when I say it made me feel like kind of gross, is they're like, well, this is Netflix, we can do whatever we want. So instead of actually showing you

that the Fire Nation are fascists and how evil something like this can be, either like, why don't we just show you these motherfuckers burning people to a crisp every five seconds? And I'm like, wait, why would I want that? Instead of them showing us, like in the TV show, oh, this is a show about spirituality and how we should take care of nature and how we can do all this stuff. They throw a ball-headed nigger in front of a green screen and he's just like, nature is so important. And I'm just like, you're in back of a CGI background. You're not even in a forest. What the What are we talking about?

But in a sense, though, I understand the criticism. In a sense, you're making my point, though. What I'm saying is there's a different set of standards that you would judge animation on. But what I'm saying is that for a show like this, you can't have your cake and eat it too, where it's like if you're going to make a call back to the cabbage stand, no, but they are. When you have the cabbage stand guy who is like, that is like, that is. funny because it's in animation. It's an inside joke.

And once you port that over to live action, that's when you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. You're trying to trade on my nostalgia on the show, on the animated show, but not doing any of the work to make the live action version just as

beautiful, just as rich, just as emotional. You can't have it both ways. But so this is the point though. So what you're saying is it's kind of impossible, right? Because you can't tell the story without doing some of the stuff that you did in animation. Animation is, that's the story that you're telling.

But you're telling the story in a different visual medium. And because you're telling the story in a different, now we can have the argument about whether or not it was perfect the way that it was and it did need to be touched, right? But if you're telling a story in a different visual medium, then the story is inherently going to be different even if you do the same thing. Yeah. I'm not arguing that it shouldn't be different. I know.

Let me finish. But let me finish. Like even even if you do the same thing, it's going to look and feel different, right? So the question is not whether or not it works as compared to the cartoon. The question is whether or not it works, period. And if it doesn't, and to me, and if it doesn't, work period because the shit didn't work for me and I never seen the shit that you're talking about and I'll tell you why I'll get to why it didn't work for me um and my why maybe the cartoon

worked better for you guys later on if it doesn't work period then it doesn't work period but if you're continuously and this is something that we should think about not just with avatar but with anything right we inherently do this with books into movies because when you watch when you read a book the movie is never as good as the book because the book goes as far as your animal imagination can go. You've already seen all of these things and you've already done all of these things and the movie or the thing

just can't go as deep. It can get pretty close. When you're porting this from thing to thing, I think we need to ask ourselves, and I'll stop talking after this, if we do enough to disconnect, if you did enough to disconnect from the cartoon in order to appreciate

the live action version. And if it's not possible for you to do that, then you will probably never enjoy what they did in live action. But my question is, did the TV show? Because it's like even when, because I do agree with you when I'm watching this, I'm like, I need to, part of my emotional connection to the animated show, I need to leave at the door. But when the TV series is constantly being like,

hey, we are shot for shot remaking this from the cartoon, it's impossible for me to leave my emotions at the door because they're trying to trade on something that they did not build. Like, you have to get me to a point that when you do a shot-for-shot remake of the animation, I'm not like, this looks like dog shit compared to the animation because you guys didn't build the scaffolding to make me care about the characters. If the live-action acting is wooden, then I'm like, well, that's not Aang. That's not Zuko.

Like, these are just, like, kids who are cosplaying as them. nothing against the kids. And I think the show did a very bad job of like, you probably didn't pick up on it as much of Van, but I'll ask Joe me. Like, at least in the first couple episodes, I'm like, this is verbatim. Oh, we're for word for bar.

Yeah, word for, the last episode, which I, like, I enjoyed, honestly, is basically the siege of the north, word for word, bar for bar. Just like, hey, we're going to take that script. We're going to lock it in, right? Which, you know, for,

what is worth this fine. I think, I think Van makes a good point. The problem with this show, though, is that even if you take away the, the nostalgia, even if you take away, you stop thinking about the animated series,

it's like, at best, fine. Like, at best, like, okay, cool. You know,

like, it does some interesting things. There are characters I like. There are actors I like. There's some, like, nuances that I think were very interesting. But after that, it's like,

cool, like, it doesn't look. I don't want to get into the CGI stuff. I didn't really mind it, but like, it just, it just feels, you know, it was just very, very, very bland. No seasoning, no drip, no sauce. There was nothing there. Again, even if you take away the Richard series, there's nothing there that makes me go,

ah, hell yeah, man, I'm locked in. Give me four more hours of this. Like, that's, that's what it is. Steve, I already know that you feel a little different. What do you got? I think I'm probably going to be the most warm on this show out of all four of us. I think that while ultimately I don't think that it was the greatest. And would I ever recommend this over the original show?

No. I find a lot of redeeming and admirable things that the show tries to do while adapting a multi-episode season of TV. and I think that the actual grace that I'm willing to give this show is the time that it doesn't have by comparison to the first show. For people that haven't seen the original cartoon,

those were, I believe, I'm looking at the first season list now, that's 20 episodes. I think running around like 23 minutes each. This is only eight episodes at around an hour each. There's a lot of truncated stories and a lot of truncated things

that are shortened and blunded, blended together to not only fuse a couple of things as to how some of our characters are feeling at the same time, but also moving the story along to know that we're only seemingly planning to get three seasons of this,

if we're going by the book structure of the first show. What I liked about this is the idea that it clearly had only a certain amount of time and a certain amount of stories to play with, and it tried its best. Ultimately, I don't think it succeeded that much, but I like the fact that they tried to blend as much as they could with this material together.

And like when you talk about the comparison that we can make between both the cartoon and this, it seems to be very aware of not wanting to make the mistakes of the M. Night Shyamlan movie. Of not wanting to ultimately disappoint somebody with a looking bad or cheap or missing things that the show isn't very conscious of. The show is very conscious of the things that made the cartoon work, and it's trying its best in a very short amount of time to hit all of those beats. And I kind of liked seeing a couple of those. I liked General Iro's arc,

like kind of portrayed in a bit of a shorter way and a bit more of a downplayed way. I liked some of the kid actors that I think the kid that plays Prince Zucco was very good. I think occasionally the- I think he is. I think he kind of nails that little petulant kid. He ran! I know! Okay, that was not that great.

That was funny. That was funny. But I think that they, I do think that this is a very good swing and ultimately something that ends up being a miss. But I still found a lot to enjoy here. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business.

They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support, millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. This episode is brought to by Whole Foods Market. Spring is here, so celebrate it with fresh, juicy, seasonal produce, and some very tasty, limited-time flavors.

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This episode is brought to by Paramount Plus. Beth and Ripper back in a new series, Dutton Ranch. Kelly Riley and Cole Houser returned and this time they're taking on Texas. As Beth and Rip build a future together, peace will have to wait as they face corruption, danger, and a ruthless rival ranch

willing to protected secrets at all costs. Legacy is a beautiful thing, but only if it survives. Dutton Ranch starring Colhouser, Kelly Riley, Annette Benning, and Ed Harris, now streaming on Paramount Plus. In watching this, I think there's something

that all of these studios and writers and directors and people like that have to remember. There's one thing that you cannot synthesize when you're making stuff like this. You can't synthesize wonder. You can't synthesize it. Wonder only comes from genuine inspiration. That's the only way you can get it. Genuine inspiration.

Like you're digging into the guts of themes and stuff and you really want people to connect. You've been watching this stuff your whole life and you want to tell the one story and the time. Even in the original Dune, right, not the original Dune like Denise Dune, right? When you watch it, you can tell that he takes this very, very seriously. He thinks this story is incredibly serious.

He thinks the scope, the scale, and the texture of the story is paramount. Every, there's love in every shot in every movement in every scene, right? And this, it's just none of that. Like, for me, like, when I look at the kids,

I think the kids are horrible, all of them. And if you... Damn. You're not wrong, but can we be a little nicer? They are, children. I mean, like, they got, look, they got moments. No, They cannot act. And that's fine.

Well, it's not about, hold on, hold on. They're not, look, I'll just be honest with you. Nothing will ruin your production faster than a kid actor. Nothing. If they don't nail it. If they don't nail it. Man, when Haley Joel Osmond and Dakota Fanning and the rest of these people was coming up like this and young Michael be Jordan in the wire, I want you to go back.

McCulley Culkin, like. Macaulay Culkin, I want you to go back. and look at some of these performances and think about kids that are in shit when they don't get it, when they don't really have it. These, like, at the beginning, it's wooden, it's static,

it looks like they're on the volume. Even their costumes don't look like things that people would actually wear. It's like they're split. The costumes do look like cosplay. Like those looks like... So to me, I'm in a fake world, watching a fake story

with a bunch of fake kids. in it, and that's the way it looked and felt to me. And I never watched the cartoon. That's just the way that it felt. It didn't feel like something that I was supposed to take seriously, honestly. And I think that's the ultimate. Think of like the history of like Hollywood. Like even recently, like think about the recent Spider-Man, the Tom Holland one.

Like there's a reason why you surround someone like Tom Holland with like a Robert Downey Jr. or Michael Keaton where it's like Tom Holland is a great Spider-Man in that movie. But it's like, it takes very. seasoned actors, when there's a bunch of CGI bullshit, things are flying. And you look at Robert Downey Jr., you're like, I feel safe. Like, I feel like there's still something beating here emotionally where it's like, I believe in this world. And it's like when you surround kid actors with those type of people, they learn that. And that's how you get good movies and good, like, child actors. The problem is you have a bunch of child actors acting against other

child actors who can't act on like on the volume or green screen and you feel it like there were some like lines where I was just like was this the best line that they had and I'm just like it probably was and that just takes you out

it's it was rough to watch. Also I don't know if I only watched a couple episodes of the cartoon but man they shit was happening fast man he got fucked over and then he he's in the thing and then they get him out of the thing.

And then, like, all of the sudden... That's 23 minutes right there. That's 23 minutes episode right there. But all of a sudden, he leaves and they're like, man, we got to go help him. I'm like, do you? Because y'all just met this little nigger. You know what I'm saying? Like, he...

Then he goes to the other thing, right? Saka, you would have thought Saka had the most Riz of any motherfucker guy you ever met. Because a woman would see him and she would just be like, you're the man of my dreams. I'm like since when, bro. It's been 15 minutes. I don't know nothing about them. I don't even know the names of the characters. I can't even tell you to be honest with you.

I watched it all. But then like they go to the other place and he flips out and basically turns into the kid from Brightburn or Looper. Oh my gosh. The Avatar State, man. He got into the Avatar state. He got into the Avatar state.

great. And he was destroying everything. And, yo, he looked like the little TK freak from Looper. I'm like, don't we got to leave this nigga alone? Like, he is, he's too powerful not to be in control of his emotions and shit.

The only person I was... Man, he was in the iceberg, okay? He's his son-year-old boy. His people, like, his entire race got killed. Yeah, I understand that, bro. And I get it. But it doesn't seem to bother him too much.

Like, Jesus Christ. Like, I just be honest with you. And this is like, I think this is a problem of the show, right?

It bothers him, it bothers him at times. But this nago really kind of dealt with that pretty quick. If we be honest, this is the biggest problem with the show, right? The, in the animated series,

he constantly makes decision to leave. He's like, guys, y'all got it. I'm going to go. I'm going to head out. y'all not going to let me y'all don't want me to stay with gouts are cool I'm out of here he gets shot to the storm

Aberdach State 100 years he comes back that he not only finds out that the fire nation is taking over the world and and subjugating the people oh snap me leaving

making the conscious decision to leave now all my people are dead uh oh I've got to make this right in the series he's just like man, I got to think. Let me go up and fly a little bit. Let me clear my head, right? Comes back.

And they still want me to believe that he's supposed to feel guilty. And like, yeah, I guess. There's a lot of, sure, why not in the plot? And that's the problem with the show's time because the benefit of that cartoon is that we get one whole 20 minute episode just to know Ang's feeling sad

and upset about something. And he's going to think about it for a minute. and then go off and actually feel better. Like that was one whole episode that we would have gotten in the show. And now we have to truncate that to 10 minutes in the best way possible of him figuring out

why he believes that. And it takes a very skilled like writing and execution to make that work. And it doesn't. And that's the problem with adapting something that has so lower rich, while you get things that come from books

like you've seen we've seen great adaptations of Lord of the Rings. That's a like book this thick and yet it still like executes that pretty well. That's the problem when you can't convey those emotions really well within 10 minutes and shorten that and make it. So that somebody like Van who doesn't even like Avatar or hasn't even seen it to the fullest extent isn't even on board for it. That's the ultimate. But guys, we got to also be real. like this isn't just like a time thing this isn't just they only had eight episodes thing

there are not that many child actors in the world who if you point to them and you're like all right I need you to have the emotional nuance of knowing that your entire race of air monks was killed behind a green screen and you need to make it believable

and not fuck up our whole day like you find them a true Charles, I get you, they find them all the time. No, no, no, I'm saying they're out there, but it's just like they did not do, like, they had to do that 10 or 15 times because this is just nothing but children. And none of the children have it like that. None of the children can be like, like, here's the thing. Some of the adults are like, the fire nation is coming.

And I'm sorry, I can't take you for real, chief. Like, it's, it's tough. Like, I can't buy that. Like, honestly, this made me think I'm too hard on the. MCU because sometimes I'll be watching and I'm like, hey, they sold that. Like, they sold that. They'll be like, Ultron is coming and I'm like, I do feel like Ultron's

coming at no point in this entire show. Did I feel like any of this was like real or had emotional depth? It was just like to your point, Van, I was just like, this just seemed like a really fun time at San Diego Comic Con. And it's rough. Y'all keep

clowning the adult or the child actors. The worst, the worst, at the worst line reading in the movie comes to an episode one when Grand Grand is talking about the great comment and all that stuff that was bad that was the worst part like let's let's calm down on the kids

man they tried their best so look everybody but that's indicative of a tonal issue right probably yeah so in Knight Shyamalan you look at when when in when Em Night Shyamalan's movies are good it's when

they're tonally pure when he makes a bad movie he makes a really bad movie because he hasn't figured out the tone of the movie when you look at movies like the happening or avatar or the other one that he made

the last Airbender and stuff like that all the performances in his movie and both of those movies are terrible every performance even Def Patel who you know is a badass right and Mark Wahlberg who you know is a good actor

all of it is because it's off like they don't know in this, they don't, to be honest with you, Charles's point earlier is probably, probably well, they don't know what they want this to be. They don't. They're unsure about how they want this to be. Because for me, if you're going to make this

and you're going to do a Game of Thrones shit, then you got to do it the way Game of Thrones do it. The way Game of Thrones did it, at least at the beginning, was they go, okay, let's go to New Zealand or whatever and get in the woods and make this shit look like is really happening, real sword sounds, real clangs, real it is. If they would have went to real actual sets, gave them some scope, some scale, some gravitas, and made it a little bit more serious, maybe.

But it came across like some erplos shit. But here's the thing, what we forget about Game of Thrones, though, is that those first couple seasons of Game of Thrones, there's not a bunch of fucking dragons. There's not a bunch of fucking magic. Like it's just people in rooms talking that you care about so much. So when shit hits the fan, but in real rooms. You believe them. But in real rooms, right?

No, that's what I'm saying. In real rooms. When it's like when people get stabbed in Game of Thrones, you're like, oh shit, they might not come back next week. So it's like once they start building the world, like I think we misremember. Some of that Game of Thrones shit was looking janky as fuck, but you did not care. air because you're just like, I love Aria so much. I love John so much. If anything happens to them, I feel that. And they just went last season, Game of Thrones for this shit. And they're like, well, we got hundreds of millions of dollars. We're going to do all of this at once. And I'm sorry,

did I really need to see the air monks get killed? Not really. Like, did that do anything for me? Was this the thing after the animated series where I was like, you know what I always wanted? I wanted to see some peaceful monks get burned to a crisp. No, thank you, bro. I don't, like, you could have saved the money. I don't fucking eat that shit. Like, it's... But that's them trying to...

Trying to grow you up a little bit. Trying to get the yip-yp-yp out the system and trying to show you that... Well, what we're talking about the yip-gip. We've got to be real, bro. They're trying to get the yip out of the system and show you that it's real stakes in this world and niggas get burned up.

When they almost killed Momo, I laugh. Oh, that was crazy. That was insane. That was crazy. insane. What are we doing? Whose idea was that? Wait, do you not remember this? By the way, that was not in the show for reference.

That was not, that was not in the show. I did like him, by the way, the big animal. No, Appa? Appa rules. No, Appa's gay. We're gay over here, bro. That's my God. That's my God. Well, he was in like 60 seconds of scenes.

He was barely there. Yeah. I like them. I like a big animal. I love animals. I like a big animal. You mentioned the show, like the show trying to grow up, right? The show trying to do like the adult thing.

It's, if I speak, this show is, I'm going to be honest. I feel like this show is more for children than the animated series. Because this show, they don't let you think about nothing. You're going to get it. They're going to tell you what you got to know. They ain't not going to hide nothing under no subtlety, no subtext. You don't have to think about it. They're just going to tell you how to feel, how the characters feel, their motivations, the entire thing, top to bottom.

Even Azula, who we didn't see in the original series until season two, we get her whole arc. I don't say arc, but her whole backstory and what she wants and what and what. And it's like, cool, man. I kind of wish I would have, you could have kept that. I could have, like, you know, thought about it. Everything is just, like, thrown at you. Whereas in the original series, you had time to think. It's really not until, like, the last few episodes of series that you realize,

oh, Azula is like this because she never got the love from her mom or her dad. And the only way she thought she could do that is by becoming tyrannical and evil. and so self-serving, whereas they just tell you that. And when she shows up in episode four or five, she's like, yeah, you know, she does all this because her dad, she wanted to be good for her dad. Cool, you got it? Cool, all right, we're moving on.

Box checked, let's go. It's just, I felt like, all right, cool, y'all not, y'all not taking me seriously as a viewer. I'm watching this and I'm just getting everything thrown at me, all the exhibition. There's no, there's no subtext. It's just cool. Here's the plot.

Go run with it. It just, that's how it felt to me at least. I mean, but to go off that, were they even scrapping like that in this series? Because like the whole thing about Avatar is like, here's the thing. We also have to go back a little bit. The fact that the Avatar animated series worked at all is wild

because it was created by a bunch of white folks and it's heavily inspired by Asian religion and martial arts and all this stuff. So the fact that like they even were like, allowed to make that and it was like brilliant genius. But this live action shit, you couldn't, like, was this a martial arts show? Because anytime they were fighting, I was just like, this shit looks so janky. Like, did y'all spend any time on it? Like, some of the times when like people were fighting, I was just like, that didn't connect. That kick did not land. And it just throws me out of it because I'm like, this is something you could actually.

have done. Like, y'all actually could have been scrapping up in this shit. And instead, y'all motherfuckers look like you took one class at the YMCA and you're just like, all right, go out there. So here's the thing that people, that we don't talk about enough. Give me the movie, give me a movie that you feel like has had the best martial arts in it recently. Give me a film.

Recently. Like a big film. A big film. The best fighting scenes and stuff. Probably John Wick would probably be up there. Okay. Oh, Roundup. Have you seen Roundup?

I have. So think about John Wick. Keanu Reeves has been training and endeavoring into the type of martial arts that he's doing for a long time, started in the Matrix where they really made them train and go hard to be able to pull that shit off. In these TV shows, you oftentimes have two choices. This is where Iron Fist fucked up. you often have two choices. One is you cast a martial artist

and you try to teach them how to act or you cast an actor and you try to teach them how to do martial arts. In Iron Fist, they cast that nigga and it ruined the show. Okay? Short of taking these kids

and them, because some of the kids, because a little dude with the, what's a little nigger with the thing on his eye? What's his name? Azucco. Ozuko.

Danny Zuko. Sure. I was fucking with Danny Zuko. See? Yeah. He told you. His martial arts was okay. Well, he was fine, but acting wise, you were fucking with him?

Acting wise, I felt like Zucco, so, oh, Zooks, my nigga Zuz. I feel like Zooks was, I bought it, at least. I bought that Zooks, you know, he had issues with his daddy, his daddy want to kill him on the low. And his uncle's trying to help him. His uncle's trying to help him. The uncle's a weird character because he's the nicest, like, genocidal maniac that you've ever seen before.

He's like, he's letting people know that we just have to kill everybody and win the war, but the things will be better when we do. I don't know if that's what we want to tell the kids. Man, you really need to see his arc in the show. Don't tell me about that fucking show. Van is so anti-Avatar.

He's like, if y'all bring up that enemy show one more time. I'm just saying, like, look, I'm not anti-avitar. I'm just, look, I'm saying, I, on good faith, I actually tried to watch this shit inebriated. In good faith, I try to look at this shit

and I don't get it. Everybody blame Van. No, wait. Can we actually, we've been talking around it. Let's talk about it now because I do actually agree with Van in terms of

to me, Avatar is the same type of show of clone wars. When y'all talk about like clone wars, I'm like, what the fuck are y'all talking about? And then I have to realize I didn't watch that shit when it was coming out. You know what I mean?

Neither did I. But like there's a difference. Like if you watch Avatar like as a kid or when it's coming out weekly or all this shit, there's a little bit more magic to it. You know what I'm saying? There's just you just talk about it a little bit differently. And I do think that that's the problem where it's like, Avatar loses a little bit of its luster if you're not talking about it from I watch this

a kid, I fell in love with it. Like, this was something we did after school. Like, all of us were, did you... If you don't have that, what do you really have? I don't... Not enough, because, like, another thing I want to talk about, like... All right, dude. Like, did I, like, Denny's doom that much? Like, no.

But I can look at the screen and be like, this shit is beautiful. Like, this is, like, to Vance point, this nigga got vision. He knew what he wanted to make. Does this show have vision? like visually. I'm not even just talking about CGI. Just like,

this looks good scene to scene. Did this show have a vision, a tone, something it wanted to say about the world? I don't think so.

Steve, you gotta do more work. Steve, you're on it. Steve, come on. Fight back. I, listen,

I, again, no. Like, I can't ultimately say that this was something that was like revelatory or had something that was,

that brought something new to this property that we were excited to see. It was very preoccupied with not fucking something up, with trying to make everything look as faithful as it could, like casting everybody that looked the part, getting Daniel Day Kim in there, somebody who was way too overqualified to play. Oh, wait, I felt bad.

Who was the dude from, from what you're going to call it, the HBO Mac show that I love? Oh, industry. Ken Leung. He was crazy, bro. He was, I was like, are we talking about the Danny Pouty showing up? See, they had a lot of great actors in this

that I was just like, y'all collecting a check. Like, y'all, like, these are people I love, but they just collect them a check. And it's fine, it's fine. Booty wasn't doing shit. And I love Booty. He was not, come on. One of my favorite scenes in the show.

And this is like, I think Ken Leung's portrayal of Admiral Zhao was really good in this show, honestly. the scene where he's Iro's like I know who did this it was Ozai and Kenileos was like

yeah yeah it's like it's campy but not in a way that makes you go like oh he's not taking it seriously it's like oh

he's bringing like he's bringing life to this like almost like cartoonish villain in the animated series he's bringing like I don't say humanity but he's like

This guy's obviously off his rocker a little bit, and he's bringing that to the performance, which I thought was great. That was awesome. There's some stuff in here. They're little nuggets. I don't know what Chonty. Yeah, no.

There's a little nuggets in here. They're just way too far and few between in this show. Let me ask you guys a question. They're way too far and few between. What's the best live action stuff that you feel like is for kids? Best live action stuff for kids. For kids. Kids.

It's just for kids. Would you say Star Wars is for kids? Sure, yeah. Yes. Star Wars is for kids. I disagree. Wait, what? I don't know.

Were you not? I think that I can't. EWox and pretty much every decision that George Lucas made in terms of toys. That's also to say that like the ideas in Star Wars can't translate to kids, which it obviously can. Of course it can. Well, I think I thought that shit when I was seven years old and it was like great. I get it. I think that it's something that kids can watch.

I don't think that it's four kids. So understand what I mean. So I have trouble thinking that something is for kids when a grown man murders children. So that's difficult for me. Wait, what are you talking about it? In Star Wars, a grown man murders a bunch of children. Is that not true? Children and grown people murdering children are the kind of the bedrock of every children's story from the beginning of time, starting with the brother's grim.

Like it's, the Bible starts off with Kane and Abe, Cain murder. The Bible's definitely not for kids, right? So, so that, like, that stuff. So look, I'm saying. This I'm saying. The actual wanting to murder kids is one thing. That happens in a lot of those grim things back in the day.

That was for different kids. That was for kids. That's for different kids. Those were for kids that didn't have tetanus shots. They were some tougher kids. They were built from tougher stuff. back. Wait, no, no, explain this more.

Are you saying that those kids? Oh, okay, we'll go deeper. Those were real children. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

Your kids in 1867. Your kids in 19th, them, them is different kids. They're not the same kids. I mean, to be fair, there was like 13-year-olds who were like raising families and in charge of the fucking thawls. I was watching a documentary with like 12-year-olds working at the dock smoking cigarettes. So that is true. These kids have fucking gangrene.

All right. Like, then they were different kids. So I'm saying it's they was different kids. So you could do stuff, hey, don't walk in the woods because a witch is going to eat you. Like maybe you could do that type of shit with them. They make Hansel and Gretel now it's a horror movie. They don't do it for kids no more. It's a horror movie because we actually know now that's a horror story. And even like Star Wars, Star Wars is sure, it's, but you know, he picks up his lightsaber and he kills a bunch of children after.

he's, I don't know. I don't think it's, I understand you guys. Well, what about Harry Potter? Harry Potter literally starts with them. That's for kids. Yeah, but it starts with somebody trying to murder a child.

Do they murder him, though? They murder his parents. They murder his parents. So look, so look, dead adults, cool, that happens in stories. Dead adults are five. Jesus, right.

Kids in a story, tough for me to think that it's for kids if it's got dead kids in it. Because it's like, The kids, it's like you're seeing them, kids getting killed. Harry Potter is the most successful live, this is what I was trying to get. It's the most successful live action thing that I think is just for kids. I really do think, now a lot of adults like Harry Potter, I think it's for kids.

I guess my question is this, for you guys. What? Because I don't want to compare live action to cartoons, but I will compare live action to live action. What does a show that's specifically, for kids like a Harry Potter get right that you guys feel like this particular situation

live action avatar the last airbender gets wrong because we could talk about Star Wars but I will agree with you that Harry Potter is for kids basically that gets a lot of stuff right what does that get right

I don't fucking like that either by the way what does that get right that this gets wrong serious question That was a roundabout way of asking it. So, I think, like, if you take something like the Harry Potter, like movie, like,

let's take even the first one, it's a couple things. First of all, that's a Hollywood system that just no longer exists, where it's like when they're casting those children, they are casting children that aren't just charismatic in the room.

These are people who are just like, oh, you have, like, a director like Christopher Columbus who has so much under his belt already. And he's like, I know how to, shoot children, I'm going to surround them with actors from Broadway, from English theater, people who have been around to make this world real. But also, one of those things that Harry Potter does very, very well in those first couple movies is they don't talk down to the audience.

Jomi brought this up. This show has no nuance. It has no subtext. The fact that it has less subtext in the animated show is hilarious. where it's like the kids just tell you what they're thinking and how they're feeling, where it's like Harry Potter, very smartly is like, adults are going to have to go see this shit, they're going to bring their kids to it,

we need to make these characters real, and they have to talk like human beings talk. And this show fails so massively. Like, even if the, like, I can talk about the show looking ugly and not having aesthetics and not having vision, but if you can't make, like, real characters that I can connect with and care about, that's the ultimate failing of anything, whether it's a TV show or movie.

And I don't think that they did that at all because I do think that they thought the price tag, the CGI, the nostalgia would carry them, and it just did not. That's well said. Jones, Steve, I mean, that's really well said. I think that I would just co-sign what Charles said.

Yes. Like there are, again, small spurts of things that would get us hooked like there's there's there nuggets of that not only what made the show good but what makes the show good in you in unique ways certain actors certain uh line deliveries certain small things of like okay the way that this one village looks that's in the real world like those small things work but ultimately when you make a thing that doesn't make us all care then that's that's the biggest problem joe me yeah no i mean i i've said it no you know there is

context and and there's things in the in the show that you're watching and it's like oh yeah not this is not for me right this is for somebody who might not have have seen it or somebody might not have read the originals or whatever this is very much just you're just talking at me whereas in like a harry potter you have there's better being better actors better writing the whole thing is just, okay, cool. Maybe I know what's going on, but there might be a twist from the book or something or other.

Whereas in the show, this show, they're just like, cool, here's what's going on. You got it. But we're going to spoon feed it to you, which ultimately doesn't work. Can I ask you guys this before we get to our midnight meter? Do we feel like this is kind of indicative of where Hollywood is?

Because Star Wars is struggling with this, Netflix is struggling this within a lot of different ways the MCU in terms of like we're not believing that these worlds are real anymore. We're not buying into these characters. We don't, like,

and that's not just a CGI issue. It's a writing issue. It's a talent issue. It's a, I remember, I believe Tom Cruise told Timmy, Timmy Shatwood-Mavis before he started with Dune. He's just like, yo, back in my day,

they were training you. You would work with stunt coordinators. You would go to ballet classes. You would learn how to move your body. You would learn how to do all of these classic Hollywood things that they're just not going to teach you anymore. It's up to you to go there. And I think that that isn't just an actor issue.

That's a writer issue. That's a CGI issue. That's a director and showrunner issue. Where are these places teaching and empowering these creatives enough where they can make movies and TV shows that we care about anymore at this scale because I'm starting to think that it quite literally is a lost start.

It's tough, right? Because you don't want to overreact. But I will say this. That we forget what wins in all of these movies every single time, 100% at a time. And what always wins is the talent. the talent always wins a thousand percent

always Transformers movies were never super serious movies but they got markedly worse once Shia LaBuff was no longer in them because if you go back and you look at the original Transformers movie Shia LaBuff who is a problematic person we all know it

we've talked about it we've discussed it and the hope that he's doing whatever work he has to do to get better is a very magnetic screen presence he's a guy that at that particular point more than any particular point you wanted to watch. He was funny. He was charming. He was,

his timing was fantastic, all of that stuff, right? So when you're watching Optimus Prime and Megatron and StarScream and all of that, you don't see yourselves in those people. You see yourself and Sam with Wiki, the awkwardness around a beautiful girl,

All of that stuff, that pulls that story into you and makes it human. I'm not saying that that movie was a masterpiece. I'm saying that it works because of the talent. The technology never, ever beats the talent. It never has and it never will. Never will. Never. Put it never will.

Even Avatar, which is a technological marvel, is a testament to two things. Number one, how deeply the creator, who is James Cameron in this, this case is endeavoring into the specific type of technology that it's using. He dedicated his life to perfecting it. Right. So the story there is a more basic story, but he is spending his entire amount of prodigious gifts in perfecting one aspect of that storytelling. It's not half stepping on it. He's giving you all of that and enough of the other stuff. to draw you in. So I'll say all that to say this.

It's very simple. And the lesson will be learned and is being learned. And this is actually good, this entire purging. It's very simple. Story and characters that people care about. If not, overwhelm me with niggas doing backflips and jumping off shit and stuff.

But even that has to be executed at such a level to where we're all like, how did they do that? the basic question of filmmaking and storytelling is how did they do that? How did they make me feel that? How did they make me think that? How did they make me angry? How did they make me cry?

How did they do all of that? Why? Why is the story that you're asking yourself? A white man catches a hammer. I'll start to cry. Why? Like, why? A white man catches a hammer.

I don't know. Cap might take the hammer and bash a niggas head in. He was born in like 1912 or some shit. I don't know. Like, you know what I'm saying? A white man catches a hammer. I'm emotional. Why?

Why does it work? Why? And the question that they're asking now in Hollywood is not why. It's how. How do we get more people in it? How do we get more effects? How do we do this? How do we do that?

Nah. And this lesson is being learned, it's happening. It didn't maybe not happen in time for Avatar, but I can tell you the lessons are going to be learned when we see Fantastic Four and Superman Legacy. I'm telling you, these movies are going to be better. I promise you guys, because some of these other movies have been worse. They're going to be better.

They're going to spend more time on them. Everything that you just talked about is what these creatives are promising that they are going to do. And they have no choice. There's no choice. They have no choice. I would rather an inspired miss right now than a fake hit.

I would rather an inspired miss. Try and fail. I mean, that's why I think, like, circling back, that's why I think people are reacting the way they are to Doom 2. Because it is like whether you like... Do you like... Whether you like that or not, you can look at the screen and be like there were choices made and people cared.

Whether you like the choices or not. And when I watch Avatar, I'm like, it's content to me. I'm just like, this is good for Netflix, but it's not necessarily good for the viewer because I'm like, I could not tell you who directed this. Like I because I'm just like, there's no style to it. There's no like heart. And that's not me saying the creators did not put their heart into it because I'm like, I could tell. I'm like a lot of motherfuckers were trying. And I will say that the kids, the adults, everybody was trying.

But I could, like, there was not a, there was not a vision. There were not people who were like, this is the thing that I wanted to do since I was a little boy and I'm going to make it possible. And we just get more content. And it's just, it's not what you want to see. It broke Jomey's heart over here. Fucking Ted Sarandos paid Steve off, which is a little, honestly, we're going to be a little problematic. in February. It's only February 23rd.

Did big Netflix come in, Steve? Absolutely not. Wait, why did they play Pay your three Blackhose? I would have lied up a storm. I would have told y'all this. This shit is the best shit in Flats bread, bro.

It's okay. You'll get the Zaslaw of checks when Dune 2 comes out. Oh, I don't need the checks for Dune 2. I don't need the checks for Dune 2. Hey, if Dune 2 sucks, we riot. Oh, if Dune 2 sucks, we're not. Don't do that.

No, the block is too high. If it sucks, I'm not saying shit. If it sucks, if it sucks, we got to let it. No, no, no. If Dune 2 sucks, I'm gonna come on the fucking

podcast and the Jason mask. I'm seriously. I'm like, I'm a couple. If Dune 2 was to suck, Dune 2 will not suck. Okay? It won't.

Wait, all right, so here's the thing. Here's the question. Here's a question. Do we, we're getting a little off topic. Do we believe in our critics anymore? Because I'm seeing a lot of

motherfuckers really, really, really salty because the critics sold us on a dream with true detective, Night Country. And when the report card came back, we was just like, I don't know. And with Dune, motherfuckers are telling me, like, this is the best sci-fi movie since, you know, the matron. And I'm just like, bro, like, come on, the critical body, I'm the king of that shit. We got to be a little bit more buttoned up.

Like, we can't have another miss. we gonna see right we just go up to go see it I just I like if if motherfuckers lied I might have to take off my credit cat I might just have to join

like I just might it might be right who would lie though why would they lie they lied about Flash they lied about Flash they lied about Flash come on no no Chris

no critics lied no no critics lied them with studio people whoa here's the thing there are motherfuckers who saw that movie at like cinema con and shit. It was just like, yeah, gassing

that shit up. I saw the, you remember the tweets? You remember the people who was like, yeah, I just saw this at cinema con. This is about to be the greatest movie ever. The critical body needs to get in formation. They killing our fucking shit. Vices no more. Pitchfork, complex no more.

Like, these are the final days. Stop lying, y'all. Damn, Charleston called y'all out. Look at Steve. Steve is, Steve is fucking sad about how to time. He's returning that Vimal money right now. You're like, yeah, I can't take that. Yeah, I know.

I'm refunding that PayPal. Steve, what's that? You got a couple, you got a couple new things in the apartment over there. Did you buy that with the Netflix money? What you got? I don't know. We send that right back to the investment firm. You got a new Tesla?

Are those Tesla keys that I see on your coffee paper? I mean, Steve. I just a whole Tesla car behind me in my apartment. We got the model Y in the back with the fucking in on the side. You go, you're getting Steve's car and it goes, Do do do. Jesus. What's the Netflix thing?

How does it go? Doong, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, but do. Do, do. But if I'm being slightly problematic, we also got to stop, we got to stop casting motherfuckers who got, like, Instagram face in, like, these, like, because. Now, what you mean? Expound on that thought. What you mean?

There was one, there was one actress that was, that was cast. that I was just like, she, like, she knows what Instagram is. Like, she knows what a BBL is. Like, she's not, she's not from... What the, what are you talking about? Like, she's been talking about. Like, what the, like, what the, what the shit are you talking about right now?

What the fuck are you talking about? Wait, you've never heard of this. I haven't made this up. You're never watching, like, a show that is like, like a Bridgeton or something else. And you see, like, a man or a woman in it. And you, like, I know. know this nigga just by his face has slid into one too many DMs for me to believe that he was alive in the fucking 1800s like it's just like he don't look you're saying she looks too modern

yeah she looks too much like she just like she's seen too much shit and there's one actress in this where i was just like come on like sis like you wasn't you wasn't you wouldn't have been around here like you so my thing is this though what do you talk about what thing is this though this avatar the last air been. to take place in the olden days? Yes. I mean, it's a fictional. I mean, it's fictional,

but them niggas don't got electricity. So, like. In fantasy, though, isn't it sometimes? Oh, you say she doesn't have the technology to make her face look like what he's supposed to. I don't know what she's had done to her face. But even her eye, like, y'all, wait,

guys know I'm not. Who are you talking about? So look, I feel like, I feel like that that criticism doesn't play if people have powers. Because if you have powers, you could use your powers to do all kinds of shit to your body.

No. Maybe you could use. For example, Kim Kardashian. When you look at Kim Kardashian, you look, there's something behind her eyes where you're just like,

you're a modern woman. Like, the things that you've seen are just modern problems. I don't understand what you're doing here. I don't understand what you're saying. You can't put her in. I'm talking about history channel special.

But my only thing is, what if Kim Kardashian was like a fire storm. What are you calling people? Firebenders? Firebenders? What, no, no. What do you call the people that they have fire powers? What are you calling? Firebenders. Firebender. What if she was a firebender? Maybe she could use her firepowers. And here's the thing. This is why I know y'all are lying.

Not only because she not be a firebender. All right. Let's say I get some money. Like, Tyler Perry, even better. Tyler Perry is going to make his like Oscar movie, the Underground Railroad. If Kim Kardashian is in that shit, you really You're like, what are you saying? You're like, no. Bro, let me tell you something right now.

If I had the money, this is why, this is why I'm going to get to a certain level and not to the next level, because I'm too much of a troll. I would make the Underground Railroad movie starring Kim Kardashian. Have some shame. Have some shame.

You know what, fucking, why not? They do everything else. What are you doing? I would spend $5 million on that troll. It's time for midnight meeting. Oh my God. All right. Midnight meter.

Scale of 1 to 10 ranking for film and TV shows with the sacred 11 and 12 reserve for pivotal game changers. I'll start. It's a five. Okay. Fuck out of here. A five?

These are two. This is a two. Come on. Come on. This is one notch above Madam Webb. Come on now. Yes. about this.

Yes. No. Can I be rude with you? Can I be rude to you? Madam Webb was better if we're going to be honest. Madam Well, this has made so much better than Madam Webb that I have to give it. Yeah, no. That's a better score.

But Madam Webb was infinitely more fun to watch than this was. I would agree. For sure. It was. I laughed. Here's the thing. I laughed at Madam Webb. The only time I laughed at this was when they almost took Momo out.

And I was just like, this show. They're crazy for that. They're absolutely crazy for that. Because there's a thing. We, we, and then y'all can give your scores. When they had Momo's little furry body trapped under the rubble lifeless, I was like, what are we, like, what are we doing here? This is insane.

This is the two guys. Come on. No, I got to, I got to give this a four. I keep, every, I keep coming back to, it's kind of like, like a restaurant, you know, like the original anime series. This is the one you come to every year for your birthday, and they got all the good food. It's delicious.

It's awesome. The creme brulee. The French onion suit, the steak is fire every single time. And while the new Joe's that came out a couple years ago, the live-action movie gave you diarrhea, and he was vomiting for a week afterwards. It's not as bad as that.

But the food in this one, unseasoned, It's not hitting on the same It's just not It's skyline chilly It's not there It's skyline chilly For that reason it's a four

It's a five for me It's a five You guys are so fucking Dude it's not the worst thing I've ever seen No it's not the worst thing I was Charles You got to relax

Bro A nigga gave it a five out of ten That's a terrible score It's a five But still You know It's got some stuff The midnight meter

Is supposed to mean something And I'm tired of y'all just like degrading that shit. Like this meat, you know what I'm tired of? You know what I'm tired of? You being tired, nigga. That's what I'm tired of. Me too.

I'm tired of being sick and tired. That's a wrap. This Monday Mint Edition returns for another edition of Here Comes the Pitch. He comes the pitch. He comes to pitch. Also on Monday, the House of R gives you a deep dive into Netflix's Avatar.

Wednesday, the Midnight Boys are about to give you their Dune. Double feature that's an anticipation of Dune 2 and then Friday. The Night Boys are back to give their reactions to Dune Part 2, a.k.a. The greatest movie ever. We'll see. Credits. Our producer is Steve, the architect, Alman. Show me at dinner on his own socials. Hashtag,

grow me, Jomi, six and a half deep. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Acknowledge me. Okay, I got a championship belt. I don't know if I saw that. I saw you on Twitter with it. I saw you on Twitter with the belt.

Do you have the belt now? I do not have the belt now. It's actually a really funny story. I got to tell you guys. It's really funny how that happened. It's dope because it was the belt. Was it a nice belt? It was a great belt.

It's a fantastic belt. You know, I want to buy that belt, but that belt has Snoop's low. go on the side of it and it makes it feel like it's less mine. Because I'm the champ. Wait, you're... That's very toxic. You can't support Snoop and everything that he's built. Like, you've got to

be like, I can't wear it because it got... Come on, man. Yeah, I'm not going to have one of Snoop's Grammys in my house. I'm not that, I'm not that, you know, the shit. It's my shit. It's my shit. How about that? Snoop ain't got no Grammys. I don't think. Anyway, an additional production from Arjuna. Rob Capald. Charles. The toxic avenger, take us out.

Netflix's Avatar sucked. It did all again. Shout out to Prince Zuko. Because the Avatar ran. He ran. I would spend $5 million on that troll. And just to be able to go to different theaters. Would you have that TikTok poet girl in there too?

Oh my God, bro. I opened up a case file on her for the biracial bureau of investigation. I saw that higher learning, man. That was great. Wait, the biraciales are out of control right now? Dog. Have you not seen this? You've not seen it?

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Hold on. We're stopping the show and I'm showing you this right now. Put it in the show so Charles can hear it. You know what I'm saying? It was what confessions of a what? Confessions of a of an octaroon.

Oh, no, bro. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. No, I'm not watching this shit, bro. Play it. Hell no. Either confessions of an octoon, quadron.

Quadron. Confessions of a I got it. Hold on. Hold on. Fundamentally one of the worst things I've ever heard of my entire life. I drop this in the chap, bro. I need to watch this. No, no, no. This is half, hold on.

Someone who is three fourths, Massa, and one quarter of whom. Obama is a mulatto. That's the one drop rule fades through the American country. And maybe my story is just a little too honest. Obama is a mulatto. That's the one drop rule

fades through the American country. Obama's Obama is a That's the one draw Wait is it confirmed Is sister mixed Yes yes yes Oh hell no

Somebody's like This is a greas You get your people Charles No On black history month In doing it bro Oh man I didn't know that my people

were acting like this