Ant-Man Review

Hello fellow geeks out there. It's that time

again to listen to a podcast from the Geekcast

Radio Network. Today on episode 64 of the Cinema

Geeks, we react to new spectre trailer. We discuss

the 23rd and 24th live -action Disney adaptation.

We talk about who may be showing up in Star Wars

episode 8. And in our main attraction, we discuss

the last of phase two for Marvel, Ant -Man. All

that and more coming up on episode 64 with the

Cinema Geeks. That's right, it is episode 64

of The Cinema Geeks. And for those of you who

are new to the show, we are the GeekCast Radio

Network's Movie News Podcast. And the structure

and format of the show is somewhat reminiscent

of a trip to the movies. So just to kind of give

you a glimpse ahead of what to expect from the

podcast, we start at the box office where you

would start any trip there. And we talk about

the highlights from the past weekend at the box

office. And we look ahead to the next weekend

and we do some fun box office predictions along

the way. And then as we make our way to the concession

stands or to our seats, we do what everybody

does at the movies. We talk about movie news

and could be castings, remakes, reboots, anything

that's new and noteworthy in the world of movies.

And then once we find our way to our seat, we

get to the trailer talk time. some people's favorite

part of their movie going experience and some

people's least favorite. So during the trailer

talk section, we'll each give a yay or nay for

a trailer that came out during the past week.

And then when the lights dim, it's finally time

for the main attraction. And the main attraction

at Cinegeeks could be a number of different things.

At times we do a regular movie review in a movie

that's in the theater like we will be doing today

with Ant -Man. Sometimes we play movie games

like we did last week with the What Made More

on the box office showdown. It could be actor

spotlights or any other type of general discussion.

We've had discussions on originality in film

and a number of different other things. And then

once the film's over, it's time for the end credit

scenes or the credit conversation where we talk

about what we've been watching, anything that's

coming attractions as far as DVDs and theater

releases. And then we usually end every show

with a question for the listeners based on something

that we discussed during the episode. So that's

kind of the format for the show. But before we

can make our way to the box office, we have to

answer the all -important question when you're

going to the movies, and that is, who are you

going with? And today with me is Movie Revolt.

Dan, hello. Hey, how's it going? Not too bad.

And Hard Candy Mandy, hello. Hello. And of course,

I am Optimus Solo, your other cinema geek here

today. And let's get right into it. Let's get

into the box office. We all had predictions from

last week. Dan, let's start with you, because

you were definitely right with your prediction.

And what was that from last week? I said that

Ant -Man would be the lowest Marvel opening since,

I think, the original Thor. And it was. It'd

at least make less than $70 million. And it made

less than $60, so maybe I was a little weak with

my prediction. Maybe I could have gone down a

little further. So it was number one. That wasn't

really a sh - surprise but it not I mean it did

okay you know it wasn't fantastic it made half

its budget back in one weekend so it's nothing

to you know it's on a bomb by any means but certainly

not the level you expect for for Marvel compared

to what you know Guardians and Avengers and all

that yeah definitely with you know we had when

Guardians came out that was kind of unknown territory

we didn't know how that was gonna go Ant -Man

had a similar vibe to it heading up to it but

it didn't quite have the the same effect that

Guardians did when it came out uh... amanda what

was your prediction from last week uh... i can't

really remember i know that i wanted gallows

to go down you were taking out some anger on

gallows i remember that yeah i remember it was

the top five or top ten i want to say it was

the top ten i wanted it out of the top ten I

don't know if it had something to do with train

record, just the gallows in general, so I don't

think I was right in whatever, I guess. Alright,

so confident prediction from last week that she

remembers very well. Gallows came in at number

eight, so if you were predicting that it was

going to fall out of the top ten, you were wrong.

But we'll have to go back and review the tapes

so we can get a final ruling on whether you were

right or wrong. And I was just plain foolish

and made way too many predictions. I predicted

that Minions would pass the 200 million mark,

Inside Out would pass the 300 million mark, Jurassic

World would pass the 600 million mark, all of

those things happened, but then I just kept talking

and that's where I ran into some problems because

I said that Box Office Mojo keeps a total of

the top 12 every weekend and the sum total of

all of those films and only one time this year

it has passed the 250 million mark and I said

it was gonna happen for the second time and it

was not even close. I thought with Ant -Man,

Minions, Trainwreck, Inside Out, Jurassic World,

that maybe we'd have some money makers there,

but most of them underperformed slightly, with

the exception of probably Minions and Trainwreck

was pretty close to what I thought it was, but

it didn't even break the 200 million mark, so

I guess I'm wrong with my prediction since I

added that last part. My fault. Lesson learned.

Got a little ambitious there. I was afraid that

the other ones were going to be too easy and

they actually all happened like... before the

episode went live, I think. So I forget when

sometimes when we're looking at the weekend totals,

it gives you like the total gross but then doesn't

count like the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday numbers.

So I need to pay attention to that a little bit

more. So looking ahead to this next week, we

have a few films that will be hitting the theater

that will play into the box office. We have Pixels,

we have Southpaw, we have some more limited releases

possibly in some areas with Paper Towns, the

Vatican Tapes. et cetera. So looking ahead to

next week, Dan, what are you thinking based on

this last weekend? What are you looking at? I'm

thinking, you know, pixels is getting like awful

reviews and, you know, Adam Sandler films are

not what they once were. So I'm actually going

to predict that Ant -Man stays number one for

two weeks in a row. It'll probably still drop

a great deal, but I think it's maybe it's getting

a little bit positive word of mouth. So I think

people are still who may be hesitant to go to

the first time, may end up going to it next weekend.

So I want to say it stays number one, with Pixels

coming in at number two. All right. Good prediction

there. I think I'd support that prediction. Amanda,

what do you got? I'm not too far off, Dan. I'm

going to go to the opposite end of the top five,

though, and say that Jurassic World gets dropped

out of the top five, and Pixels comes in at number

three. Pixels number three Jurassic world out

of the top five you're making the possibly the

same mistake I did you're maybe making making

too many predictions. All right I'm gonna Be

along the same lines as what Dan was saying with

pixels not having a super successful opening

and I'm gonna go ahead and say that there's no

movie this next weekend that makes over 30 million

Wow, yeah full weekend, huh? Yeah, I'm going

to say with everything, everything is below 30,

so we'll see. I'll be wrong because minions will

somehow make like 50 more million, but what can

you do? Alright, so outside of that, was there

any other surprises or noteworthy things that

you guys saw at the box office this weekend,

Dan? Well, Jurassic Park is now with the third

biggest film of all time box office -wise, so

that's kind of notable, I guess. Yeah, it took

out the other Avengers film. I know, I never...

Man, it's a little bit insane. I mean, we talked

about this in the news, but they green -lit the

sequel already, of course. What? I know. Which

is Jurassic World 2, which just sounds weird.

They couldn't come up with anything better than

that. And I guess the big question is, will the

text Jurassic World, will the SS be replaced

with dollar signs? Well, I think the T -Rex next

one will have a grill. Or at least a chain of

some sort. But yeah, that's crazy. And of course

all those milestones did hit. Inside Out is currently

the highest ranking animated film, but I think

Minions is going to track it down here in relatively

short fashion. Looking at the the yearly totals

we haven't done that I don't think in a few weeks

so if you're looking at 2015 right now obviously

Jurassic World is number one Avengers still at

number two Furious 7 still holding onto that

third spot but Inside Out is only about 40 million

behind it so possibly could do that by the end

of its run then Minions rounds up the top five

at 234 million so it's less than a hundred million

away from Inside Out in just what, two weeks?

Three weeks? So we'll have to see if the animated

films can take out Furious 7 sometime here heading

into August. So alright, that does it for the

box office. Let's get into the news stories here

and we'll do some thumbs up, thumbs down like

we normally do, give everybody a chance to weigh

in on what they think of these various news stories.

So let's just get this first one out of the way

so we don't have to talk about it the rest of

the podcast. And please, Disney. Stop. So we

don't have to talk about this every week. I don't

know what number they're up to yet, but we've

had two announcements over the last week of live

action Disney film adaptations that will be added

to the list. And I think we're at either 10 or

11 so far that have been announced over the course

of this year. Is that? Before we even get to

which ones are connected to these two news stories,

Dan, is this just getting ridiculous? Oh, yeah,

definitely. It's been ridiculous since Alice

in Wonderland came out, so yeah. But has any

studio ever tried to make this many announcements

in a year? I guess when you're Disney and you

just own everything, maybe not. Man, I just,

I don't know. I mean, Amanda, you're a huge Disney

person. You love your Disney films. I do. Is

it getting to the point where even for you this

might be a little overboard? Fuck no, bring them

on. I want to see all of them. Alright. And I'm

excited, except for Dumbo. Leave out Dumbo, bring

on all the rest she says. I don't know, I can't

get on board with that. I can get on board with

some of them, but let's get the first one out

of the way and that would be an article about

Disney remake of Sword in the Stone and another

reason why this one's getting even more. buzz

is because there is a Game of Thrones writer

attached to this remake. Dan, thumbs up or thumbs

down to Game of Thrones writers signing up for

a remake of Sword in the Stone. Which is funny

because it's like, that's just, it's a King Arthur

story. It's not, you know what I mean? It's like,

that's not the, alright, whatever. How can you

have a remake of something that's based on something?

Yeah, it's like a, you know, it's like, oh yeah,

Disney who created King Arthur. It's like, no,

that didn't, alright, whatever. Of all the Disney

live -action films, I think it makes the most

sense, honestly, because it is based in more

reality, because it's King Arthur, so I would

think, compared to some of the other ones, like

a Dumbo live -action film, I would think it would

at least be a little bit easier to control and

make. Sword in the Stone is not one that I'm...

particularly fond of. I mean, I like it, but

it's, you know, it's like middle of the road

for Disney for me. So I'll go, I'll go, I'll

go thumbs down just because I don't really think

I have any interest in watching it. Yes, I'm

with you. Sword of Stone is not one of my favorite

Disney films. And is Disney just going to do

this to try to to try to have a competitor for

the King Arthur live action films that whoever

is doing that we talked about months and months

ago. Looking at the kid version. I'd rather see

a remake of Kid in King Arthur's Court, but you

know, that's just meh. There you go. And of course,

the Game of Thrones writer attached to this,

if you're a Game of Thrones fan, he wrote the

episode from this last season, Unbowed, Unbent,

Unbroken, which caused quite a bit of stir, so

that's an interesting leap going from that to

kid -friendly, family -friendly material. I don't

know. I'm going to give this one a thumbs down

too, but mainly based on the whole Sword and

Stone being the one that's connected to it. And

I never really liked that film overall to begin

with. So thumbs down for me, Amanda, Sword and

Stone. I don't think I ever saw the Sword and

Stone. Confessions. But that was a pretty good

episode of Game of Thrones. And I don't think

it's going to be like that. I don't think it'll

be like that. All nudity aside, I think that

it could be, I think it could be better probably

than the animated version. Alright, so thumbs

up? I'm gonna say thumbs up better than Dumbo.

Alright, so one thumb up for Sword and Stone

remake. The other Disney film in headlines this

week was of course a live -action Aladdin prequel

on the way at Disney, so this one would be called

Genies. and it would be set in the realm of the

genies and kind of go into all of that which

was then set up for future films etc. I gotta

start here because the part of this article that

makes me laugh is in the last part of the article

one of Disney's biggest tasks and I quote will

be to find a voice actor who can follow in the

footsteps of Robin Williams. Apparently whoever

wrote this article has never seen any other Aladdin

stuff that ever happened where Dan Castellaneta

almost perfectly imitates Robin Williams in The

animated series and this one of the sequel movies

I don't know like that doesn't seem like it's

that big of a task. I mean, I understand Robin

Williams is a is someone hard to kind of clone

but as far as the voice work it's already been

done before so I don't think they'd have to look

too far but I'm a huge fan of Aladdin I think

the genie is one of the best animated characters

of all time probably and if this was the only

Disney live -action story we were talking about

I would probably be all for this but when it

comes in at like the 11th or 12th announcement

of the year of this type of stuff I'm starting

to get a little nervous but I will give this

one a mild thumbs up just because I love the

world of Aladdin. What about you, Dan? And I

get what you're saying performance -wise. I guess

the issue is just that it's the idea of like,

that's such... So tied to Robin Williams and

he's you know, considering what happened to him

It's just it feels like oh it just like yeah,

like a little empty knowing it's not him I get

that but I think if someone watched like the

animated series of Aladdin I don't even know

if they would know that that's not Robin Williams.

Yeah, I I watched that was been a really long

time, but you know, there's still only one well

What Robin Williams maybe just the the creativity

brought to it may not be not be there. That's

true the improv and all that type of yeah I don't

know, similar to Sword of the Stone again, this

is one that seems a little bit more sense. I

guess I'd be more interested in it if it was

more Aladdin than Genie. I like the Genie character,

but I don't think he would maybe work as his

own film. I just, I don't know how you make a

Genie movie. It just seems odd to me. It seems

like that would be something that would work

even on an animated scale. Yeah, like it seems,

if you're gonna go live action, why are you...

Making it's gonna be all CGI anyway, so it seems

like counter counter productive to what you're

doing So I'll go thumbs down because I love Aladdin's

probably my it's definitely my all -time favorite

Disney movie And this was like a more about that

character of Aladdin I would be all for it, but

I don't I don't know if I see it working as a

genie movie All right, so we're split on that

one so far even though mine was only a mile thumbs

up So Amanda break the tie. What do you what

are you thinking for genie? I'm going to do a

solid thumbs up because I think seeing the realm

set in the realm of Genies, that's just intriguing

to me and I want to see that. And it does say

that they're doing a long -term plan to lead

into a live action adaptation of Aladdin. So

I think this would be a pretty cool prequel and

I'm interested to see how they pull it off. Alright,

so all positivity from Hard Candy Mandy so far.

Let's see if that trend continues getting into

some Lego movie type news I don't know how many

people are aware but obviously there's going

to be a Lego Batman film and I guess I'm more

interested in your guys's thumbs up or thumbs

down and just the whole premise of the Lego Batman

film but the article specifically this week is

talking about some of the voice casting and that

would be Will Arnett returning or reprising the

role of obviously Batman and then Michael Cera

voicing Robin in this film. So, Dan, you can

touch on the voice acting if you'd like, but

what is your general feeling on the Lego Batman

film, and is it getting a thumbs up or a thumbs

down from you? I'd be more excited for Lego Batman

than real Batman. Yeah, you know, he was a lot

of fun in the Lego movie. Again, when I hear

they're making a Lego Batman, part of me thinks,

oh, is it like a direct -to -DVD movie or something

like that? You know, it just... Maybe it'll work.

I think... What was great about the Lego movie

was just the assault, you know, the huge ensemble

of different characters So if it doesn't have

that maybe won't be as good if it's just like

a DC animated movie, but with Legos I don't know.

I've never really played the games, but I've

heard good things with the voice casting what

I think it's funny about this is that every movie

news site I saw was like Michael Cera to pay

play Robin and I just stopped there because I

know that's just gonna cost people to come and

click on their article because What do you mean?

He's playing Robin. This is ridiculous. It's

voice acting But I think it works because I think,

you know, you have what? Jonah Hill as Green

Lantern and Channing Tietem as Superman. So I

think as a comedic voice for that character,

I think it would be kind of funny. So I would

never want him to play live action Robin, but

for Lego Robin, it's fine. Alright, so a thumbs

up for Dan. This definitely will please one of

the GeekCast Radio network members because the

problem he had with the Lego movie of last year

was the fact that it didn't focus on the property

characters, which most of us enjoyed the fact

that it didn't, but obviously TFG1 Mike wanted

the Batmans or the, you know, whatever other

Lego property characters to be in the focus,

so maybe he is super excited about this, but

I don't want to speak for him. He'll have to

comment on the episode post. Amanda, what do

you think about Lego Batman? I think he was one

of the most fun characters in the Lego movie,

and I'd be interested in seeing his own solo

movie. And as far as Robin goes, Michael Cera,

all I can think about when I think about Michael

Cera now is that... bathroom scene from This

is the End when he's drinking the juice box.

That's a visual. I just can't. I don't think

any homage to that will make it into the film.

Oh man. Thanks for putting that picture in my

head. You're welcome. Alright, let's move on.

Get away from that. More alien concept art revealed

from Neil Blomkamp. Obviously, he made a lot

of headlines the first time he sent out pictures

involving this franchise, which led him to obviously

be involved in it specifically. And now he sent

out another picture or a sketch about some of

the concept art for the film. Dan, are you nervous

by this? Is this making you more excited or does

this really have no impact whatsoever on your

feelings about this next aliens film? I think

it looks... Fitting for alien. I mean it looks

like alien honestly just it if you gave me that

it doesn't this it would instead it was concept

art for the first or second film and be like

yeah makes sense so I think it's fitting I think

he is clearly a fan of this franchise, and then

he has a respect for it, so There's no there's

no doubt that he comes in with a knowledge race

sometimes that works sometimes it doesn't but

To me, the original concept art he had was really

cool. I liked it. I don't know how it's gonna

work in a movie, but you know, it's not like,

what are we gonna get another bad alien movie?

What do you have two of them? It's gotta break

the tie or something, right? Yeah. Amanda, what

do you think about this concept art and the whole

idea of this next alien film? I don't know too

much about what's going on, but I think Bloom

Camp does a really awesome job of anything sci

-fi, especially what he does with aliens and,

you know, life on other planets and anything

cool of that nature, creating characters and

whatnot. I think he does a good job, so I'm interested

to see what this is gonna look like. I like the...

the alien movies. Not as much as the Predator

movies, but I think the Alien versus Predator

movies are pretty sweet. I was going to say...

We're not even getting into the back and forth

that's going on about those other films between

Sigourney Weaver and the writers of those films,

but they're having all kinds of internet feuds

going on with that. Nicki Minaj versus Taylor

Swift style. I'm sorry, what did you say? Just

look it up. Okay, I'll look it up after the show.

Yeah, I'm all for this. I'm for the fact that

obviously Blomkamp has a passion for this world.

And it seems like he's trying to do it justice.

Like Dan said, it doesn't necessarily always

equate to success. but I'm going to give him

the benefit of the doubt. I have not hated his

films as much as some other people have as far

as Elysium and Chappie goes, so I'm still in

his camp and giving him a fair shot, so thumbs

up for me on that one. Moving on to something

that will also tie into one of the trailers we

might be talking about later on, but Sam Mendes

says Spectre will be his final Bond film. Dan,

thumbs up or thumbs down to him leaving the franchise.

It's mixed emotion honestly because I love skyfall

so much and when we talk about specter, I'll

kind of give my thoughts on that so I Understand

him wanting to do something else. Of course,

because I've I kind of like nearly everything

he's done I even you know every movie I don't

think others movie he's made I could be forgetting

something off top of my head. I even like away

we go and most people don't like that But I will

give it thumbs up because I'd rather him leave

and leave and on a good note then you know make

one too many like you see something often happen

and I know it was like hard enough to get him

for the second film so I'm all for seeing him

do something else I guess I was hoping though

like we would get like him his like James Bond

trilogy that may not happen but yeah I guess

it's it's not necessarily like I said I'm mixed

on it I think I was looking forward to seeing

more James Bond movies by him but You know, if

his heart's not in it, then I think it would

be good for him to step away. Yeah, I definitely

don't think he should do it if his heart's not

in it. Or even if it might not even be that,

it just might be the dedication of time that

it takes and his ability to maybe do a couple

other things that he has on his bucket list of

films that he might want to direct or something

like that. But yeah, Sam and his Bond trilogy

definitely would have been cool to see. I'm all

for the drop the mic moment. You know, just make

your two films, have them both kick ass and then

just walk away. Let somebody else pick up the

pieces or try to fill in those, fill in the footsteps.

Yeah, sometimes you don't want to just get labeled

like a genre director and now you can't do anything

else. So that's all people expect of you. So

maybe that's kind of his mindset on it. So, right.

So as much as I like the marriage of him in this

franchise, I'm going to be like, yeah, I'm going

to give it a thumbs up. And I'm interested to

see what else he does, because I'm a big Mendes

fan as well. Amanda, what do you think? You haven't

seen Skyfall though, have you? Nope, and I haven't

seen Casino Royale either, is that one he did?

No, he just did Skyfall. Okay, well, I haven't

seen that, so I can't comment. Okay. Alright,

then moving into some comic book stuff, because

it's always good to talk a lot about comic book

movies when you're doing a show for something

called the Geekcast Radio Network. So, the Selma

director... DeVernay has said no to a role as

far as the director of Black Panther. I don't

think necessarily that is the biggest news out

of this article. The reason I wanted to include

it this week is more so to go with why Ava is

not going to be partaking in this. And the biggest

thing here, for me the biggest line was the suggestion

that she would have had to compromise her own

artistic integrity too much, then there was too

much compromise involved for her to commit because

she felt like no matter what she did, it would

not end up being her film. So Dan, what's your

reaction to that? I can, I can understand that.

Cause you think about when we get into Ant -Man,

I mean, thinking of Edgar Wright leaving that

because he felt it wasn't, he was losing his

vision for the movie. So, and when you're making

a studio film like, a Marvel movie, there's going

to be a lot of parameters that are put upon you.

So I completely understand why a director would

not want to be within that. Like I could think

of, you know, we're doing the Quentin Tarantino

retrospective right now. If you try to put the

same parameters on him, I don't think it would

go over very well. So I get that. So do you think

that's just a, is that just a factor of the fact

that it's a big studio, you know, Marvel slash,

you know, whatever franchise it is film, or is

this a sign of of somewhat of a problem within

that universe, even though they've had a lot

of success and they've done a lot of good things

as far as what they've set out to do, is this

a chink in the armor or a criticism that can

be kind of tossed over at the Marvel Cinematic

Universe that they're not allowing directors

to be creative? I think it is kind of a side

effect of having this shared universe where if

all these movies are supposed to be connected,

then how do you... If you, you have to kind of

make them all work in some instances, you can't

just make, you can't... have one super stylized

like Sin City and like something then try to

mix that with like a movie like Iron Man and

like those are so different so I do think you

do end up putting a lot of restraints on people

because of it which is why I think often the

directors they get are those that haven't really

done much yet they're TV directors or those just

trying to break into it so I think that's when

you're losing that There have been times where

I feel like they did allow directors a little

bit more room. Movie comes to mind, it's like

Iron Man 3. I felt like Shane Black's influence

is certainly there. But if you're a new director

who's kind of off to her biggest hits so far,

I think her talents are probably better used

elsewhere, honestly. I don't think that. I think

she could do a lot more than just follow the

Marvel formula, because as we've seen, I think,

in a lot of ways, the directors don't play a

huge part, for the most part. There are some

exceptions, but yeah. I don't know what I'm even

saying anymore, but yeah. No, and I think we

can see that even with the departure of Joss

Whedon now, too, where he's distanced himself

from this. And it's a lot of these bigger -named,

maybe more... Not as much to like you said, they're

not a young actor or young directors just trying

to prove that they can handle a film like this

They're they're people that are already, you

know established through their other films So

I mean, I think when you have some of these constraints

it it becomes kind of a balancing act in that

What point is it too much where you can get lucky

and get someone like the Russo brothers who?

Clearly had a lot of talent and they showed it

in glimpses within TV episodes and things like

that So then when they had the opportunity that

they ran with it But sometimes if you keep banking

on that happening, it may not always happen.

So if you're gonna if you're Eventually, I think

when you get to a certain point, you're gonna

have to well allowed director said take these

characters in in directions that they feel are

fitting to their own style and maybe that means

that the universe isn't as connected as we currently

have it which i personally would be okay with

so i think maybe we'll see a little bit more

changing when we get to phase three or phase

four but as long as they're making millions of

dollars i don't think they're going to change

what they're doing Right, yeah, it kind of comes

to that point where a lot of people think, you

know, if you're doing something for an extended

period of time and it's been successful that

you have to reinvent the wheel or you have to

start flipping things on their heads and whatnot

and upside down and, you know, they might do

that or they might just stay with the status

quo, but then you'll have the same people that

are going to be calling out for, you know, the

Marvel fatigue if they don't get something different.

So it's kind of a balancing act. You're probably

damned if you do and damned if you don't. So

be interested to see what they do with phase

three. Amanda, what do you think? You saw Selma.

Do you like that film? Do you think she would

have been a fit for a Black Panther film or are

you glad she said no to this one? I'm kind of

glad that she said no. I understand her reasoning

and she probably doesn't want to be looped into

something I don't think she can get behind really.

I mean, I don't feel like that's something that

she can fully get behind. I think her motives

are pure and I think that she should... take

this time in her career to focus on things that

she really feels like she can express herself

through Arden. Alright, fair enough. So I think

we're all in agreement on that one. Moving on

to the next news story. There are three rules

here at the Cinema Geek cast. I called the Twitter

name. There are three rules here with the Cinema

Geeks, and that is every episode we must talk

about comic book stuff, we must talk about reboots,

and the third and final rule, of course, is we

must always talk about Star Wars. I'm not serious.

Those are not rules. They just seem to come up

every episode. And our Star Wars news story for

this week is, of course, that none other than

Benicio del Toro is being rumored to possibly

landing a role for Star Wars Episode VIII, possibly

a villain role. Dan? Obviously, it's just rumors

at this point episode 8 does not come out until

2017 But what do you think about the matchup

between del Toro and the Star Wars universe?

It's fitting I guess, you know, I mean it's kind

of a fanboys wet dream in a lot of ways, so Yeah,

I mean I would be interested in seeing when we

just got done talking about Marvel The question

becomes, with Star Wars, do you end up having

a lot of the same issues? But seeing what they're

doing with Star Wars, maybe there's a little

bit more open space for it. But yeah, I mean,

I'd be curious what he would do, like how he

would do it, but I don't know. It seems like

it's weird that they're gonna have all these

different directors. You would think they would

try to keep some type of voices from one movie

to the next, but it seems like they're just trying

to get whoever they can. Right and seeing del

Toro as a villain possibly in episode 8 would

be interesting I mean, I guess we last saw him

as the collector here in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe and he's playing a different type of

character. I almost think that Someone that I

think would be a real cool villain in the Star

Wars universe would be Javier Bardem I think

that would work as a villain in this universe,

but I can see del Toro working as a villain too.

It would be interesting if we have Del Toro as

the villain in the next Star Wars film, Idris

Elba as the next villain in the Star Trek film.

It seems like they're really upping the ante

as far as villains go and maybe doing something

in both of those worlds that Marvel seems to

struggle with a little bit, which when it comes

to like villains and stuff like that. So we'll

have to see how these work out if this is in

fact something that comes to fruition. Amanda,

you like Del Toro. What do you think about him

being a villain in the Star Wars universe? I

like Benito del Toro and almost everything that

I've seen him in. I have seen him in a couple

sci -fi roles, including The Collector, and I

don't know if you probably haven't seen The Wolf

Man, him as The Wolf Man, and I absolutely love

that movie. I used to go to sleep watching that

movie. That's wrong. It's not at all. I definitely

like the turning scene when he becomes a werewolf

in front of everybody. And I think that him as

a villain is a great idea. Him as a Star Wars

villain, I don't know. I don't know if I can

really see him in that world, but if he's going

to be there, I will be down to watch him. All

right. Moving on to some more comic book news

because we can't get enough of it, but not really

comic book news as much as it is just a connection

to a comic book film and more of a sci -fi film

news. And that is the idea of a Logan's Run remake.

And that being... connected to the X -Men producers

and Kinberg and Silver. I didn't even know they

were doing a Logan's Run remake, nor have I seen

Logan's Run, so I can't really comment on this.

Dan, help us out. Have you seen Logan's Run?

I have. It's kind of like a sci -fi dystopian

film where, basically, once you get to a certain

age, you kind of disappear, basically. You know,

it's trying to think, maybe Lord of the Flies

-esque or so, I don't know. They've been talking

about doing a remake for it forever, honestly.

At one point, I think Ryan Gosling was the star,

and it's one of those... movies that's been in

development hell forever. One thing we know about

that from recent times is that it usually does

not bode well for the final product when it eventually

is finally wrapped up and given to us. I think

there's been like 17 different drafts for this

film so far, it seems like. I don't know. I guess

I'd have to re -watch the first one. Does it

even think if I would be interested? At this

point, I can't really talk too much about it

since I don't know anything about the property.

Is this something that needs to be remade, Dan?

It does have a good opportunity to be remade.

I don't really love the first one all that much.

The idea and concept is interesting. I think

it's probably better. I think it's based off

a novel, if I'm not mistaken, but it does not

age all that well. It's kind of a cheesy 70s

science fiction film, so it's fun in that aspect,

but I think it kind of reminds me of a Westworld

where I think there's a good idea there that

they can kind of make into something a little

bit more with today's technology. Alright, so

let's see what happens if that ever starts to

gain some traction here the last two news stories

the one I don't want to talk about all that much

we just will mention it so we're not Acting like

we're not aware of it, but apparently Sony is

going to be doing an emoji movie I will go ahead

and give this a thumbs down and Dan. What about

you? You can't hear me, but I'm talking an emoji

I'm gonna go with no love of God. No why like

what I? man This is just so, so sad. I feel it's

not real. Please don't. It feels like an onion

article. This can't be true. It's just like,

hey, the Lego movie worked. Let's do the Play

-Doh movie and let's do all these just random

things about whatever popular toys or gimmicks

or pop culture things are out there. I feel like

it should just be a TV show in Japan. And that's

it. I mean, will there be any audio in this?

Or will it just be... visual? I don't... yeah,

I don't even... This is terrible. Thumbs down

from me. Dan, you're giving it a thumbs down.

Amanda? Don't sound so audist. I have seen some

death movies that have no audio in it. It's just

all sign language. What did you just call me?

An audist. It's where you think that hearing

people are better than deaf people. I am offended

that you think that of me. Never had that label

before. I thought it'd be someone who audits

other people. How dare you be such an auditor!

So you're giving it a thumbs down too? I'm giving

it a wicked thumbs down. Alright, three thumbs

down from that. Go throw that in the trash heap,

Sony. And the worst part about that is in the

article it's talking about how it's not something

that is protected by anything. It's public domain.

Yeah, like words. like words, so there's nothing

stopping any studio from doing the exact same

thing if they wanted to. Except for Logic, that'd

be the one thing. Except for Logic. No, I think

they're gonna do the same thing that we did with

what's the Robin Hood we're getting 17 films

for. So we'll have four competing Emoji films.

That'll be fantastic and the world will end shortly

after that. The last one kind of ties in a little

bit to the Ant -Man discussion. I think we'll

save that one until we actually get to our main

attraction, and then we can touch on that a little

bit. So with that, let's get into some trailer

talk. For this last week, we had some interesting

trailers. We had a new trailer, or a first trailer,

for Pam, Digging for Fire, the anticipated film

from Ina Ritu, The Revenant. Before we go, an

actual full length trailer for The Good Dinosaur

from Disney Pixar. Like we mentioned in the news

story about Sam Mendes, a trailer for Spectre

coming out shortly as well as Mississippi Grind

and then a number of international or second

trailers. So, Dan, I'll let you go first because

that'll determine what I'm going to talk about.

So any of those trailers you want to give a yay

or a nay for and talk about a little bit. I think

this has been a bad week for news, but a great

week for trailers, actually. Yes. And we tease

that I have to talk about it. And that's, of

course, Spectre and the second trailer. And I

am super excited for this. And what I find really

interesting about this movie is that for an action

film, it's not really focusing a lot on the action

in the trailer, which is maybe a bad, maybe you

think it's a bad thing, but I think it's a good

thing and I love the look of it. I was a little

worried with Roger Deakins leaving and not coming

back for any second film that it wouldn't be

nearly as stylistic and the cinematography wouldn't

be nearly as good, because that's one thing I

loved about it. Skyfall but how do you what do

you do you get the cinematographer from her and

interstellar and That's a good, you know, if

you're gonna go someplace else, that's a good

place to go I'm not gonna pronounce his name

because I can't so I'm not even gonna attempt

to but it doesn't necessarily have some of the

more silhouette shots that We got from skyfall,

but I just I don't know. I just think Christoph

Waltz was born to be a Bond villain. So Having

him play what's clearly one of the most iconic

bond villains of all time is like the perfect

marriage And I am super excited for it. So I

think just go ahead. Yeah, I'm gonna give it

a huge thumbs up. So Yeah, I'm going to give

it a huge yay as well, and I think just for the

showdown between Daniel Craig and Christophe

Waltz is going to be amazing. I don't remember

who on the In Session Film podcast about, I don't

know, four or five months ago was saying that

they couldn't buy or they didn't think Christophe

Waltz was going to be good in this role. I think

it might have been Brendan, and I'm not quite

sure what he was on that day. But like you said,

I think this is something that Christophe Waltz

is absolutely born or made for. And that's not

just me. You know, spouting off because I loved

him in a few previous roles. I think like you're

saying, he's meant to... He perfectly fits a

Bond villain. So I'm a huge gay as well. Amanda,

I know you haven't seen Skyfall, but what did

the trailer for Spectre do for you? I don't think

it distinguished itself from any other Bond film

for me yet. I really can't get as excited as

you guys were. I mean, I like Bond films. I enjoy

them. I'm just not jumping out of my skin excited.

Yeah, I could understand that because it's not...

It doesn't go a lot away. Yeah, and a lot of

them do kind of run together, but I think it's

more so, especially if you're a fan of the history

of Bond, knowing that bringing back Spectre,

which was one of the biggest villains within...

the Bond universe which haven't been able to

be used in the film since the 1960s. So bringing

that back is a big deal for some people but I

could get why people that aren't really familiar

with it could probably care less. Right. I don't

remember watching Bond films before the Pierce

Brosnan ones. They came out I think when I was

in like elementary school. I think I was like

eight or nine when Die Another Day or whatever

or Goldeneye came out. Goldeneye. something like

that and I've you know kept track of them since

then but I don't know too much about um you know

the Sean Connery bond or or anything like that

um and then these last couple I haven't haven't

really caught up on because like you said I think

haven't kind of have been running together for

me since then all right so we have homework for

you there's only how many there's only how many

films Dan oh geez over 20 23 now 24 something

like that so And how dare a trailer not give

away the movie these days, I mean, gee. I didn't

need it to give me the movie away. No, no, no,

I'm not saying you. I'm just saying, like, it

seems like every trailer this summer has been

giving films away. You mean like Terminator Genisys?

Terminator Genisys, yeah. Even a little bit in

the Southpaw trailer, I don't think was necessary,

so I don't know. But yeah, I'm with you on that

one. A big yay for me. What about you, Amanda?

What trailer would you like to either yay or

nay? I think I might have already discussed this

one, because I feel like it's already come up,

but I want to pick a yay for Pan. And I think

it's just going to be a really great visual experience,

if anything. I am seeing more and more just really

cool visual aspects of this world that we're

going to get to see more fleshed out in Neverland.

And this is the prequel aspect, I think. hasn't

been done before and I'm gonna really be super

excited when this comes out. Yeah, I haven't

seen anything that necessarily is rubbing me

the wrong way with this one. I'm probably not

quite as excited as you are for it, but for someone

that's not huge into the Peter Pan lore and I

guess whatever you want to call it, universe,

this one... has not done anything to turn me

away, I guess I'll say it that way. So I would

give it a mild yay for that trailer as well.

Dan, what's your opinion on that one? Yeah, it

was better than I expected, honestly, because

I had no interest in Pan whatsoever, but Hugh

Jackman looks interesting and like Amanda said,

the visual style is a lot more intriguing than

I thought it would be. I thought it would be

kind of bland, but they seem to do trying to

do new things with that universe and I don't

know. Captain Hook is a good guy. I guess we'll

see where that goes, of course. Well, like they

said, how the roles are reversed. Friends become

enemies and enemies become friends. I think that'll

be a cool scenario to see play out how Hook becomes

the Hook that we know. I'm just looking for Hugh

Jackman to redeem himself after his... Ridiculous

performance and be a great villain without the

khakis in the moment Hey, yeah, when you have

that facial hair, man, that's a good place to

start He looks wicked scary. He's almost on the

first time I saw him in that I almost was like

I thought Hugh Jackman was supposed to be playing

this guy Oh, okay. That is him. Um for me, I

get a real rapey vibe All right, um, that's like

the substitute English teacher in high school

or something That's what that picture when that

say rapey vibe. All right The good dinosaur is

the one I'll talk about because no one wants

to hear me talk about the revenant No, I'm actually

excited for the revenant. Um, but the good dinosaur

I am probably in the minority here, but I'm actually

gonna give that trailer a nay I Haven't seen

anything about this film yet. That has got me

excited. I know it's supposed to be I guess feel

good or I don't know I I just don't see I don't

even see how this this seems a lot more Disney

to me and a lot less Pixar I don't know which

one's taking the lead in this it's being built

as Disney Pixar so I'm assuming that's more Disney

but I I just can't see anything about the teaser

about the images about the style about the trailer

that is getting me excited about this one I can't

see maybe they'll surprise me but Don't know

this is like This is like the first land before

time with a little cave boy. Hey, that's not

bad But I even like the style of land before

time better than I like the style of this one

I guess so I know I'm probably the minority but

I'm gonna give a nay for the good dinosaur Dan

agree or disagree I'll say I definitely disagree.

I could see the issue with the animation style.

Do you think it's? It's very basic. It's almost

yeah Just the style of the characters. There's

not much detail to it especially for Pixar film

but I wonder if that's gonna go into like just

the design of that world if it'll fit into that

way, but I would say Maybe the thing is that

you coming out of inside out which was such a

unique, you know different concept and this one

is more your you know, your Kid and dog story

or your kid and dinosaur story in the senses

and I don't think it'll be Up to the upper level

of Pixar, but maybe it'll be something like the

bugs life or just more of the basic Heartfelt

story that maybe isn't as deep as some of the

other stuff, but I'm excited for it. I I agree

It's probably more Disney than Pixar, but I think

it'll be fine. And whatever Dana love bugs life.

I don't know. I'm saying that's a bad thing.

I'm saying just like It won't be Wally or Finding

Nemo, or maybe it will be more like Finding Nemo

or something like that. I can see that a little.

I got a little Finding Nemo vibe from that in

just a different way. But I can see that connection.

Amanda, what did you think of the trailer? I

really do not know if I care a whole lot about

this movie yet. I think I was in the trailer

at this time. I was really trying to focus on

picking out something that I liked and The rudimentary

style of the animation are the look of the dinosaurs.

They just look like something, you know, like

kindergartners draw. You know, they're just awkward.

The dinosaur reminds me of Marty, our kitten,

because he's so small, but he's got like big

feet. He just kind of like flops them around

sometimes. And I saw some really cool stuff with

the... everything but the dinosaur how it looked

like the trees and the grass and you know when

he's eating the the grapes or whatever and I

think the the gesture by the little cave boy

was cute so it might be a chance of the feels

happening might be a chance for the feels during

the good dinosaur All right, so those are the

trailers that were released this last week, a

couple that we didn't talk about. So if you wanted

to talk about one we missed, or if you disagree

or agree with our yay or our nay on the ones

we did talk about, let us know on the website,

geekcastradio .com, and find the episode post

and comment there. We will definitely interact

with you there. But as for now, we're going to

take a quick break. And then when we come back,

we're going to get into our main attraction,

which this week, like we said in the opening,

we're going to be discussing Marvel's last of

its phase two films, Ant -Man, coming up after

the break. Hi, this is Greg. This is Chuck. And

this is Dan. And we are Talking in Circles. Because

the world needs another podcast, we are here

as Geekcast Radio's newest edition. And, as the

title says, each week we get lost in conversation

about a wide range of topics including movies,

comics, games, art, TV, and even occasionally

sports. We play games and discuss pivotal topics

like who would win in a fight, the Kool -Aid

Man or Tony the Tiger, and examine the hot button

issues of the world of Geekdom. We keep things

fresh by taking timeless topics in new directions.

We are simply three friends having a fun time

talking about life's most fascinating foibles.

Stay connected with us every Tuesday on iTunes

or at GeekCastRadio .com Hey guys it's Dr. Masolo

and Hard Candy Mandy and we just wanted to let

you guys know about another podcast out there

that we both think you would all enjoy. It's

one of both of our favorite shows to listen to

and it's none other than the True Bromance podcast.

True Bromance is a movie podcast hosted by longtime

friends Hiro and Barry and if you like to smile

laugh and just be genuinely entertained while

listening to movie talk then this is definitely

the right show for you. Each week, the guys break

down a recently released movie, and not only

do they tie in the movie that week to the beers

that they are drinking during the show, but they

also tie it into a real fun top and bottom five

list associated with that movie. It's a blast

hearing both sides of these lists and it definitely

makes them unique amongst all other movie review

podcasts. So we definitely want to recommend

all of you guys to go check out their show. Just

search out the True Bromance podcast on iTunes,

Stitcher, and all other podcast platforms. And

if you listen via iTunes, do us a favor and leave

them a five -star review. And don't forget to

let them know that the Cinema Geeks sent you.

Now back to the show. Do you see how your patience

paid off? All right, thanks for sticking with

us as we said it's time for the main attraction

It's time to get down and dirty with Ant -Man

and let's start with your initial reaction Dan

What did you think about Ant -Man? Well, I feel

like with Marvel films reviewing them It's kind

of like doing a mad libs where a lot of the descriptors

stay the same. It's just the nouns that are changing

It's like it was you know, this movie had a blank

movie had a bad villain but blank was really

fun kind of thing so it in in that vein i doesn't

think it very much follows that very familiar

marvel formula but i think there are a little

bit of new elements it doesn't incorporate but

honestly at the end of the day after watching

it and watching it there is something about amen

i just found very charming and enjoyable and

i don't know if it's just because it's a really

good like palate cleanser from avengers age of

ultron where it's simple and just this straightforward

story that doesn't try to have world -ending

stakes, but it's more personal and intimate that

I appreciated more. But, you know, I think it's

not necessarily to the level of Marvel's greatest

movies. It's not, you know, Wonder Soldier or

Guardians of the Galaxy, I don't think. But I

think at the end of the day, it did as well as

you could for a character called Ant -Man. So

I ended up really liking it. I'm going to bounce

off of something you just said, because that's

kind of where I was going with my thoughts. You

mentioned that it's not one of Marvel's best

films, and it's not one of Marvel's worst films.

And that's kind of where I fall for this film.

I'm going to fall on the positive side, but it's

not something... It didn't fall on its face,

it didn't do anything bad, it didn't do anything

to piss me off, but it's not gonna be one of

those films that resonates with me to the level

of some of their better films have been. You've

mentioned Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy,

The First Avengers possibly throwing, obviously

throwing that one into the mix. So I don't think

it stands out where some of those stand out,

but I still think it's a successful film, regardless

of its slow opening at the box office. So I'm

gonna be somewhat positive on this one as well.

Maybe, I don't know if I'll be as positive as

you, but I'm somewhere right in that ballpark.

What about you, Amanda? I think that I like the

point that Dan brought up, how the villain and

the stakes in this movie were not completely

world -changing and as heavy. I like that the

stakes were a little bit more contained, and

it showed the level that it was on how, you know,

in the beginning he wasn't quite at Avengers

level, but still he did get in a fight with an

Avenger, for me to go into spoilers, and how

that plays out we see. So I think that... I liked

the level they kept it on for this movie and

I'm excited to see how they incorporate him into

some bigger films. Well that's a perfect transition

for me because that's one of the items that I

wanted to make sure we talked about today in

discussing that film and we can start with Dan

and go around the table again but as far as its

interaction or this film's interaction in the

bigger Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Avengers

references or just how it fits in overall with

the with the whole thing, Dan? How did you feel

that angle worked for it? Well, I thought, honestly,

it worked pretty well. I'm usually against the

idea of finding the need to tie it in to other

things. That's why I kind of like Iron Man 3

so much is because it doesn't do that really

at all. And here we have a little bit here. There's

like a little bit of a snide comment regarding

falling cities, which I wasn't. I don't think

he really needed that. I get. You know paul red

making the joke. Why don't we just call the avengers

and maybe they could just leave it left at that

But the surprise appearance of a character Honestly,

like if you told me that going into it i'm like,

oh that's gonna be so shoehorned in And maybe

it is but I think it makes sense and it does

feel like a comic book moment it You know, we

need to get this thing and you need this thing

to complete a job and you going into it and it's

like, oh no, there's an extra level. There's

this character we have to deal with. And I thought

it worked in how it was. Again, it wasn't something

that was well done all that much after the fact.

And I thought the sequence itself was a lot of

fun. And I think it. For one I think what it

did too was just show us the character of ant

-man could go toe -to -toe and does belong with

the other Marvel characters And even though he's

not necessarily a namesake he can he belongs

in that on that team just as much as anyone else

so I ended up really enjoying that aspect of

it and So yeah I'm going to agree with you on

that one as well. I think, like you said, it's

not something that we need to see in all the

different Marvel films. Like every one of them

does not need to make some type of reference

or correlation to. another film or characters

in another film, I don't think that's necessary.

But I think the way they handled it in this one

worked fine. I think the character, I think the

comment, I think all the different things that

do tie into it for me work on this level. So

I didn't have a problem with it here. I hope

they don't necessarily feel like they have to

do that in every single Phase 3 film, though.

Amanda, what did you think? As far as how they

connected it, I thought it was really well done.

I think that... They're the little remarks that

are brought up like you said dropping cities

also the Small little hints to other characters

that we might be seeing or that we have already

seen in the MCU And that same the same little

conversation about the city being dropped I like

that I also I think that it As in regards to

where Daredevil stands, I think maybe it's just

a slight step up from the level that Daredevil's

at. I feel like Daredevil is more gritty on the

street, low level, so that's still important.

And then here's a step up where it's Ant -Man

who's almost a connector that he can go to the

smaller scale operations, but he can also fit

into the Avengers scale. Right, and then of course

you have... more of the Avengers like Iron Man

and whatnot. And then you have the level where

you get to with Thor and kind of the otherworldly

characters as well. So yeah, I can see that.

Another item I wanted to touch on in regards

to this film would be the comedy aspect. And

whether it's the comedy aspect of the film overall,

whether it's focusing on the other members of

this heist outside of Ant -Man, including Michael

Pena, T .I., etc. How did you feel the comedy

worked in this film and where do you think this

stands in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Is it

one of the funniest Marvel films we've had? Is

it in the top or do you think it's not nearly

at that level? Amanda, let's start with you.

Where do you think the humor and the comedy,

how did it work for you in this film? I think

it worked really well. I did laugh and I did

really like the... a comedic support that was

given by Michael Penny. I think he was probably

my favorite character in this. In T .I., I know

that he's been given a lot of shit for this role

and kind of, you know, called pointless or distracting

or what have you, but I like T .I. Give me some

little tip in a movie and I'll probably enjoy

it. And I think that he... You said give me a

little what? Tip. Okay. It's T .I., tip. Gotcha.

I think that... He held his own and I think he

worked. Dan, what about you? How do you think

the comedy worked in this film and where would

you place it as far as is it one of the funnier

Marvel films that we've had? I don't think the

comedy is maybe to the level of Guardians all

that much. I would say it's biting or edgy as

that type of comedy, which it doesn't necessarily

need to be. I've heard people say this is very

family -friendly for the most part and I would

agree with that. have a lot of gags and a lot

of physical humor, which I think works. It makes

sense when you're a character of Ant -Man. And

I think they played well with the concept of

him being really small and there was a lot of

good panways and things like that. Like Amanda

mentioned, Michael Pena is probably the best.

comic relief character Marvel has had. If you

compare him to something like Kat Dennings in

the Thor films, so much better. His comedy is

a lot stronger and like every time he was on

screen I ended up enjoying it. I thought though

I almost thought it would be a little bit funnier

or I was surprised that Paul Rudd wasn't as smart

as he as he has been in the past which maybe

is a good choice because maybe you want to be

a character you can get behind and maybe he would

be too much like Tony Stark in just a different

suit or something like that. He was a little

bit more of a straight man than I expected and

so that kind of to me makes it Understand that

choice but and a little and maybe a little bit

disappointed because I was just waiting for him

to really be Paul Rudd and He wasn't but maybe

that's like I said that could actually end up

being a better thing I do look forward to seeing

him interact with other characters like seeing

him interact with a Captain America or a Tony

Stark and how that works out but I would say

it's probably on the funnier end like you know

compared to the other Marvel movies, you know,

funnier than Thor and and whatnot, but I don't

think it's the funniest Marvel movie yet. Okay.

I agree with that. I don't think it's funnier

than Thor's humor and I also agree that Paul

Rudd didn't go banana sandwich as Paul Rudd in

this. He's a little bit calmed down. I think

that's how they kind of made him look more like

a family man and more about That aspect in Tony

Stark is kind of about himself. Yeah. I mean,

I liked his performance. I thought he did pretty

well. And especially with a relationship with

his daughter, I thought that was actually pretty

strong. They didn't have a huge amount of screen

time, but I thought they used the screen time

that they did have to show that connection. And

the young actress, the young child actress, I

thought was good too. So even though it wasn't

the performance I was expecting, I think it still

was pretty solid. Yeah, I'll agree with what

both of you guys have said and the last thing

I wanted to bring up before I turn it over to

some points that you guys might want to bring

up is Getting into the villain because we kind

of touched on that very briefly but the villain

of of yellow jackets and and the performance

and the inclusion of that villain and kind of

how it compares to some of the other villains

we've had in the Marvel films I'm going to start

by giving a quick thought on that and my only

my quick takeaway like right after watching this

film was almost a disappointment in a way that

we didn't get more of the yellow jacket because

Literally, you don't see that character as far

as in its like full form and active until the

last sequence of the film and I'm not saying

that you have to have the villain throughout

but I almost would have liked to see him more

in the villain role to kind of get a better glimpse

of that because I think he had potential as a

villain. Like I think Corey Stoll just as an

actor was good and his performance was good and

I think he, you know, he... Was adequate in that

role But I almost would have liked to see him

more as the yellow jacket just kind of get a

better glimpse of that and to see maybe a little

bit more of the the interaction between him and

either Paul Rudd or some of the other characters,

but What's that? I think most of his villainry

was off -screen. Yeah, I get that, but like I

said, that was just my initial reaction was why

did I have to wait so long to actually see Yellow

Jacket in action and maybe we could have benefited

from a little more of that, but maybe it paid

off at the end because you were waiting for it

the whole time. I don't know. Dan, what did you

think of him as a villain just in general? I

thought it was pretty much a letdown. It's seeming

weird to say a letdown because I expected it

to be pretty bad going in. I wasn't the biggest

fan of the look of the character. It just seemed...

kind of generic a little bit, and it's almost

like they took Obadiah Stain's plot in the first

Iron Man movie and just made it even less developed,

so. Yeah, I've heard that connection from a couple

different people, but then I've also heard people

say that this is like the best villain outside

of Loki or the Winter Soldier, and I'm not seeing

that. No, I think Amanda said a lot of it does

happen off screen. I think that, too. I think...

Maybe it's a little bit of a compact but it does

seem like this movie is kind of letting you know

a lot has gone on before We get into this world,

you know There's a history here with these characters

and yeah, why about like justifies it and you

can you can kind of connect the dots it doesn't

make it nearly as fulfilling because these relationships

that are Supposed to be falling apart or supposed

to be the the focal point and what's propelling

the movie forward it's hard for us to hard for

me i should say to buy in because i don't i'm

just trying to basically fill in everything when

i'm not really getting much of anything at all

it's it's not even like a you're giving me dots

to connect you're just kind of just saying hey

here's this guy and he's evil so and there's

not many dimensions to him but i mean i thought

the performance was fine uh them waiting for

him forever to get in the costume that didn't

bother me too much i just thought they could

they could have done I was thinking like what

it seems like Marvel has to know that this is

happening with their movies that the villains

are just underdeveloped and is it simply just

because they don't do they not care that much

so they just feel like they want it more to be

showcased for the heroes so they just get a character

that they can put in there to let the heroes

be who they are and because this is a character

that's very much made for this movie yellow jacket

is a comic book character but not He's not really

a villain. He's actually a name that Hank Pym

takes at moments in time. So it's just like they're

just getting a different version of the hero.

So it's almost like here's a character that we

can make some cool action scenes with. And I

think it works in that aspect. But as a character

that's memorable, not at all. And I think I think

they are missing something because, you know,

that's what elevated the Dark Knight series was

the villains. You know, that's what you could

take the heroes that you've developed now and

just like. amp this whole thing up to a different

level, and how many films are we up to now? We

know most of the characters. I understand Ant

-Man is a new one, but I can understand maybe

with some of the initial films for some of these

characters, but you better start paying off with

your villains, especially when you get to the

more collaborative films, because we know who

the heroes are. We need something amped up by

thinking that they're going against a formidable

opponent. Hopefully they can start getting that

right at some point. What did you think of yellow

jacket Amanda? I think he was a little underused

and I don't necessarily think that the most of

the Villain stuff happening off -screen was a

great choice. I don't think that I Bought the

grand scale of what could happen if this technology

got into the wrong hands based on what was happening

with the villain. It seemed for a long time that

they were like, oh, he doesn't know that I'm

here and I'm at your house and I'm talking to

you on the phone while I'm sitting right here

next to the person I'm talking about. It seemed

like some high school, you know, blocked caller

stuff. It didn't really seem like they were doing

some grand scale espionage, especially with the

amount of security that was happening. or taking

place as far as the them um him getting a little

uh insecure and doing what he did with all the

security stuff so i think that it didn't work

very well um as far as like being the next best

to Loki i don't think i agree with that either

all right dan anything else about amen you wanted

to bring up before we give our grades i gotta

say though i thought we didn't really touch upon

it but i thought the action was really well choreographed

and they used the mechanic of him shrinking and

uh really well and i didn't Anticipate like the

ants to be such a huge role in it But I like

how it they you know, they didn't use that power

and I think with a lot of the Marvel movies a

lot of the characters have very similar powers

a lot of punching it's a lot of just explosions,

but I think with Ant -Man it allowed them to

explore a lot of new worlds and Obviously people

are gonna you know make the connection to Edgar

Wright because he had a lot of hands in this

and there's you know There's actually a sequence

in this taken straight from his like first test

footage And I don't I think he would have gotten

a better movie if Edgar Wright did direct But

I still think that sequences that were in there

were fun enjoyable, you know, they're not groundbreaking

per se But I I just thought it was different

enough that it made this one feel fresh compared

to other movies Yeah, and I think, too, this

would have been one that probably did benefit

a little bit from the 3D. We don't go see films

in 3D if we can possibly avoid it, but I can

see how this one might be a little bit of fun

in 3D with all the shrinking and enlarging and

shooting around. I'm kind of glad that we didn't,

though, because I definitely would have gotten

motion sickness from that bathtub scene. Oh man.

I think one other thing that we didn't touch

on was the technology that they use. I think

with Iron Man the technology is so huge and in

your face and kind of on a next level kind of

thing and I think that this tech was like mildly

cool. You can tell that the Ant -Man suit was

like the original Ant -Man suit. It did look

dated. It did look used and old. didn't have

that shiny new armor look or anything like that

and I think that the discs that he uses and all

the stuff that they do kind of bring up about

the suit you're like whoa this is actually pretty

legitimate like you're not gonna go into some

quantum realm in the Iron Man suit like you can

just fly and stuff I think that some of the,

how they presented the tech was pretty cool.

Like I said before though, I didn't really, they

didn't bump up the stakes for me. I didn't feel

like, oh my god, this technology is gonna get

out there and then we're all screwed. Kind of

the same thing with the Avengers 2. I didn't

really get how high the stakes were. Oh, they

got a city in there, they're gonna drop it. not

a big deal. If you're not living in that city.

If you're not Sarcovia, you're good to go. But

I'm really excited to see the Wasp suit finished

and see what kind of stuff they bring to the

next few movies that they're going to be involved

in. What did you think of the character of Angeline

Lilly and the potential for that, Dan? I liked

her a lot. I mean... In a way, I wish we got

a little bit more of her. It seems like that's

going to happen. I thought her performance is

really strong and one of the better female characters

in Marvel. Perhaps she could have played a bigger

role in some of the action sequences, but it

seems like that's going to happen based upon

what we're hearing. So I'm definitely looking

forward to seeing her play that character. Yeah,

I'm with you on that one. Any other notes that

you guys didn't get to yet, Amanda? I don't think

so. I just wanted to say that I did like the

lore that they built in with Ant -Man and how

there's a history to this character and like

Michael Douglas I think showed up and did a pretty

pretty good job and I didn't think I'd buy him

as a superhero but I thought he works well as

Hank Pym and it was a smart choice I think because

Hank Pym If you look at the history of that character,

he's not the most likable relatable character

So making it sunk scott laying I think was a

smart choice and also opens the door for a lot

of possibilities within Marvel TV realm or movie

realm knowing that there was like You know, maybe

some older Avengers in the 60s or something like

that So I thought that was a good choice and

a good way to kind of build this universe without

just adding another movie Thought that was a

nice touch and it just highlights another one

of the actual pretty good performance from here

whether it's Paul Rudd or Michael Pena of Angeline

Lilly or Michael Douglas I think we got four

real good performances there and I agree I think

that is intriguing the way they kind of wove

that in there which kind of leads to the new

story we skipped earlier about the the sequence

that was left out of the film involving Michael

Douglas in the Ant -Man suit and doing what he

was doing in the potential that that might turn

into one of the Marvel one -shots. Is that something

you'd be interested in seeing, Dan? Oh, for sure.

I think it'd be kind of hard, but I think there

is potential for a series there in some ways.

I mean, maybe it's hard to do on TV, but I mean,

we have the flash and whatnot, but definitely

would be interested in that. I thought the reverse

aging of Michael Douglas was pretty cool. It

was the same effects studio, or I don't know

what you would call it in the studio, but they

handled the making. Skinny Steve Rogers and Captain

America the same people who did that and I think

that they did really well I guess they watched

a lot of his films from the 80s and Really focused

on everything like, you know how his muscles

move in his face when he talks and and they like

added fat to his cheeks and and Color and all

kinds of stuff is really cool. There's nothing

that can't do these days Alright Dan, down to

the nitty -gritty then. Where do you fall with

Ant -Man as far as a grade? I would give it a

7 .5. Alright, 7 .5 from Dan, positive score.

Amanda, what about you? Give it the same. 7 .5

from Amanda. I will just be different slightly

and give it a straight 7. So we're all on the

positive boat for Ant -Man. I don't think...

Do we want to get into phase two Dan or should

we save that conversation for a later date? Oh,

I mean, I don't know we could if you want to

say give our ranking I don't know if you want

to do rankings real quick or if that we're just

aware We just wear Ant -Man fits amongst phase

two me. Well, keep it simple. Sure face It's

to me right in the middle. Like I would I think

honestly I placed it above Avengers Age of Ultron,

but beneath Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, which

I know I'm probably very on the minority of liking.

People are tweeting you right now. Yeah, and

Guardians, so. But I think it's right within

that next echelon. What about you, Amedda? Um,

I put it above Iron Man 3, but below Age of Ultron,

and below Guardians. I like it better than Age

of Ultron. Or what did I just say then? I want

it above Age of Ultron and above Iron Man 3,

but below Winter Soldier, Dark World, and Guardians.

Alright, so some Thor love, as you'll get from

both of us. Yeah, I think I'd also put it above

Age of Ultron, which is not something I would

have said at the beginning of the year in any

way, shape, or form. Ant -Man is better than

Age of Ultron. I said it. That's what happened.

And I would also put it probably just slightly

ahead of Iron Man 3, but I like Iron Man 3 as

well, but I will put it below Captain America

the Winter Soldier and below Guardians of the

Galaxy and probably slightly below Thor the Dark

World because Amanda and I are in the minority

and we love all the Thor films. So your list

is my list exactly. Yes, pretty much. I should

have just said Ditto. My bad. Alright. Let us

know what you think of... of Ant -Man, what score

you would give it. And we'll get into a question

probably involving what we were just talking

about a little bit later. But let's get into

what we've been watching quick. And Dan, why

don't you start? What have you been watching

this last week? What's one of them? I have not

seen a lot. So I have seen my homework in two

other films and two documentaries actually, which

I don't have a huge amount to say about, so I'll

just touch on it quickly. I saw the documentary

Merchants of Doubt, which is a movie that focuses

on basically the lobbyists, and well, mostly

how doubt is used in different political debates

when maybe other options are not, when things

like logic and... Facts are gonna get in the

way, but it what it does is it kind of looks

at how cigarettes were debated and Makes a correlation

between that and kind of climate change and things

like that just the mechanics and the machine

of the political machine and how people in the

the extent people go to the Pooh points and the

kind of the craziness that ensues and it's actually

just fascinating and very depressing when you

look at it just because it's like it's so so

much is done on both sides just to Fill the machine

and that really fixed problem. So I ended up

really liking it. I thought it It's not necessarily

telling us anything. We didn't really know but

I think it does get into some really good investigating

journalism into just who are these people that

are paying these lobbyists and who are these

lobbyists who are going on these news shows and

where are these opinions coming from and what

are their motivations and I thought that was

pretty solid on that end. And what was the other

documentary I saw? The other documentary I saw

was Sheik and about Iron Sheik in any wrestling.

Nice. Yes. Yes. Currently streaming on Netflix.

And yes, Iron Sheik is kind of becoming this

Twitter sensation. It's following his life. And

I didn't know what this would be like going in,

but it's actually, you know, because it starts

off as kind of a serious documentary getting

into his early life living in Iran, being Olympic

wrestler and how he comes to America and his

life story. And it's not, I would say, well -made

documentary. It's very immature -ish. I questioned

some of the legitimacy in certain scenes. And

I think, overall, the structure makes a little

sense. You think you're in one time period, but

then you ended up being present day. I got lost

a little bit here and there when just the sequence

of events. But I think, though, The Sheik is

a very... interesting figure and his life is

actually really fascinating when you get into

it. I think the one thing it's missing, like

I said, it's just not particularly well made

and also since it's not... Sponsored by or done

by WWE. They don't have a lot of the archival

footage and So you end up talking about all these

things without actually seeing them and they

try to get around with it with different like

animated Vignettes and things like that But I

think it would have made a little bit stronger

and then at the end it's probably maybe it's

best The best it gets the best material where

it kind of gets into where what he's become at

at this point So it's it's enjoyable. It's it's

if you have any interest in iron cheek i would

say check it out i would i would give that basically

six out of ten versions of death probably similar

to five point seven point five out of ten okay

i know iron cheek definitely has some entertaining

interviews on youtube out there yeah and it gets

into that and where that came from which was

yeah was was kind of cool to see i i don't know

it's such a such a strange dude Yes, definitely

strange to them. I have to check that one out

Amanda did you see any films without me this

week like normal? Yes, I had a rewatch I rewatched

Perfect Stranger from 2007 with Halle Berry Bruce

Willis and Giovanni Robisi Dan have you seen

this? I have not I've not even heard of it honestly

I wouldn't hear Perfect Strangers. I think of

the TGIF show No, I think this was actually a

pretty intriguing film. Some really great performances

out of all three of them. Bruce Willis just plays

this rich hornball that doing a lot of things

behind his wife's back and he can get away with

a lot because he has a company and his wife's

money and Halle Berry plays a investigative journalist

trying to crack open some mystery that I won't

touch upon so you guys will be just as intrigued

to see the movie. But, um, G. Irvine from BC,

as always, gives a big of performance. He is

such a freaking creep in almost everything that

he does, and it works for him. Uh, there was

a line that, uh, Bruce Willis delivers that I

thought was, uh, pretty powerful, and he says,

um, his father told him that sincerity is everything

and once you learn how to fake that, the rest

is easy. And I'm like, that is so true. So true,

that's how you deal with people. You act like

you are sincere. It really means something to

you. So there's some good stuff that comes out

of this film. I thought it was pretty fun. Some

of the back and forth between Bruce Willis and

Halle Berry is a little ridiculous. You saw some

of that, right Kevin? Just a bit. But I think

it was a cool film. You should check it out.

What kind of grade would you give it? I would

give it a B minus. So let's say a... You're never

allowed to guest on in session All right, and

we only saw two other ones together and that

would be the first one would be get hard from

earlier this year because We wanted to make the

ultimate Seven degrees of Kevin Bacon almost

like connection here because we watched get hard

which has TI in it And also deals with Will Ferrell

possibly going to San Quentin prison. And then

the next day we watch Ant Man where he's in San

Quentin and T .I. also shows up. I was like,

hey, those outfits look familiar. Prison garb.

So yeah, we did that intentionally, we'll say.

And then we also watched Perks of a Wallflower

with Paul Rudd in it. Oh yeah, and then Paul

Rudd was in that too. So we had all kinds of

connections going everywhere this weekend. So

we'll save that one for a minute. But as far

as Get Hard goes... For me, that was disappointing.

I thought it would be funnier. I just didn't

think it had the punch that it needed and it

didn't have enough last throughout. So, I don't

know, something about a lot of comedies these

days that just are not working for me. I think

there's a couple funny moments here and there,

but not enough for me to give this one a very

good score. I don't know, Amanda, did you like

this one better than me? I probably liked it.

a little bit better than you. I'm not really

sure. I don't think it was his best film, but

I think it was fun to see Kevin Hart and Will

Ferrell actually interacting, and I think that

it did have a few laughs that worked for it.

For me, I don't need to go into it too much.

I'll give this one a 4 out of 10. Where do you

stand? I'll give it a 5. Alright, so not overwhelming

scores for Get Hard. I don't think that will

surprise anybody. And then like I mentioned on

Twitter a few times, we had some advanced screening

tickets to go see Southpaw for free the other

day before it was released nationally. So we

got to see Southpaw. We'll try to keep spoilers

to a very few or none. But of course, this is

one of them where if you've seen the trailer,

a big part of the storyline has been spoiled

for you, so I don't know about that choice. Luckily

it does come somewhat towards the beginning of

the film, which I think will be a relief to some

people, but I still think that would have been

much more effective had it not been in the trailer.

Amanda, what was your overall experience as far

as the theater experience and your initial reaction

to Southpaw? I think that our theater experience...

really, really bumped up how much I enjoyed the

film. People were clapping, people were laughing,

or... I think every emotion was had during this

film. There was crying, laughing, clapping. There

was a ton of stuff going on. I myself got the

straight feels a couple times. I was crying a

little bit. It happened. But I think that...

As far as the film overall, I think there's a

couple of things that I had problems with as

far as the direction went, but the performance

of Jake Gyllenhaal blew my mind. Jake Gyllenhaal

is absolutely insane as an actor. He's so great

in this film. Definitely, I would say... Too

far removed from Brokeback Mountain almost I

get the same kind of when he does like a manly

man thing I feel like it kind of relates back

to that but He just he's jacked and like the

training sequences like that's why when we left

the theater and I literally told Kevin We're

going home. We're going to the gym. I wanted

to do some cardio so bad after watching this

movie I made Kevin come home and put his gym

clothes on and we went to the the gym at 930

at night Right after seeing this movie because

I was ready. It was good. He's he's just crazy

in this film at some points He's he's a whole

different range of people I'm I'm just saying

that right now like when we get to our day when

we get to our top ten actors of the Decade so

far There's no way Jake Gyllenhaal is not being

mentioned in that discussion somewhere along

the line Whether he's on people's list or not

He will come up at some point during that discussion

because this guy is just on a roll and this is

another phenomenal performance by him, not to

overlook the performance by Forrest Whitaker,

who for me sometimes is a little bit more hit

and miss, and I think he was on top of his game

in this film as well. I will agree though that

there is some missteps here by the director,

and I think they missed a big opportunity. This

film, probably the final act, it could have elevated

itself, it could have become... One of the most

talked about films or you know, maybe top ten

material for the year and instead I think it

fell into some typical sport film tropes for

lack of better term that cliche that it fell

into. Right. And I just think it wasn't necessary.

I think there was a bunch of different ways that

it could have gone towards the end, that it didn't

necessarily have to choose the standard way it

went. But that does not take away from the performances,

from the emotion throughout this film. And it's

definitely one... I mean, now that I've had a

little bit of time to settle on it, I'm finding

a few more things that I didn't like about it,

but my initial reaction was that is one of the

most fun experiences in the theater we've had

all year. whether it's one of the best films

or not, it was definitely one of the better experiences.

And like I said, it has a whole range of emotions.

My initial reaction for this one would be it's

one of the best films I've seen this year. It's

gone down a little bit since then, but I definitely

recommend people seeing this film, especially

if they like sports films or boxing or Jake Gyllenhaal

or anything like that. So for a grade for you,

Amanda, what would you give Southpaw? I would

give this one another 7 .5. All right, so we're

on the 7 .5 train. I will give this one an eight,

but I will reserve the right to shrink that down

as I keep digesting it a little bit further.

I think it would have been an eight or higher

if it had just done a little bit different things

at the end. I think it has the potential to kind

of drop down into that seven range once all is

said and done, but definitely worth a watch.

I think it might've been better than a couple

of Rocky movies. I think so too. Alright Dan,

getting into your homework, how was Blue is the

Warmest Color? I've got to thank you because

this has been on my queue forever. You're thanking

me for this? It's one of those things where it's

like, now I have to watch it. Blue is the Warmest

Color. It's been talked about forever and it's

not really much new where I really have to add

to it except to kind of agree that the two lead

performances in this... are fantastic and they

are what make the movie and again a lot of it's

unspoken dialogue it's just they just have a

presence about them that is phenomenal and they

I think they won the Palme d 'Or just based upon

their work in this and I think it's well deserved

and the accolades that were you know labeled

upon them were legitimate. The story itself is

you know it does coming of age like relationship

story really well. The one thing I think that

hinders it from being like one of the best movies

of the decade so far for me is that I do feel

at times it does get Indulgent and this is a

three -hour movie and I hate commenting on runtime

and but I think in some instances I like I feel

this is just as guilty as an Avengers film for

being indulgent within the action I feel like

this movie did not need it at times I was just

Wondering like okay. What are we doing here?

Does this? Is it legitimately need to be this

long, you know Or is this a director who just

doesn't know how to make a cut or two and that's

kind of the feeling I had and the other thing

too is that there are a lot of sex scenes in

this and which are fine, but I think they are

Just gratuitous to a point and unnecessarily

gratuitous I didn't really feel like it it was

necessary to go to the length it does and it

felt like it was fetishizing of upon it, like

in an uncomfortable setting and maybe I'm just

becoming old, I don't know. And I also want to,

if I was in a theater, if the aspect of a runtime

wouldn't matter as much as I'm watching this

late at night and I'm just like three hours are

really hard to come by and I'm like, oh God,

I still got two hours left and I'm only an hour

in. So I'll say that, but I do think it is a

wonderful movie and it's deserved. As I would

say, if you're going to make a best list of the

decades so far, it's one that should at least

be watched. I'm not saying it's going to make

it for sure, but there are a lot of elements

in this that I think are just movies at their

finest and just some of the small issues I had.

So overall, I would give it a 9 out of 10. possibly

in a wee watch and possibly allowing it to digest

or if I had the opportunity to see it within

a theater where I feel like maybe that runtime

wouldn't have a big enough issue on me, I maybe

would enjoy it a little bit more. All right,

definitely a good score there for blue is the

warmest color. Interesting for us for Perks of

Being a Wallflower is that we literally just

finished the film before the record. Is that

you're like framing right before the final type

of stuff? Yes. And the reason I bring that up

is because we actually haven't even discussed

with each other on our feelings on Perks of Being

a Wallflower. So I'm interested to hear from

Amanda first. So what did you think about this

film? First of all, when the opening credits

started, I got to hear all kinds of backlash

of, is this an independent film? Blah, blah,

blah, blah, blah. I hate all these films because

we're still trying to break her from that mold.

So now, after seeing the film, Amanda, what do

you think of Perks of Being a Wallflower? I was

pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the

film. I think that some of the look of the film

got a touch artsy, but I don't think that it

was too out of my wheelhouse from what I like.

I think that I don't really... I think that I

got a coming -of -age feel from this. I don't

think, I think he was more just getting through

a really difficult point in his life and coming

into his own as far as how he deals with the

issues that he's dealt with, not just necessarily

life in general. I feel like he has some serious

obstacles to overcome that aren't normal coming

-of -age type stuff. I was intrigued with trying

to find out and figure out more about, his name

is Charlie, right? I wanted to know what was

going on with him and Charlie and I like that

you don't, you're not seeing everything that

happened to him to cause what's going on with

him. his own internal struggles, you don't see

that explicitly. You're trying to figure that

out, you're getting pieces the whole time, and

you're seeing how it's affecting him and his

life in the now. And I still have no idea really

what was wrong with him. I feel like there was

a lot of really great relationships that played

out. And I think some of the characters, though,

were a little exaggerated, a little too... I

don't know, it was like you're getting beat over

the head with the type of cliche high school

kid that they were, almost. Not necessarily like,

even like there's the jock kid who has to put

on this facade for his parents and... not be

who he is on the inside and who is a homosexual

and wants to be with another man but he can't

so he puts on this big show for everybody in

his school and his parents and you see just some

of the other kids okay let's touch on Like Charlie,

I think he was really exaggerated because he's

like, oh, I didn't think anybody noticed me.

Or even if he felt that way, I don't feel like

somebody would say that. So I feel like there

were some character aspects that were super exaggerated.

But I think overall, I find that the building

of their relationships worked for me. There was

a ton of stuff. I don't want to take up all their

time. I'm just touching on the character part.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you big time

about the exaggeration. I didn't get that at

all. I think one of the things I liked about

this film the most is that none of them did fit

the stereotypical view of what a jock is typically

portrayed as or what a, you know, any type of

classification you want. I thought none of them

fit into that mold and that's what found it interesting.

How do they not fit in any mold? Because he's

not the typical jock because he is, in this case,

a homosexual that's hiding that. But his actions

that he has... on the outside of what he feels

on what he's feeling emotionally and um i'm just

saying if you're taking like if you're taking

my typical high school films he wasn't he doesn't

fit into the typical jock role that you might

see how many times has there been a jock that's

secretly gay in movies i don't know if i've ever

what it happens okay you've apparently seen a

lot more high school films than i have um but

i didn't think any of them necessarily fit into

their their prototypical you know stereotypical

classification even though that's something that

you can't avoid in high school because high school

is about that in some respects. I mean, there

are all the classifications, there are all the

cliques. No, I avoid all that. I wasn't in any

cliques. But I'm just saying they all existed

in your school, did they not? Not like your small

little Tecatonica school. We had a lot more diversity.

Well, of course you did when there's... twice

as, ten times as many people. But even Logan

Lerman, I don't agree with what you're saying.

I think there are a lot of people like that.

I think I was like that in high school for a

long period of time, and I'm not quite sure.

Oh, so people noticed me? Somebody saw me? Like,

and just doing all this stuff? I mean, I didn't

say stuff like that, but I can definitely picture

people. As a teacher, I've seen multiple examples

of people exactly like that, so I don't think

that's out of the norm. That seems really weird,

just to blurt something out like that, or to

act like he did. when you're going through stuff,

there's a lot of stuff that comes out like that.

We'll have to talk off air, because I don't want

to ruin this for anybody that hasn't seen it,

but I'm a little bit confused as to your statement

of not knowing what he was going through, because

that's revealed at the end of the film. So we'll

have to discuss that. They don't ever say specifically

what he's like, it's getting bad again, it's

getting bad again, I was bad again. That's what

he keeps saying, but he doesn't exactly say like...

Does he have an anxiety disorder now? Does he

have some kind of personality disorder that we

don't know about? He has basically PTSD from

what he experienced as a child. And they go into

that when they go into the facility at the end.

They don't exactly say what happened. Yeah, they

do. I guess you have to, maybe you have to read

in the lines, between the lines a little bit.

Like I said, they don't put it out there explicitly,

do they? I like that about that. And I like the,

I like the... almost everything about this film

actually and i i've never seen i don't know if

i've ever seen dan what else has logan larman

been in logan larman percy jackson uh he sides

percy jackson he was in logan larman he was in

fury if i'm not mistaken oh yeah yeah okay so

yeah i definitely remember i remember that now

and i'm placing him in that but i thought he

was amazing um i thought he was amazing in this

i thought uh emma watson was amazing in this

um the the guy that plays um her Stepbrother

or her half -brother. Yeah, he was absolutely

insane, but doing a great performance So I thought

the performances were great. I thought the pacing

was great I can see what you're saying with the

coming of age that maybe part coming of age,

but part also just Getting through an experience

that you had and kind of coming to terms with

your identity in that respect where it wouldn't

necessarily had to have been Anything about the

age thing even though it is kind of set in that

type of environment But yeah, I enjoyed this

film a ton and I'm very glad I watched it because

I didn't really know much about it but maybe

I'm just a sucker for this type of genre and

this type of film and the kind of the stuff that

it's talking about but I think it it has a personal

connection to me because you know I went through

things like a lot of people have I'm not trying

to say I'm unique for that but you know I went

through my own traumatic things growing up and

going through school and definitely had to deal

with the aspect of finding your way and finding

whether you fit in or don't fit in or feel like

an oddball as you go through those different

things and not necessarily like the level of

what he's going through but in a different way.

And what other notes did you have Amanda that

you wanted to bring up about Perks of Wallflower

before we give our grade for it? I thought it

was really nice of Hermione to get out of Hogwarts

and come do something else. I thought that was

really brave of her. But I think that it had

some really great scenes in it. I don't know

what the hell was up with the Rocky war picture

lip sync show they did. I don't know what was

going on with it. I don't know if the parents

knew that was going on. I don't know where their

parents were a lot of the time. I think they're

pretty oblivious. But also like the sister played

by Nina Dobrev. I think she was like probably

one of the weakest characters for me. I think

it represents another aspect of different things

that people are going through maybe at that time,

but yeah, I agree. Honestly, that's what this

entire movie is about, Kevin, is everybody going

through their own stuff. So I'm not saying that

that's off topic here. I'm just saying her character,

what she did and what she was going through,

I didn't really care for. I can see that. What

grade would you give Perks of Being a Wallflower?

I'll give it... Perf. I'll give it a six and

a half. Six and a half out of ten. The only other

thing I'll mention before my grade is I love

Paul Rudd in this as well with the connection

to Ant -Man obviously, but I loved his character

and I loved the interaction between him and Logan

Lerman as the whole teacher thing went. I'm gonna

be much higher than you on this one. I'll give

this one a nine out of ten. I think this is definitely

worth talking about. Like Dan said, I don't know

if it's going to make any lists as far as top

of the decade, but I think it's definitely something

that you should watch in preparation for that.

So I'll give it a 9 out of 10. Dan, where did

you stand on this one? I was about the same.

I think 8 .5, 8 -ish range. I just remember really

liking the characters. I can kind of see where

maybe some of them fit in certain archetypes,

but I would say when this came out in 2000...

12 even though it's not that long ago some of

the things that was getting into especially since

this was a Story from the 90s and one I think

I believe that's you know based upon a novel

that's based upon the guys real life that it

it felt very authentic to me so even if some

of the stories do felt familiar or Do you kind

of fall in line with things you've seen before?

I thought at least there was it come from it

came from a genuine place, and I thought the

performers overall were all really great so Alright,

so both very positive Two scores for nines out

of our homework and a six and a half is not too

bad any homework for next week fan Well, we're

getting into a comedy list coming up relatively

shortly So I was trying to find a county film

that was streaming that was quite good and there

isn't a bunch but I came across one Maybe it's

not what we'll see. We'll see what you think

of it It's I would say it's a short easy watch

and it's I don't think you've seen this but correct

me if I'm wrong Now starring Steve Coogan and

that's the trip I've not seen that. All right

Nope. All right. Yeah, it's currently streaming

and it's a trip not the trip from Italy, which

is the sequel to it It was actually on in BBC

was a TV series but in America it was cut down

to to film and it's really just Steve Coogan

and I forget the other guy's name who are just

two comedians going around England to different

restaurants eating and doing impressions. It's

a very Basic film but I'm curious to hear what

you think about it Just because there's really

not much else comedy wise on on Netflix that

falls into this last decade. So Yeah, I wanted

to do the same thing for you, Dan, but I had

to bypass that and think about some of the other

lists that we had out still to go. Drama being

one of them. I didn't really get into the action,

but there's a few drama choices, but I promised

you a few weeks ago that I was going to get to

your level and be as well prepared as you were

for a few weeks and give you some choices. So

I have four choices for you. They all have a

theme, and the theme is that on Rotten Tomatoes,

they're all films from this decade so far, and

they're all films that, as far as critics go

on Rotten Tomatoes, they're in the 90 range.

Most of them 95 or higher, with one exception,

I think it's at a 92, but as far as an audience

rating, they're all in the 70s, or one of them

I think is in the 50s. So I'm gonna give you

the genre and let you pick, but one of them is

a arthouse horror film. Mm -hmm. One of them

is a dramedy. I guess you could say part comedy

part drama So maybe it would work for the comedy

list Then we have a mystery suspense film and

then we just have a straight drama film Where

do you want to go? Oh? You know what the the

art house horror has me interested, so I'll go

with that one Alright, and hopefully you haven't

seen it. I checked your list and it wasn't on

there, but maybe you've seen it in the last year,

but I'm going to 2012 and The the description

does not sound super intriguing, but like I said

it has a 98 % critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes

and a 74 % audience rating The description says

Lola Stone and Brent Mitchell Asked Brent Mitchell

to the prom, but Brent said no and now he's screwed

what happens when Lola doesn't get what she wants.

And I won't go any further than that, but the

name of it is The Loved Ones? Interesting. I

have not seen that. And it's from 2012. Like

I said, it has a 98 % on Rotten Tomatoes, so

I'm interested to see. I haven't seen it, so

you will be the guinea pig for us. But Strong

Bloody Violence and some language and drug and

alcohol use, I guess, in this, but art house

horror film for you, The Loved Ones. Alrighty.

so we'll see what you think about that one and

we will watch the trip and we'll meet back next

time to talk about that but before we close out

the show we want to just real quick talk about

what's coming out for everybody obviously in

theaters like we talked about Pixels, Southpaw,

Paper Towns from the Fault in Our Stars author

and the Vatican Tapes which stars Michael Pena

and Temminhansu, the horror suspense film, as

well as some limited and video on demand releases.

How about this one? American Heist starring Adrian

Brody and Hayden Christensen. the thriller there.

We got a film called Phoenix, which is a World

War II drama about a concentration camp survivor

who I think gets a new face or a new identity

in a way. As well as some other ones that we

will have in the post, including Unexpected,

the Colby Smulders film about the teacher and

student that are both pregnant and dealing with

that at the same time. And of course, the Blu

-ray DVD releases. One I'm definitely looking

forward to this next Tuesday, and one I'm sure

Amanda is definitely looking forward to maybe

a re -watch. be home. You loved that animated

film from earlier in the year and then the other

film would be The Water Definer. So I'm looking

forward to finally having a chance to see that.

Out of all of that, Dan, which one are you most

excited for? I'm actually intrigued with The

Water Definer being Russell Crowe's first directorial

film. So I think that's one that I will definitely

check out. What about you, Amanda? Anything that

strikes your fancy there? I'm definitely interested

in a rewatch of home. All right. I haven't seen

home yet So I'll definitely add that to the list,

but I'm like Dan I'm gonna pick water diviner

only because I've already seen Southpaw So I

don't need to worry about that one. So I would

definitely am checking out water diviner this

week So, as for our question for this week, I

just wanted to go right back to the Ant -Man

discussion. I know a lot of people have been

doing it on Twitter or other social media, so

the listeners of the show, give us your feedback

as far as where Ant -Man falls in the Marvel

Cinematic Universe. You can rank it in the Phase

2 or you can rank it in the whole Cinematic Universe,

but where do you think Ant -Man falls in that

list? I also want to take a quick... chance to

let everybody know about, obviously, the other

series that Dan and I are doing currently with

our Quentin Tarantino retrospective. We've done

episodes on his first few films, Reservoir Dogs,

Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and by the time this

airs, we'll just be a few days away from the

Kill Bill release, both volumes one and volume

two. So definitely check those out and let us

know if you'd like what we're doing with that,

because there's definitely potential for us to

do more of these in the future. So anything else

that I didn't get to say, Amanda, that you want

to get out before we close out the show? Not

really, no. I'm excited for one of our next shows

coming up, Time Capsule -wise. Yeah, we got some

special stuff coming out. And that reminds me

of what we have coming out next week, which Dan

kind of touched on it a little bit. We will be

going into one of our other top 10 lists that

we've been doing throughout the year. So it's

time for our July addition to that. And that

will be the top 10. comedy films, which will

be the next entry there for 2010 to 2014. So

definitely looking forward to that. I have to

do some last minute research and finalize my

list. Dan, how are you feeling about your list

so far? Well, yeah. It's hard. It's hard because

comedy is so hard to define. Yeah. It's definitely

it'll definitely be an interesting conversation

and we'll have a special guest with us for that

episode as well So that will be what you'll be

hearing next time and then we have an actual

what something else I'm very much looking forward

to after that not gonna reveal it quite yet,

but it has to do with the time capsule and That'll

be a fun episode in two weeks So definitely some

fun stuff for you guys to check out Dan anything

else that you want to let people know about before

we close out No, I'm good Alright, and as always,

if you like Dan, definitely check out Talking

in Circles, his other podcasts, because that's

definitely a fun listen to every Tuesday. So

thanks, as always, for tuning in to the Cinema

Geeks this week. You can call the voicemail line

and leave us a message 502 -526 -5821. You can

visit the Facebook page by searching GeekCast

Radio Network. Obviously, the best way to interact

with us, as far as the show goes, is visiting

the website geekcastradio .com and then clicking

on the different episode posts and leaving your

comments. We've got a lot of great comments there,

so join us. the discussion there, and then of

course there's Twitter, and the show name there

is Cinema Geek Cast. Dan, what is your Twitter?

I am at Movie Revolt. Amanda? Hard Candy Mandy,

eyes no eyes. And I am at Optima Solo, and that

is it for us for this week. Be sure to tune in

next time for another chance to listen to the

Cinema Geeks.