Captain America: Civil War Review

You're listening to the Geekcast Radio Network

of podcasts. Today on episode 94 of the Cinema

Geeks... We give you more reasons to be excited

about the upcoming Black Panther film. We tell

you which films are facing production issues.

And in our main attraction, we give you our take

on Captain America Civil War. All that and more

coming up on episode 94 with the Cinema Geeks.

That's right, it's episode 94 of the cinema geeks

and for those of you that are astute listeners

You may be questioning our counting ability and

that's just because I like to put the wrong numbers

and scripts at times so technically it is episode

94 you can just go through the archives and figure

out what happened episode 93 but there was actually

two episodes we introduced as episode 92 so now

we're straightened out we're at episode 94 and

I'll try to count better in the future I'm not

a math person but I am one of your cinema geeks

Optimus Solo joining me as you heard in the intro

is Hard Candy Mandy Hello Movie Revolt Dan How's

it going? Not too bad and the flea market extraordinaire

Mr.. Fridley sent hello. I got a helmet You've

got a helmet. We can't just say a helmet though

that doesn't make a fight enough Well, I got

a clone trooper helmet, but don't worry my Boba

Fett helmets in the mail That's actually a legit

fact I'm expecting it Wednesday So you've had

a busy week or weekend of going to various flea

markets Dan. How's your week been? Ah, busy as

well. Sun just can't stay healthy. I guess it's

a thing now. So a lot of doctors visits, so that's

been exciting. But other than that, yeah, it's

been nice to see the weather. It's getting warmer.

That's exciting. Orioles are doing well, so I'm

excited about that too. Excellent. My spurs were

eliminated from the NBA playoffs recently but

the Cubs are doing fantastic so I can live on

through baseball season I guess. Our weekend

weekend has been a little bit different. We've

actually been on a little staycation this week

so we've been getting some work around the house.

We've been staying in our deck which we're about

two -thirds of the way through and watching movies

and doing all kinds of stuff. We actually went

to the video store and I think we came back with

nine movies. on the first day of the staycation,

Amanda? Yeah, I don't know. There was just a

couple handfuls. And we've gotten through all

of them except for, I believe, two. And we've

also made a theater visit as well, which we'll

get to a little bit later. So it's been a fun

week, as well as our anniversary two years together.

So it's been somewhat of a celebratory week.

Well, happy anniversary. Yeah, we're celebrating

that by standing the deck today and podcasting.

Thanks for joining us. That is that what is that

the new two -year anniversary because every anniversary

is something new the wood or something, right?

Staining of the woods two years now is podcasting.

So the techie anniversary breakdown So we're

going to get into some news as we usually do

at the beginning of the episode and doing a little

different here because none of you guys have

actually seen the news story. So I'm going to

be springing this stuff on you and seeing what

your reaction is. Some of them you may have seen

on the internet or not, but we'll start with

what you teased in the opening, Dan, and that

is some news on the Black Panther front, which

kind of coincides obviously with our discussion

later on of Captain America Civil War. So I guess

we'll show our hand a little bit on how we felt

with the Black Panther character in that film

by talking about this but two casting rumors

this week about the individual standalone Black

Panther film and that is number one that Michael

B Jordan would be joining the cast and that the

other one is that the possibility not confirmed

but the possibility that Lupita Nyong 'o would

also be joining the Black Panther film casting.

Amanda excited more less or just the same for

the Black Panther film? I'm excited still. I

don't want to say anything because I think even

if I'm not trying to be racist, it's probably

going to sound racist with those additions there.

I just feel like they're a couple of the most

known actors and actresses right now that are

popular in the African -American community. So

putting them in a movie that's surrounding the

only African -American Marvel character that's

getting their own... stand -alone film. I don't

know how I feel about that, like what do they

do in there, but I get it and I'm still excited

nonetheless. Dan, what do you think? Makes sense

because you know Ryan Coogler is directing and

of course he just he's worked with Michael B.

Jordan with both Fruitville Station and Creed.

You know now we have it's interesting that both

people have played human torture now in the Marvel

universe. So I guess that's a thing. But yeah,

he's a great actor so that That has me excited.

I'm curious what role he's playing. I don't know

if he's going to be, you know, a major character,

if he's going to be playing some sort of villain,

because I'm not really sure where they're going,

but I think what I'm really excited about is

that I think it means that the movie is mostly

going to take place in Wakanda, which has me

excited because it's going to at least be a new

setting for a Marvel film, so that'll be fun.

Yeah, I'm going to echo that thought. That's

what makes me the most intrigued, is that I would...

kind of lends to what you're saying, like that

it would be taking place in Wakanda, a new setting,

a new group of individuals to get to know, and

something much different and far removed from

what we've gotten so far with the Marvel Universe,

which seems that it's either in, you know, big

New York -type settings or big cities, metropolitan

areas, or it's in space. So it'd be interesting

to see how they handle this. And yeah, Ryan Coogler

obviously has history with Michael B. Jordan.

He's gotten some great performances out of him.

So... I guess depending on what kind of part,

it does bode well for that. Matt, excited for

the Black Panther standalone film? Yeah, I don't

know. I got some mixed feelings. I think everyone's

on the Black Panther bandwagon, and I'm still

all like, but I like Falcon. Like, because Falcon

was great. Like, I feel like the hype around

Black Panther is the same hype that was around

Falcon after Cap 2. And then he had, what, a

cameo in Avengers, he got his ass kicked in Ant

-Man, and now it's like, no, we're moving on.

And it's like, aw, he's so much better. I don't

know about better, but cool. So cool. And so

I'm a little upset and a little salty that Falcon

doesn't get his own movie. But to have a Wakandan

-based Black Panther movie might mean that we

could have a Marvel movie where we don't have

to have every single Avenger in it. I mean that

would be cool to like be like yeah, there's still

small time things happening. It's not always

a massive thing Yeah, and I think that would

be well received by most people maybe not by

the masses I guess maybe everybody wants to see

the the team -up film every time but at least

for for those of us maybe a little bit more mature

about the things that it would be nice to see

kind of a little bit more low -key and Some side

stories going on there. Let's get the bad news

out of the way I have it in the script all it

says is oceans 11 So you might not know why that's

bad or why that's not and maybe I'm the only

one that'll feel that that's bad but the rumors

are is that there is going to be a reboot of

Ocean's Eleven, I don't know if we've had this

rumor before, but the all -female version, and

there's two names attached to it this time, which

would be Amanda, Sandy B., and Jennifer Lawrence

are the two names that are being thrown about.

So Ocean's Eleven... So is Sandy B. like George

Clooney? What's that? So Sandy B. is George Clooney,

and then Jennifer Lawrence is going to be Brad

Pitt? I don't know. Or Matt Davis. Brad Pitt?

And who's going to be the other nine or ten females?

I don't know. Melissa McCarthy? We can only hope.

Amanda, any excitement for Ocean's Eleven, the

female version? Yeah, I'm kind of excited. I

think that, I don't know what we want to call

it, but this fad of this all -female cast reboot,

I think I kind of dig it. It's a cool way to

reboot. Cool way to reboot, but is it going to

quickly be overdone, Dan? Well, everything gets

overdone, so probably that's... Hollywood never

leaves early. It's not like they're like, okay,

we're gonna... We're gonna, you know, they run

it to the ground as much as possible. There's

that guy at the party that, like, the last person

that's left in the host is, like, doing dishes

in the kitchen, and they're still, like, chatting

on the couch, and you're just like, come on.

Oblivious to everything else, yeah. I'm getting

in my pajamas now. It's time for you to go. Continue.

So, I mean, I don't... 100 % against the idea

of doing it and my question is who's behind it?

Who's like gonna be the director? Sandra Bullock

and Jennifer Lawrence does you know? That's a

pretty solid cast just to start off with and

I do enjoy myself a good heist movie But I just

wonder if they really even need doesn't Need

to have the link to oceans 11. I guess you need

the name recognition, but I feel like maybe with

those that type of cast Maybe you wouldn't but

I don't know I I would be more I'm actually probably

more intrigued with it being an all -female cast

rather being like a new version with Right, like,

you know freaking Zac Efron and like that crew

of kids. I don't know who was like the I'll be

Ryan Gosling and Mark Wahlberg and so I mean,

it's probably it is overdone a little bit and

maybe people are you know, some people can claim

claim it's a gimmick and it's you know pandering

or whatever you want to do it, but If they get

the right people behind it, it could be good

the rumors in the article are that I believe

his name is Gary Ross The guy that did the Hunger

Games I might be getting the wrong first name

but would be the director who obviously has experienced

directing Jennifer Lawrence and The writer was

the one that wrote little women the film so I

don't know that means good things No, not the

book. I didn't want anyone to be No, so I don't

know it depends on if people like those two The

series of films the hunger games or the little

women film I guess if they'd be excited that

those are the two names and it's also being remembered

that George Clooney would have a he would be

producing it and then he would have a small Cameo

somewhere in the film So I guess that would be

your link to the oceans 11 casting storyline,

etc Matt are you a fan of the oceans movies at

all? I am a big fan. Well, I call myself a big

fan I don't know that I've seen 12 or 13. I like

Ocean's Eleven, but I really like the original

Rat Pack one. It's one of my favorite heist films,

and I like heist films, so I don't know, that's

a thing. I'm all for heavily female -centric

movies that are not just cheesy love stories

or anything like that, because that's a thing

that we don't get nearly enough of. But I also

agree with the, like, why even have Ocean's Eleven?

Is the name recognition really gonna draw that

many people in? Hollywood's scared to put anything

out there that's not connected to something,

you know that. Yeah, again, we can all talk about

how much we hate Hollywood here on our movie

podcast where we all go and support it every

week. It's all about who you know. Well, let's

get into some of the behind the scenes, I guess,

in Hollywood, then some films that are having

a little bit of production issues. So if you're

a fan or if you're looking forward to these films,

it might not be the best of news, but we'll see

here. First off is Godzilla 2, the sequel to

Godzilla 2 that's supposed to be a step closer

to connecting Godzilla and King Kong in some

type of all -out battle a couple years from now.

And the news around that is that Gareth Edwards

has actually stepped out of the director's chair

for Godzilla 2. So I know not a lot of us were

huge on his... directing in Godzilla 1, so maybe

it's not necessarily a bad thing, but usually

doesn't mean great things for a film when a director

steps out. Or is this just the fact that he is

now in the Star Wars universe and has no time

for anything else, Dan? That's a good question.

I guess if you asked me would I rather do Star

Wars or Godzilla 2, personally, I'd probably

go with Star Wars, so I don't blame him. Yeah,

I mean, I guess it's interesting because it's

seeing him... Didn't he also... I thought he...

There's rumors that he may not be doing the next

Star Wars movie either, so who knows? No, I don't

know. I didn't see those. That might be incorrect,

so who knows? I don't know. I enjoyed The Last

Godzilla enough, but there were a lot of problems

with it, so I'm all for or all okay with someone

new coming in and maybe trying something different.

Yeah, I'm with you. I have no problem with that.

It makes no impact on me. Unless somebody really

great comes in, I guess I would be somewhat more

excited than before, but otherwise I'm just kind

of on the whole thing anyways. Matt, are you

a fan of the stuff they're doing here with Godzilla

King Kong and eventually uniting them, and does

this throw any wrenches in the road for you?

What company's doing this? Universal, I believe,

isn't it? Well, at least it's not Warner Brothers.

They've proven that they don't know what they're

doing with movies. Just in general. Well, they

definitely can't make a universe that seems cohesive

and logical, so... I don't know, like, I don't

need this in my life. I don't need the crossover,

like, I don't need all the big monsters to get

together and fight or even team up. And it's

not even one that I even, as a kid, was like,

oh, I wonder what would happen if King Kong and

Godzilla, just because, you know, one's Eastern,

one's Western, so it never, I guess, crossed

my mind as a child. Um, I do like the idea of

anyone who touched the first one leaving, because

that was a mess. I'm with you on that. But yeah,

I don't know. Like, I don't want to say they

shouldn't do it. I just, I don't have high hopes.

Yeah, I don't have high hopes either. I guess

we'll have to wait and see who gets involved

with that. Amanda, the other... film that is

having few issues is apparently Aquaman which

obviously we got the the sneak peek into what

the Aquaman character would look like in Batman

vs Superman and there was rumors that James Wan

had stepped out of the director's chair now there's

rumors that he never did that he's back on and

is still doing it but the rumor that circulated

in the last week or so is that now apparently

it is being rewritten altogether from page one

entirely rewritten from scratch that usually

doesn't bode well but the film is not slated

to be released I don't think until 2018 so is

this no big deal there's plenty of time still

to get a good screenplay written up for Aquaman

or do you think it's disturbing that now they're

rewriting the whole thing? Super disturbing I

feel like that's kind of late in the game I mean

yeah 2018 but there's a lot of stuff that needs

to go on between then and I don't know, is it

going to follow in line with the feel that they

already set in place with a tone from that snippet

that we got in Batman vs Superman? Because I

want it to. I don't want the look to change.

I'm a little worried. I'm sure the look won't

change. I don't know what this is going to mean

as far as what the problems were with the original

script or likewise. Is this just another sign

of what's going on in the DC Cinematic Universe,

Dan? Or are we just overreacting way too early?

Ah, it's hard to tell, because, you know, thinking

of something like Ant -Man, that was rewritten

and had problems, and I think overall, maybe

it didn't turn out as much as well as it could

if Edgar Wright was behind it, but at least it

turned out solid enough. I'm worried really with

anything when it comes to DC at this point, to

be honest with you. Hearing rewrites, hearing

it starting over from scratch, like it just,

like, what got, like, what is... causing that.

How did you get to that point where you had the

script that was done, you're ready to go, and

suddenly now you're reacting and changing it?

And that's my issue with Warner Brothers. They're

very reactionary. We're talking about chasing

trends. It seems like they're doing that all

the time, just trying to figure out what's the

next best thing. And they really have a very

little... grasp over what they want to do. They

have no vision really. They just really are just

trying to throw things out there. So the fact

that they're changing things up as much as they

are, and we've heard of things with Suicide Squad

and doing reshoots as well, it just seems like

they are lacking that... foresight or lacking

a presence to really keep things unwrapped and

having an idea of, okay, this is the direction

we're going, we're going to keep with it, but

they're just, I think, just throwing things at

a dartboard and hoping something sticks, it sounds

like. Yeah, there definitely doesn't seem like

there's a steady hand at the helm of this whole

ship. Matt, any surprise that we're now, after

doing reshoots on some Suicide Squad, that we're

now rewriting? Most of if not all of Aquaman.

I want to say it's not surprising, but that seems

a little I don't vindictive and mean but I think

to piggyback on what Mandy was saying if you

think about that like the Civil War That wasn't

a movie they were writing a year ago or two years

ago. Like to have the foresight of having a cohesive

world in which you have just forces from all

over the place and it feels like if there's only

one guy or if there's all 30 guys it feels like

the same world and it all makes sense, you've

got to have a vision and a plan years if not

decades into the future. And if you are two years

out and you're like oh we need to redo 100 %

of this movie, you don't have that plan and you

shouldn't be in that game. Right I agree with

both with all three of you guys actually though

with Amanda and Matt you know this had to be

a longer plan than to do this even if it's only

two years out there's a lot of behind the scenes

and visual stuff that has to be going on and

with Dan saying too that it just doesn't seem

like there's a there's it seems like they're

reactionary they're like you said throwing darts

at dartboards and hoping to see what sticks and

every time that there's a movie released there's

a new reaction and there's changes and whatnot

and it's kind of disturbing. Amanda? There's

got to be some correlation to the backlash that

happened from Batman versus Superman. I think

they got super cold feet and they're like, fuck,

what are we gonna do? And they scrapped everything

to try to revamp it to make sure that the Batman

versus Superman backlash doesn't follow through

and carry over to the Aquaman. Right, and it'd

also be interesting to see the tone as far as

these films go moving forward because there's

been a lot of talk out of Warner Brothers and

DC that they were happy with being the grittier,

being the more, what they were calling grittier

and more darker and a little less humorous, et

cetera, compared to Marvel. be interesting to

see as we get Suicide Squad and these films going

forward if they're reversing the course on that

and then starting to try to go back to a little

bit more fun and friendly and humorous mode.

I mean, I hope they don't necessarily do that

because like Dan said, that's just reactionary

and that's not why Batman vs Superman got a bad

reaction. They need to just hold their ground

and follow through with the vision that they

set up to begin with. And just remove Zack Snyder

and continue as they planned. Don't be a bitch.

What's that? Don't be a bitch. And then the other

news story, which probably means nothing to you

guys because all it says is the Irishman, and

I'm sure that doesn't mean a lot to most people

listening to this. But let's play a little word

association, Dan. I'm going to start with you

on this one because I know that you tend to...

I think you've liked a lot of these films in

the past. I don't know what Amanda and Matt take

on. the mob drama is, but here's the rundown

for The Irishman. It's going to be a mob drama.

Martin Scorsese is going to be directing. He's

just acquired the rights to this film called

The Irishman. It's going to be depicting events

concerning the murderers' row, I guess, of mobsters

during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. It says, murderers'

row of 70s, 80s, and 90s heavyweights. And the

cast reads like this. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci,

Harvey Keitel. and Al Pacino. Dan, can they somehow

spark what they had decades ago and reunite that,

or is this going to be interesting to see what

they do all these years later with this cast

and this director? That's interesting because

it's been forever. Joe Pesci, you think his last

movie was like... gone fishing or something like

that, like he's not really acting a lot and he's

kind of walked away. Robert De Niro hasn't worked

with Scorsese since Casino in the 90s, which

is insane. And I should caveat that with the

casting has not been confirmed yet. The only

part that has been confirmed is the story that

the rights have been purchased to that Scorsese

is going to be directing and kind of what it's

about. And those are the four people that he

has mentioned that he wants. So they haven't

agreed to it yet. If anyone could like, you know,

get Pacino back to being good Pacino and De Niro

back to being a good actor again, it would be

Scorsese. Did you really well in silver linings

playbook a couple years ago? So clearly he still

has the capability Just I think you know when

you're in the business for so long you could

probably you know You can get to you So I'm excited

just to see what that would like seeing them

get back together for the first time in you know

Over 20 years or so so yeah, I'm for it, and

I wouldn't think it would be hard to get De Niro

on board He doesn't seem to say no too much these

days and and Hollywood I think the catch there

is getting Joe Pesci, like you said, he hasn't

done anything seemingly in a long time and I

think that would be a key player to this whole

ensemble. So I would be interested to see if

they can actually get him or not. But I'm intrigued

as well. Amanda, you look like you wanted to

say something about this one. Joe Pesci is Joe

Pesci. So I'm pretty sure he can just jump back

in and play somebody from The Mob. He essentially

is the guy that he wants in Goodfellas in almost

everything he does. Minus all the killing. Yeah.

Fun fact about me, I always wanted to be in the

mob, so I'm totally on board with anything that's

a... Is that a fun fact? Yeah, it is. Or should

I be worried? No, I just thought it was cool

that these gangsters can go around in some nice,

you know, tailored suits and just beat people

with bats and stuff. Like, why can't I wear...

Why can't I wear a pinstripe and hit somebody

with a lead pipe and be cool? Like, come on.

Alright, I don't know what... And eat a lot of

spaghetti. Eat a lot of spaghetti, that's part

two? And have a nickname, what would your nickname

be? Alright, Matt, what do you think about, I

don't know if you're a fan of, you know, the

likes of Goodfellas, Casinos, and stuff like

that, but what do you think about this whole

thing? I mean, if it were 15 plus years ago,

it would have been like a lock. Now, I don't

know, like, could they all play 60 -year -old

versions of the guys from the 70s? I don't know.

But if they're all inmates that have been kind

of locked up for a while, isn't that the premise?

I don't know how it's going to tackle it. All

I know is it's a mob drama about 70s, 80s, and

90s. So it seems like it spans quite three different

decades, so it could be a... the overall overarching

story of before, during, after, all kinds of

stuff. Well, they all have some kind of footage

from their younger days in movies. So I think

with the advances in how they're digitally enhancing

people's faces now to make them look like younger

versions of themselves, I think that if done

right, they could probably pull that, at least

the visuals off. Alright, we'll have to wait

and see if he gets any of those actors to actually

sign up for the role or not. We'll keep our eyes

open for anything about the Irishman moving forward.

We're gonna take a quick break. When we come

back though, we'll be giving you our thoughts

on the main attraction today, Captain America

Civil War. Hi, this is Greg. This is Chuck. And

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On the Simplistic Reviews podcast, we talk movies.

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won't Now back to the show do you see how your

patience paid off? Alright, thanks for sticking

with us. As we said before the break, we're coming

back now with a main discussion of Captain America

Civil War. Obviously those followers and listeners

and the fans of the GeekCast Radio Network would

expect us to cover Captain America Civil War

in some way, shape, or form, so we're bringing

you that. Might be a little bit after the fact,

but what that gives us the benefit of is we've

had a chance to view the film, digest it, sit

on it, think about it, maybe read some other

reviews, maybe even listen to other podcasts

that have... talked about Captain America Civil

War and now we're coming at you after all of

that to give you our thoughts on how this film

worked or didn't work and where it stacks up

amongst the other comic book or Marvel Cinematic

Universe films. So Dan, why don't you start us

off here. What were your thoughts on Captain

America Civil War just in general? You know,

after viewing the film, did you like it? Did

you dislike it? And why did you feel that way?

So going into this, obviously, like you mentioned,

I am a Marvel fan and have been for a long time.

Captain America is probably my all -time favorite

superhero. I love Winter Soldier, though I was

kind of a little hesitant thinking that maybe

Marvel... kind of peaked with Winter Soldier.

I liked Age of Ultron, I think, more than most,

but still felt like a step down compared to Winter

Soldier and First Avengers. Enjoyed Ant -Man,

but again, it wasn't, I think, on the same level

of other single introductionary films like Iron

Man. So I was wondering, okay, maybe Winter Soldier

is going to be the peak. Maybe we won't get something

to the level of Winter Soldier or that of the

Avengers again. Ultimately, bringing the Russos

back was a great choice. And what they ended

up doing is he's kind of giving us both, giving

us a film that had similar aspects to that of

Winter Soldier and had the spectacle of the Avengers

and within everything you'd want, the humor,

the action, the drama spectacle. It was really

the entire deal. I enjoyed it thoroughly from

start to finish. I felt that, you know, the Rusev

brothers showed that they have a strong understanding

of these characters, their motivations, how this

universe works, and really improved upon issues

I had with Age of Ultron and some of the characters,

and fix is a strong word, but I would say deepen

a few of them, and I thought the way they incorporated

the storyline of Civil War, of course, they changed

a lot from the source material, but I was fine

with, but I thought they almost used the normal

formula In a way to trick you like they set it

up in a way you thought okay This is the way

it's gonna go, but I liked how they subverted

that expectation with the final act without being

too spoilery But yeah, so ultimately great. Joy

did a great deal. I think it is top echelon of

Marvel up to this point I don't think it's I

don't think I liked it as much as Winter Soldier,

but it's it's right there for me Amanda, what

about you? What was your reaction coming out

of Captain America Civil War? Where does this

kind of fall for you in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe after watching it, and what worked or

didn't work the most for you? I'm definitely

in line with Dan as far as the enjoyment of Winter

Soldier and this. I think that this is just below

Winter Soldier. I think that Bucky is the most

badass mofucka that we've seen so far. in the

Marvel universe by far and for me anyways and

I was really excited to jump back in a world

with him in it and I think that this definitely

had an Avengers feel but it was set apart I mean

the lack of Thor the lack of Hulk was present

but it wasn't a big smack in the face so it was

subtle but it definitely felt a little bit different

than just an Avengers movie and I loved the new

Avengers. I love the integration with that. I

think we'll probably get further into that when

we dive into the characters a little bit more.

But I think that as far as my initial enjoyment

of this movie, I was all in. I was prepared to

be disappointed, but I was not. I think that

a couple things that I saw in the trailer, I

wish I would have withheld, and that's kind of

what the norm is right now. But definitely didn't

take away a lot of... a lot from the movie that

we were exposed to there. I think that the action

and the humor and everything really carried over

with the characters. So I don't know, I was super

stoked to see it and not disappointed. Matt,

you're often someone obviously like a lot of

us that don't necessarily like... source material

being changed too much. Dan mentioned that obviously

they do change quite a bit of the source material

from the comics as far as the Civil War goes

and what we got on the big screen. Did that bother

you at all or do you think that they did the

story justice even if they had to make some changes

here and there? I don't even know how to get

that into words. I am definitely one thing I

am is if you're going to use the name you should

be the idea that was conveyed in the original

one and flat out they got the They got the tone,

they got the concepts all. It's definitely a

spiritual version of it, if not a page -for -page

reshoot. I like it. It's good. You like it? It's

good. What about as compared to... People have

been throwing out the Avengers films or Captain

America, Winter Soldier. How do you think it

stacks up compared to those? I think it blows

Winter Soldier out of the water. Winter Soldier

is not in my top five. I mean, it wasn't before

this and it definitely isn't after this. I think

it's better than Avengers 2. I didn't even go

so that far to say that. Like, I like it. It's

really good. They did a lot of things really

good. Zemo, they did Baron Zemo so well. I mean,

I'm a little upset that they changed his background

because they didn't need to. They really didn't

need to change his background. That's upsetting.

Although they might not have changed as much

as we think because he might be lying about things.

Because he's Zemo. Definitely a character we

might be seeing more of so we'll have to wait

and see how some of that unravels I'm I'm I don't

know where I'm kind of middle of the road. I

guess I Ultimately fall on the positive side

of this I think this was a another great chapter

of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Dan like

you're saying Hopefully dispels some of the fact

that we've seen the best that we're gonna get

and and you know I don't think it necessarily

continued any type of downward trend that some

people might have been seeing happening So I

think it's definitely Great addition to the Marvel

Cinematic Universe. I'm not sure exactly where

I'd rank it probably somewhere in the top Four

or five films. I guess that that I've seen I

do have some issues with it, which will probably

get into a little bit Later on but I think one

of the things that is most impressive and continues

to be impressive For the most part throughout

all of these movies Especially since it seems

like it doesn't have to be an Avengers movie

where we're seeing obviously a bunch of different

characters Being thrown into it, but I think

the most impressive part for me is how well this

film like the original Avengers balances all

of these different characters and it was something

that was definitely probably had a lot of people

skeptical going into this because we were adding

a whole bunch of characters obviously if it's

something that's called Captain America Civil

War we're gonna have a bunch of people on one

on both sides and I was intrigued to see how

are we gonna balance all of these characters

because we have some characters that we know

very well through multiple films We have some

characters that we know through mostly smaller

parts, not necessarily cameos, but smaller bit

parts. And then we have some characters that

we're meeting for the first time. And we're going

to have to balance all of those different varying

levels of knowledge of these characters on the

same screen. over one feature length film, whether

it's a lengthy one or not. And I was super impressed

with how well they bounce from character to character,

how much character development you get for almost

every single character involved. And it just

seems like it's something that should not be

able to be accomplished by the director or the

team behind the film. Obviously, we've seen it

not work in other films, not talk about Fantastic

Four, talk about Batman versus Superman. I mean,

a lot of the times they haven't melded all those

characters as well. I think the only other group

that sometimes has achieved this to varying levels

is the X -Men franchise, but I was super impressed

with how well they were able to develop all of

these characters, get us to know them, get us

to appreciate what their motives are, etc. the

ability that they were able to share the screen

time. Dan, going back to you since you started

off, was there, getting into the characters specifically,

I guess, as a segue for that, was there characters

that worked more, worked less, or how did you

feel the balance worked, and how did you like

the new characters? I don't know if there's any

characters that didn't. worked for me completely.

I thought the balance was pretty solid. The introduction

to the new characters, I think Black Panther

certainly fits in a lot more organically than

Spider -Man did. You could argue they kind of

forced him in there, but I was okay with it because,

one, I loved everything about the characters

and the moment he walked on the screen. It was

a time and place where they needed to add in

some levity and it worked really well and I think

really re -energized the movie when he came in.

I think, you know, Ultimately live with everything

going on like I mentioned like scarlet which

I felt was fixed in a lot of ways I felt with

age of Ultron. She I don't know. She just seemed

Incomplete and I felt like they really developed

her here. There's still a lot of room to grow.

She's not perfect, but I liked what they did

with her in Vision, who I think is still the

one they're having the most trouble with. Since

he's such a powerful character, it's hard to

try to figure out how do you incorporate him,

especially with these giant set pieces when you're

having these heroes face off. It seems like it's

hard to find a way to make it work when you're

having a guy who shoots arrows and a dude who

is legitimately the powers of a god. But I thought

they did well in the way they set up the teams.

And ultimately, I think what they did... well,

was with the characters of Tony Stark and Steve

Rogers and really giving them ideal motivations

for why they would split up and where they're

coming from and they really understood the way

Tony Stark behaves and the way he deals with

emotion and the way in the principles of Steve

Rogers and how those would affect everyone else

and perhaps the and the motivations of why other

characters would not sign or sign these accords

aren't as strong, but you also don't have, you

know, 14 hours to make a movie. So, I don't know,

I didn't, there wasn't any character I didn't

like, and I thought Zemo, while you could argue,

you know, he is not the most complete character,

I felt he was concise and economical in the way

they used him, and he was, you know, I didn't

need more, I thought they did as much as they

needed to, so, us happy characters all around.

Amanda, you obviously said that you liked the

Winter Soldier as a character and getting to

see more of Bucky. As far as the other additional

characters or those that we hadn't seen as much

of that we got to see a little bit more of in

this film, how did you feel that they handled

all the different variety of characters in this

one? I love the new Avengers and I think that

they integrated them all very well. I think Ant

-Man carried his humor over super good, or super

well, how do you say that? Super well. And I

think he showcased his willingness to join the

cause. and he was really eager to be a part of

the Avengers for good reasons too. I don't think

he wasn't out for glory or whatever. He just

wanted to be a part of the good fight and be

involved with these people who he feels a connection

with. And I think that Spider -Man had a really

cool intro into the universe and I was really

excited to see Tom Holland as... Spider -man

as Peter Parker and he definitely showed the

others that he's a contender I was a little you

know skeptical on how his abilities would kind

of mesh in with the others But I was really pleasantly

surprised at the showcasing of his abilities

and how they stacked up to the other Avengers

I think Black Panther definitely a badass and

like we mentioned earlier I think that his homeland

Wakanda looks super legit as do his abilities

and that suit is regal and um super badass um

he had like this cool little necklace thing going

on I think he looks deadly and um Hawkeye though

I felt like he was kind of thrown back in and

like him versus Black Widow I wasn't believing

it I mean they're friends and I feel like most

of it was kind of for show or so I thought that's

what I felt And as far as Scarlet Witch and Vision,

I think they had a weird relationship. And I

really didn't care about her plight. I couldn't

vest in it. I don't know why. And I think they

should have shown something, some kind of hint

of, like, her still grieving with losing her

brother and still dealing with this new lifestyle

she's living. It just jumped right in, like,

you know, this is cool, this is old hat kind

of thing already. And I think I would have wanted

to see a little bit more of her development into,

like, a segue from the life she was living to

the life she has now, and I think I would have

been able to feel a little bit more for her situation.

And then, like, the whole vision in this big

fight, and we're not into spoilers yet, so when

that whole event happened, so it's kind of devastating,

I really didn't feel the weight of it as much.

And I would have liked to have seen a little

bit more of an exchange later on between the

two people involved in that. But as far as, I

don't know, all the other characters being thrown

in and stuff, I was really pleasantly surprised

with how they're all integrated. And I like that

you brought up the fact that there are all these

varying degrees of how much we know about them.

And I think that they did handle that pretty

well. Matt, one thing Amanda mentioned was obviously

the fact that we do have these people that are

on the same side or have been on the same side

for a number of movies, number of years, et cetera,

that are fighting against each other. And I think

sometimes the film acknowledges this even in

their verbal exchanges as they're fighting because

obviously they don't necessarily want to do each

other harm. They're just disagreeing on more

on the... the other issues going on in the film

outside of maybe Captain America and Iron Man

towards the end of the film was at least when

they're fighting in the in the hangar it is a

Thing where they're not necessarily trying to

kill each other here. They're they're just trying

to Get to where they want to be How did you think

that worked as far as the the fighting against

each other and did it come across as genuine

enough? Even though we know they're friends and

then how did you think the balance worked of

all these characters in this film? I'm gonna

have to like I'm so upset because like a man

and I were in agreement earlier before we started

talking about the movie and now I feel like I

just want to argue with everything she just said.

This is always how it is Dan, you hate me, you

hate me. He didn't deny it, he didn't deny it.

Like I love the like the banter where they're

fighting and then like someone so, you know someone

who doesn't have the relationship goes Yeah,

you're pulling your punches like and we could

tell like I you know, and they are fighting and

they're all trained fighters But they also like

don't want to kill each other and they all have

these powers that they can kill each other Like

right almost any one of those people can kill

almost any one of those other people minus the

vision because he's godly And then, like, I also

loved, like, the Vision and Scarlet Witch play

was great because those two get married and have

kids in the comics. And so the idea that they

have this weird sort of like, like, neither one

of us knows how to interact socially with each

other, but there's still kind of like, like,

chemistry there. I loved it. Like, I was loving

every scene with those two together. Because

it felt awkward, but it also did feel flirty

and fun. Like, I don't know, I loved it. I can

kind of see both sides of this. So, I mean, I

can see that I like their scenes together as

well. Vision's one of my favorite characters,

so I like anything that involves him. But I can

kind of see what she's saying, too, where we

don't necessarily get that transition from where

she's at at the previous film to where she's

at at this film. So I can kind of see both sides.

Dan, where do you come down on the Scarlet Witch

and the Vision aspect? Well, I'd like to interplay

and I can see where they're saying like you don't

there's a transition period there but I do I

feel like you get hints of why she is the way

she is because you know the opening sequence

they Obviously Captain America and they've been

trying to train her and bring her into this Avengers

fold They know they they mentioned about practicing

do different maneuvers. So in with a way the

age of Ultron and I think there's been like,

you know, seems like a year or so since that.

So she's been within this team. And it's unfortunate

maybe that we don't get the filler there. But

I felt like they gave me enough to understand

why this was happening the way it did. And I

just thought like I like seeing her trying to

deal with this and how she's a centerpiece to

all this and Based upon the actions of the movie

and so that's why I felt like she had a place

where with age of Ultron I didn't feel like that

was the case she I felt like she was just there

because they wanted to add in new characters

here there was a purpose for behind her and Like

Matt mentioned the interaction between her and

vision really enjoyed that I think it's a really

beginning of something that is going to be continued

in later films the calm. I just felt like he's

way older, he's not a human really. I guess that's

the way they handled her for the most part. It

was just weird to me. I couldn't get past the

fact that I thought he was way older than her.

It felt like, even though he's really not, I

mean he's younger than her actually because he

was only 3 years old. But he just seems like

he's too old for her and I didn't... I didn't

get the flirtiness. I got some like weird awkward

Maybe it's like guy -girl thing. Maybe I'm just

like I'm just on the lookout for lech and creeps

So I'm just like, oh, what is this? Weirdness,

but I mean knowing now from what Matt said that,

you know, they do become a thing later on I'm

like, okay now I can see that like now going

back I can kind of piece it together and I feel

okay about it but watching and I was like, what

is this? I don't get it. Is he her babysitter?

Matt, I didn't mean to cut you off before. You

can react to that as well as continue your discussion

on how to balance the characters. Yeah, I don't

know. I can agree that there should have been

some grieving in the morning, but again, like

Dan said, we don't have 14 hours, so they jumped

forward a year. They could have maybe thrown

in a line, especially at the end of the fight.

where she's like, you know, I didn't want to

have to lose someone like I lost my brother or

something like that and maybe just reminded us

of it. But we couldn't. We didn't have the time

for anything more than a line. I would have been

happy with just a line or two. Yeah, I'll concede

to that. They should have at least made a mention.

What about moving away from Scarlet Witch and

Vision Matt? What were your thoughts on how they

handled the rest of the characters, Black Panther,

Spider -Man and some of the more minor roles

like we haven't talked about with, like you mentioned

before, Falcon, Rhodey, some of those other guys?

So, Tommy McGuire was a terrible Spider -Man.

Um, and then, uh, like, you know, it was like

one of those things where we were all excited,

but really, it was just the only Spider -Man

movie we'd ever had, so we didn't really have

anything to compare it to. Andrew Garfield was

amazing. Uh, this new guy, really good. Like,

maybe better. Maybe better. Um... Still a little

awkward, like, because his voice is so, like,

high -pitched and young -sounding, and I guess

he's, like, a 30 -year -old man, which is weird.

He's 30? That's what I've been told by people.

I haven't actually fact -checked it, but I've

been told he's 30, which is great, because that

means, like, if he can do that at 30... He's

20. Aw, man. Now I'm upset. Because I was like,

but still, at 20, you're done. Like, your voice

isn't changing, you're not growing. So even still,

if he could do it at 20 when he's doing it at

25, he could still maintain a 16, 18, 20 -year

-old personality demeanor, whatever. So I liked

Spider -Man. Shoot, who's he on? Black Panther's

sound design. Like, I guess this is a weird thing

to really love, but I loved it. Like, could've

too. Cause when he's in the Black Panther suit,

he doesn't make any sounds. But when he does

all the same Black Panther moves and he's not

in the suit, he sounds like a regular human being.

And like, it's a small detail, and I usually

don't bug about sound design, but that was so

good, and it made me so happy. What about the

balance of the rest of the characters? Obviously,

we're bringing a ton of characters in here. Amanda

had mentioned Ant -Man. You'd mentioned Falcon

earlier. Do you think they were able to create

a good balance and give equal time to enough

people that we didn't feel like it was shoehorned

in? Yeah, totally. Like, everyone. I'm a little

upset at, like, Captain America's, like, he's

Bucky. I've gotta keep him. I gotta keep going

with Bucky. Because it's like, eventually it's

like, I don't know, Bucky might be wrong about

this one. But I mean, he was his best friend

from childhood. And then stacked on top of that,

everyone he knows from childhood is dead. Like,

you know, I've got guys that I might not have

even talked to in like a year that I'd still

do almost anything for. And I still got my friends,

my other friends. And so like, I get it. I don't

like it, it makes me go, no, don't do it, but

I understand it and it's totally a legit thing

and it's well written and that's what would happen.

Dan, some of the other stuff that this led to

with having this many characters is some interesting

fights and some interesting action scenes. I've

heard from a couple different people that they

were somewhat bored with the action or that it

was nothing that they hadn't seen before and

I can't disagree with that. more because I thought

we got a whole lot of new stuff that we had never

seen before and just want to get your thoughts

on especially some of the pairings. Obviously

we have Iron Man and Captain America with a major

fight going on. We get to see Spider -Man and

Falcon going toe to toe. We obviously get to

see Vision and Scarlet Witch facing off. We got

a lot of interesting things even with Ant -Man

and his powers. How did you feel the action in

this one stood up to other superhero films out

there? Yeah, nothing we've seen before. I feel

like in the most simplistic sense, yes, we've

seen other people punched with people before.

That's a thing, I guess. But you could say that

about all action, I guess, to a fundamental level.

I know, I thought it was varied. well -placed,

and I thought they did do some interesting things.

I liked how adding in Black Panther and Spider

-Man, you had different styles. Black Panther

moved significantly differently than that of

Captain America or Winter Soldier. They had their

own styles. I thought the sequences themselves

were very varied. You had the escape from the

apartment complex and the chase that... after

that I thought was really good and the air point

sequence I thought was phenomenal the way they

incorporated all that there's a great addition

of humor as well as some interesting set pieces

and surprises within that and I thought the final

sequence was just it emotional to a level that

the other ones weren't before where you know

some people you know where people were throwing

their punches and like we mentioned where it

wasn't The air currency was no one was trying

to kill each other, which I was fine with I don't

necessarily think Stakes always have to mean

that it's like stakes to me in this instance

instance is the idea of this team Breaking up.

That's the stakes where this team would get the

point where they aren't able to you know co -exist

anymore but the final sequence I thought was

a good change of pace and Usually Marvel tends

to just get bigger and bigger with their action

set pieces, but I felt this one Didn't do that

in a smart way. So I don't know. I thought I

loved the both russos did with the action in

winter soldier. I actually think I Enjoyed the

action in that a little bit more if I felt it

wasn't as sometimes I got too overly kinetic

with things especially with black widow So I

know they didn't have Scarlett Johansson there

a great deal so a lot of her stuff was stunt

doubles and you could really feel that in moments

where the the shakiness of the camera was a little

bit but I also don't know because I saw an imax

and sometimes like the movement is uh, it it

Seeing it on a regular screen, it doesn't seem

nearly as bad, but I don't know. I love the action.

I thought it was good from top to bottom. I agree

with that, too. Amanda, you're agreeing with

us or disagreeing with us on the action, and

the other complaint that I got from a couple

people that I listened to reviews on was the

pacing and that they got bored with the film

or they were checking their watch. Did you ever

have a moment where you were aware of how long

this film was, or did it keep a good pace for

you? I did look at the time a couple times. I

don't think... That I was too frustrated with

it by any means, but I definitely was a little

bit aware, but I get pretty antsy Regardless

of the film. That's really nothing to say about

the movie. That's just me having ants in my pants,

but the action I Really really enjoyed the preview

That had the action and it definitely had me

psyched up to see some awesome shit go down and

I think that By far, the Winter Soldier action

is probably my favorite. I mean, don't get me

wrong, I think everything with the Black Panther,

he's so well done with his movements, his style,

very awesome, and it looked natural and fluid.

Spider -Man, seeing all his cool little interactions

with everybody, as far as, you know, his web

-slinging and all that, I liked it. I don't really

like... the spider -mans where the webbing doesn't

come out of him like it's a contraption that

he made i think i like it better when the the

webbing actually comes out of his like body but

weird winter soldier that was that was just the

toby maguire one and maybe in an alternate reality

but that's always been a device even back to

the 60s yeah but i like it better when it comes

out she likes mutants all right But I think that

when the Winter Soldier like grabs that motorcycle.

Oh, man. That was the most badass thing I have

ever seen in my entire life pretty sure and I

think that when him and Cap and Iron Man are

fighting It's so intense and that's the one thing

that I wish wouldn't have been in the trailer

I would have liked to just been blown away at

all of that But I'm glad that I was prepared

for it so I could open my eyeballs bigger and

try to take in everything that was happening

And I think that the, um, some of the, like,

gravity of their interactions definitely comes

into play, where you know that either they're

really not trying to kill each other, just trying

to whoop each other's ass, but then there's some

parts where you're like, wow, is he gonna really

hurt him? And just like when in the, in the,

you know, final sequence in Siberia or whatever,

when they're kind of double teaming Iron Man,

And I'm just like, wow, is it not going to kill

him? Is he going to die now? I kind of did feel

that the line was being pushed farther and farther

and farther, and they were going farther as the

movie went on. They were pushing harder, and

I felt that. Real quick before we do a quick

round of some spoiler talk and some final thoughts

on the film, Matt, any reaction to the action

or the pacing of the film? No, it had me riveted

from start to finish. I didn't ever once go,

oh, this is dragging on. Yeah, I wouldn't have

even been able to tell you how long the film

was had I not known prior to it. I definitely

never checked my watch. The last round of discussion

here that might contain some spoilers, so if

you haven't seen it yet, you can skip ahead four

or five minutes from this. Not that you have

to go into spoilers a lot, but there's a couple

things that we could touch on, Dan. Obviously

one thing that the Marvel Cinematic Universe

has somewhat been those that want to nitpick

or try to find fault here or there, since there's

not a lot of places to find fault. A lot of times

they point to the stakes and the gravity of things.

Obviously that comes in varying degrees, but

one thing that they often point to is that we're

13 films in or 12 films in before this one and

Outside of I guess Quicksilver and maybe some

minor characters. We haven't really seen any

of the major characters die Do you think they

missed opportunity to? kill off to for I guess

the sake of sounding morbid a character in this

film or do you think it really makes no difference

if they did or didn't or Kind of how do you feel

or react to people that the kind of site that

is something that may be Marvel's unwilling to

do up to this point? Well, I think death is I

hate how the idea that only stakes only involve

people That's what I was trying to can be like

that. Yeah, if no one it just seems like I feel

like there's more ways there's more things than

that like I mentioned I feel like the the issue

here not necessarily is who lives and who dies

because Going into this I didn't expect anyone

to die I mean if these are characters who are

fighting each other but have no desire to kill

one another and If you do have someone die I

think you've got to the point where you may not

have be able to come back from that or be quite

difficult to come back from that and also you

kill somebody it's you know, that's a It's difficult

when millions of dollars are right right relying

on a lot of these characters But I felt the the

stakes were here because at the end of the day

The villain wins. The team's split up. You have

a character who's paralyzed. You do have stakes

where there is an outcome where... You know the

the Avengers are no longer avenging their outlaws.

That is the case here So I I had no issues with

this because I hear that a lot where no one ever

dies I just feel like that's not always That's

not always a determining factor of me getting

invested in something if that was the case I

would never watch a Jason Bourne movie or watch

a James Bond movie because I know they're probably

not gonna die either So I just feel like that's

just a really limited way to define stakes is

by who lives and who dies Yeah, I agree and I

was trying to kind of I guess I showed my hand

a little bit because I was trying to say Echo

those thoughts in the way I phrased the question

because the stakes come in various levels and

varying degrees and I don't think it necessarily

always has to be the ultimate live -or -die type

of steak we get a lot of different stakes Involved

with the future of this team and if they will

work together Amanda you can react to either

the fact that nobody was killed or or the stakes

in the film in general or also what he said a

little bit what Dan was alluding to that the

villain ultimately wins in the fact that they

do split up here and how that goes to another

argument that a lot of people like to lobby over

towards Marvel films is that they always say

there's a lack of a good villain and I think

the the main rebuttal on this one is that regardless

of if you like Zemo or not that the point is

not him as a villain in this film the the point

of this film is will the Avengers stay together

or or be separated through his or any other action

so how do you kind of combat the two the two

I guess lobbies that they send towards Marvel

whether it's nobody ever dies or they don't have

good villains um I I really liked Zemo I think

that if his story about his backstory is true

that makes him really powerful and I can I totally

vested in why he did what he did and I think

that it was genius of him to instead of trying

to take on these god -like individuals and these

people with all these abilities and people who

surround themselves with other people who are

on their side that have these same abilities

it's foolish for him to think that he could have

really taken them out but to pin them against

each other is going to be the only way to take

them down and I think he definitely did what

he set out to do and As far as villains go, I

liked fucking Mickey Rourke's character in Iron

Man 2. I thought he was crazy. I thought he was

a good villain. But I think as far as killing

people off, I'm glad they didn't kill anybody

off. I don't think they need to necessarily kill

anybody off. And what about all the kids that

are watching this? I mean, we know that parents

are bringing their kids to this. I think Marvel

knows that, understands that. And how would a

child I can tell you because Optimus Prime died

in 1986. How would a child feel if one of their

favorite superheroes did die in a movie? I mean

they've got toys for every single one of these

characters and they put a lot of... stuff out

there for kids would revolve around this movie,

and I think that it would really be devastating

to the kids, so I don't think as far as, you

know, on that line goes, I don't think they should

have killed anybody off. As far as us adults,

I don't think that we should have to have the

stakes be somebody's gotta fuckin' die. Because,

I mean, worse did come to worse than this. So

I think they set out to do something and they

accomplished it as far as Zemo goes, so. And

also, spoilers, I think that it was cool seeing

the Winter Soldier's backstory and trying to

figure out if he, still, if he was a good guy

or a bad guy, if he could be trusted, if not,

if he was the only one or if there was somebody

worse out there. Yeah. And we didn't talk a lot

about the Winter Soldier backstory and kind of

what part he played in some of the other characters'

lives. Matt, you can react to that. Character

deaths, the villain in where Zemo stacks up against

things. We also didn't talk about crossbones,

I guess, so how did he work for you or not? Oh,

so much. So I love that Dan's got that sentiment.

It doesn't always have to be death because, again,

in superhero comics, who dies? And when they

die, how long does it last? And so death is almost

cheap in this. But at the same time, we're at

14 movies, we've had one guy die. Like, and you're

thinking if you're having massive clash of superpowers,

people are going to die. People are going to

die in the Infinity War, and if they don't, I

don't know what they're doing. This was not the

movie to kill people off. It's heroes fighting

heroes. Like, even at the end when Tony Stark

is going for broke, he's still heroes fighting

heroes. And people shouldn't be dying, and if

they are, then someone messed up somewhere. So

there's that. Crossbones is like... Batroc in

cap 2 it's like I'm aware that this character

exists. I kind of know their gimmick. Maybe I

don't know their gimmick He exists and like I

don't know I don't know him well enough to actually

have a comment on him. What else? Just a Zemo

does he work as a villain? Do we necessarily

need a good villain when it's about the Avengers

sticking together or splitting up? So a lot of

people like Zemo and a lot of people had problems

with him, but regardless, he's not necessarily

the point, I guess, of what's going on. I guess,

how do you react as far as where he fits in with

the villains of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Oh, man. Like, so... She brought up Mickey Rourke,

and, like, I guess he was the villain of Iron

Man 2, but, like, Hammer was the villain of the

fun of Iron Man 2. Like, that guy ruined that

movie. Just that whole storyline, that guy. Oh,

totally terrible. But other than that, other

than Hammer, I feel like every villain has been

good. Who hasn't been good? Ultron was amazing

and hilarious and dangerous and scary. When was

there not a good villain? And then Zemo is also

top tier. He made the Avengers fight and they

don't even know it, that it's his fault. He can

straight up tell them it's my fault. I've had

a year and I've orchestrated this whole thing.

And it's still just like, nah, we were doing

this and we would have done this. And it's like,

nah, man, he Zemo'd you hardcore. Like, I'm so

happy. I'm like so pleased with how well he did

Zemo because like in the original Civil War,

it wasn't orchestrated. It was, you know, just

a massive terrorist event went wrong. Crappy

superheroes were trying to deal with it. They

were doing it poorly. It was all recorded. And

that shut off a chain of events. And in this

one, it's like that did happen. but there was

a hand guiding things, and that hand was Nemo,

and that's how Nemo works. Yeah. All right, last

round through, guys. Anything that you haven't

got a chance to talk about, any spoiler, non

-spoiler, it doesn't matter what it is, anything

you haven't got off your chest, Dan, and then

also a score out of 10 for Captain America Civil

War. Ah, wow, anything I... Something that we

didn't touch upon? No, I think we touched upon

mostly everything. I do feel like this is the

best Tony, not Tony Stark, but Robert Downey

Jr.'s been with Tony Stark in quite a while.

I just felt like he brought new depths to the

character that wasn't there, like he felt like

he was on a downward trend with it in a way.

Maybe was getting bored or the character was

stale and not much a little harsh I still like

the character, but I thought this like we got

an insight to the character that never did before

but I Yeah, it's where I'm a ten. Yeah, I maybe

call me Marvel fanboy, but I would give this

a solid nine out of ten All right, nine out of

ten nine out of ten for Dan Amanda, what do you

score it? And what else did you not get a chance

to talk about? Dan started in on one of my points

definitely I think Tony really had some definition

to his arc here and even like the the relationship

with Pemper ending was really really telling

and I think it shows how he's dealing with things

and You know coping with what did happen especially

in Avengers 2 and it shows the gravity a lot

more than what Avengers 2 did Bearing off that

I I would have liked to have vision and Rhodey

have some kind of interaction after all that

happened, and not just Tony and Rhodey. Like,

I'm sure Vision can feel remorse or feel bad.

I know he didn't intend to do that, but he can

be like, aw shit, my bad, dude. Like, something.

And I would have liked that a little bit. And

you know, Rhodey would have forgiven him or whatever.

Whatever would have happened. I would have liked

to see, like, just a brief little exchange there,

maybe. I mean, they're supposed to be on the

same side, right? So I would have liked to see

something. Be like, bro, you know, I didn't mean

to do this, but still I gotta say this. Also,

I'm super glad that they they played up the Peter

Parker side not just spider -man I think that

I liked them showing him as a kid and not just

a new Avenger And I think they brought it back

to like a real -life level like they did in the

AMA movie So I you know I was a fan of that too,

and I think as far as score goes oh Man, I think

I'll also give it a 9. All right, so 9 out of

10 from both of those individuals met are you

gonna be on board with them or or slightly different

in any final thoughts that you did not get to

talk about um... i i i i like the idea of having

vision a roadie have a a moment uh... especially

could have been super awkward because like really

well you know really the career uh... soldier

And so, like, he knows that mistakes happen on

the battlefield, and like he said, like, he's,

you know, he's gone on so many missions he should

have died. The fact that he's still alive, just

injured, you know, is just, like, he's still

lucky. And so, like, have that moment where Vision

doesn't know how to talk to humans, and, like,

Rhodey totally expected this to happen eventually.

But I think that would have been a way better

post -credit scene than the one we got, and that

would have been the perfect place to put it.

And the only other idea, like... the fact that

they made Aunt May weirdly sexy, but then addressed

it in the movie. I love, like, when you see Marissa

Tomei and you go, oh, wow, that's not Aunt May.

And then Tony Stark addresses it on screen like,

oh, I never expected this. Like, what is up with

this? It's like, oh, they know what they're doing.

And I'm going to give them leeway to do it. And

they did it. And it was great. And it worked

out for me in the end, even though a knee jerk,

it would have been a really bad thing. And I'm

gonna also go 9 out of 10, and I wanna add weight

to that by saying I don't do half points on a

10 scale, so that's next to perfect. Awesome.

So three nines. For me, I think any type of nitpick

that I had to come up with would be silly because

it'd be something that... the film would not

have been able to address without increasing

its length. And it's already a decent length

on the film. And like Dan and Matt, you both

have said a lot of stuff could be done, but then

we'd have a 14 -hour film. So I think a lot of

that comes, for me, with the motivations of each

person and which side of the... Dilemma they

fall on and whether they side with the group

that wants to sign the accords or not I think

some of that could have been developed a little

bit a little bit better You know even with Iron

Man I guess if you really know the character

and really kind of know how Narcissistic he is

you you buy into it But I think for some people

it might have been a little bit too easy with

just the one encounter with the with the mom

from the victim of Sokovia and what happened

in Avengers 2. So I mean, I think some of those

things, maybe if you were really trying to nitpick,

but again, I don't, you can't necessarily go

into every single character and what their motivations

are and nor would you want to see every single

person and why their thought process is what

they are. But maybe a little bit there where

I would have liked to see a little bit more development

in some type of extended cut of the film maybe.

in some other universe if it exists. But like

I said, most of the nitpicks would be exactly

that, nitpicks that aren't necessarily a bad

part of the film. I think it balances the action

and gives us new action that we haven't seen

with the likes of Black Panther, Spider -Man,

and a couple of the interactions like when Winter

Soldier and Captain America are interacting together

against Iron Man. None of that stuff is anything

we've seen before. So new action, exciting action.

I like the pace. I like the balance of all of

these characters. I like the way it sets up the

Spider -Man. I like the way it sets up the Black

Panther film so I think there's a ton that this

one does right and It'd be interesting to see

where else we go from here with with the future

Marvel Marvel films now that we've gotten this

so I am gonna be I Guess I'll go eight out of

ten. I'll be the only one that doesn't go nine

But I think maybe on a rewatch or future watch

it could even bump up higher than than that for

me But I think this is like I said one of the

top four or five Marvel films that we've gotten

so Three nines and eight, obviously glowing reviews

for Captain America, Civil War, and it is Matt

making all of the money, so that should help

you in prediction results when we get there.

I also have a bet writing on it. Uh oh, what's

the bet? If you can believe it, I bet a guy that

it was going to make more money than Suicide

Squad and he took that bet. That might not have

been the wisest bet for that guy to take. Real

quick, in closing here, anything that you've

been watching if you had a film or a TV series

or something that you've been watching in the

last week that you want to get off your chest

and have a second to think about, one or two,

Dan, anything that you want to mention that is

worthy? Sure. I recently watched The Finest Hours.

I don't know if you guys even remember this coming

out earlier in January. It's with Chris Pine.

It looks almost like a perfect storm. knockoff

or something where he's a co -starred and Casey

Affleck is in it as well and Like I wouldn't

into watching and thinking it was gonna be awful

like it's this January release done by Disney

Based on the true story. It was I had super low

expectations and ended up actually Being I would

what I would call way better than it had any

reason of being It was directed pretty solidly

like a lot of the sequences within the storm

were done really well There was a lot of really

high tension Chris Pine was pretty good. He played

this sheepish type of hero that was different

for him. Casey Affleck was interesting. Maybe

not the best performance from him overall, but

I thought it's a rare type of movie where it's

like a family movie that's done seriously and

not overly corny. So I thought it was quite good.

It's not best of the year material by any means,

but considering my low expectations, I ended

up enjoying it. What score out of 10 would you

give that one? I'd probably like six six out

of ten which again. It's not an amazing score,

but Compared compared to where I thought it would

be much improved Excellent so the finest I was

yeah, I haven't seen that one yet I was not sure

it looked like it could even either be terrible

like you're saying and because of those expectations

I've stayed away up to this point, but maybe

I'll give it a watch Amanda you saw a 2016 film

as well. Why don't you tell us about it? Oh,

man, I saw the boy and if you know me or listen

to us, you know they love horror, and I normally

can tell what's gonna happen, the twist, I can

see it a mile away, all that good stuff, but

I'm okay with it. As far as this movie goes,

you go through the entire movie thinking things

are one way, and then the end hits, and you're

like, whoa, that's the twist. I did not see that

coming whatsoever. There's a couple jump scares.

super creepy vibe throughout the whole thing

and this unraveling of the story that happens

is intriguing and I would definitely recommend

this movie probably even to people who aren't

a fan of horror because there's not a lot of

crazy vague horror elements as far as like gore

or anything crazy like that happening So if you

like thrillers, I would definitely recommend

this as well. It's definitely worth a watch.

I would give it, man, I'd probably give it a

seven and a half, eight out of 10. Okay, so a

good recommendation, I guess, for anybody that

is into those genres of film, like you mentioned.

The Boy, 2016 release, getting a seven and a

half or an eight out of 10 from you. The other

film that we actually both saw in theater this

week was, finally got a chance to check out The

Green Room. from Sony who did Blue Ruin a couple

years ago now, and starring Patrick Stewart.

I'll let you go first, but what were your thoughts

on The Green Room? Wow, at first I was like,

what? I don't even remember what that movie was

about. And then we watched the trailer, and I'm

like, yep, we're seeing it. So I was prepared

to go into this movie liking it. It looked intense.

It looked like something that I could definitely

get behind and be on the edge of my seat the

whole time. And it was... Definitely a lot more

brutal than I thought it was going to be. I knew

there's going to be some level of brutality in

it, but it just kind of went there a couple times.

And it's got the... He was in Odd Thomas. He

was in... Did he play Chekhov? Anton Yelchin?

Yes. I like him as an actor. He's always pretty

good. And he was in this. I really liked him.

I would say that he's probably the main character,

I would say. I don't even think Patrick Stewart

was like the main guy. I think he was just kind

of some force that doesn't really do a whole

lot. He's just kind of like the shot -caller,

basically. So that was a little disappointing,

but he was still intimidating. I've never seen

Patrick Stewart in that light by any means, and

it was really cool seeing him in a new form.

I would say he's not the guy that you like in

this movie by any means. and it went in a way

that I didn't really expect it to, I guess. I

didn't know what to expect except I knew I was

on board because I liked the director's other

film to a certain extent. I liked Patrick Stewart,

a huge fan of his, so I was all on board to see

him in this one. But I had no expectations as

to what kind of film we were going to get and

what directions we were going to go. It definitely

went a little more brutal than I thought it was

going to go, but I don't necessarily... I'm not

saying that as a bad thing or a knock against

the film. I think what this film does very well

is it keeps its cards close to its chest and

you don't necessarily know what's coming and

you don't know every turn or every plot angle

that's happening, so it kind of keeps you guessing

throughout the film, which is a big positive

for me. And it was just kind of interesting.

It's almost a... I could see people making comparisons

to the likes of another 2016 film, Cloverfield

Lane, even though it's weird comparing the two

since one of them obviously is very much science

fiction based and one has nothing to do with

that genre. But just that same type of setup

where you're in an enclosed space, at least for

a portion of the film, and you're not sure as

far as the people that are calling the shots,

what the motives are, what... The facts are what's

really going on behind closed doors. So they

have a lot of those types of moments in common.

And I like that when a movie does things like

that. And like I said, it definitely keeps you

on your toes. So I was already expecting to like

this film, but I liked it even more probably

than I expected. Amanda, where was your score

out of 10 on Green Room? Oh, man. Based on the

fact that even at the end of the movie, you were

able to think back and tie in some more pieces.

that the kind of breadcrumbs that they dropped

along for you to be able to put this whole thing

together. I think I'm going to give it a 7. And

that's where I'm at too. I'm going to give this

one a 7 out of 10 as well. I think it's definitely

worth a watch for anybody who likes it. If you

watch the trailer and you're intrigued or it

seems like something that's kind of for you,

then I would definitely check it out. It'll be

worth a watch. Dan, any other one? We've got

time for probably one more, if you have one.

Sure, just a quick one. I watched Kill Your Friends,

which is... We came out this year starring Nicholas

Holt in it I think it's like a really low rotten

tomato scores like 20 % which I don't know Maybe

I'm weird but I ended up really liking it a great

deal. He Nicholas Holt plays this radio executive

or sorry record company executive in the 90s

when things were kind of going insane and there

was this huge competition between all these people

to try to sign the next big the big act and It's

it's sadistic. I guess I don't know. It's like

Tower Records meets Wolf of Wall Street with

a little bit more with a sadistic edge to it.

I just think it's great mostly because of Nicholas

Holt. He's like phenomenal and I find him very

funny and but it's it's certainly dark comedy

so I could see it really turning some heads and

some people finding it a little bit too much.

But I know I thought it was stylistic and enjoyable.

So I would recommend it. I would probably give

it like a seven. out of 10 around there. But

yeah, so again, if you're a fan of Nicholas Holt,

I would say check it out. That does not bode

well for my PFFL standings if it's got a really

shitty Rotten Tomatoes. Because you have Nicholas

Holt on your team, right? Yeah. Okay. Well, you'll

have to go make that Rotten Tomatoes account

and start writing some reviews like you were

going to a couple weeks back. So the last one

that we'll talk about real quick is catching

up with something that long. unseen classic that

I was trying to knock off my list of shame. Like

I said, we came back from the video store with

a lot of films and a couple of them were some

old ones. I got to see Glengarry Glenoros for

the first time, as well as Vertigo. So I finally

got to knock Vertigo off my list of shame. So

I just got done watching that one earlier today.

And I will say that I did enjoy that film. I

enjoyed the acting. I enjoyed the writing. I

haven't seen a lot of Hitchcock stuff for some

weird... I don't know what the reason is, because

I like stuff that I have seen from him, but I

have not seen most of his feature films. I will

say that I like this one quite a bit. I had maybe

a minute, minute, minute problem with one part

of the ending, but I think as I sit on it more,

it will become less of a problem. Don't know

a lot of people put this in there like top five

films of all time I don't know if I'm quite ready

to do that But I would give this film like eight

and a half nine out of ten Probably in my book

so right around the eight and a half mark for

me. So I like vertigo I'm looking forward to

watching some of Hitchcock's other stuff and

knocking those off my list of shame as well Dan

Have you seen vertigo? Yeah a few years ago.

I'm unlike you I can recognize its greatness

and I could see why it's certainly influential,

but it's Not my favorite Hitchcock, to be honest.

I don't have any knocks against it, but I think

I enjoy some of his other films a little bit

more, like Wear Window, or Rope, or when I think

of Psycho, and I like them a little bit more

than Vertigo. I'll be interested to see those

and kind of compare those to this one, because

like you said, I can... Recognize the greatness

and the acting the writing etc and what they're

doing and then some of the twists and turns and

whatnot for the time period but there was a couple

issues with I mean his his whole thing is that

he has vertigo and that you know He can't have

heights and in one scene, you know He's stepping

on a little step stool and he has an issue where

he almost faints yet there's other times in the

film where he's clearly on the second or third

story of hotel rooms and this and the other looking

over onto the street below and it has no effect

on whatsoever so thought it was a little inconsistent

with one of the main parts of the film but maybe

that's me being uh... too nitpicky i don't know

but uh... i do recognize its greatness and uh...

just not going to be quite in the top 10 of all

time for me. Like I said, eight and a half out

of 10. So that does it for what we've been watching.

As far as stuff that you guys can keep your eyes

on, as far as theater releases this weekend,

Blu -ray is coming out on Tuesday. For Blu -ray

releases, we have Dirty Grandpa, The Witch, and

the one that Dan was just talking about, The

Finest Hours. And as far as the films that were

released this weekend that are out in theaters

currently, we have Ore on video demand or a limited

release. We have The Darkness. which we talked

about a little bit when we were doing our May

predictions. We have Money Monster starring Julie

Roberts and George Clooney. We have Search Party,

High Rise, you and McGregor playing the devil

and Jesus in Last Days in the Desert, I Am Wrath,

The Lobster, and a couple other films. Dan, anything

on that list that catches your interest, something

that you want to check out for sure? Actually,

there's not a lot to... I actually really want

to see The Lobster. I'm just curious about it,

because the guy who did that did Dog Tooth, which

was a really unique, interesting film. And just

the premise is so insane. So I hope to check

that out. Amanda, anything for you? I know you

were big on High Rise when you saw the trailer.

So anything that you want to see on that list?

Or is it a slow week for you at the movies? I'll

see The Darkness. You're going for Kevin Bacon,

huh? Bro, let me see Kevin Bacon. I'm going through

the... the letterbox to get my list of shame

going here. And I've noticed a ton of Kevin Bacon

movies I haven't seen. There's even a movie with

him and Charlize Theron. I'm like, I need to

see this, guys. Need to see this. All right.

I'm intrigued by The Lobster. I'm not sure what

my expectations are. But I guess if I was picking

one out of that list, I would pick that. I guess

I like you and McGregor, so maybe I would watch

Last Days in the Desert if it was free and on

TV and I didn't have to go anywhere. Matt, anything

on that list that steps out to you that you want

to see? I'm going to say no, but go and watch

Money Monster. Why? I don't know, man. Maybe

I got a guy in it in the PFO. I've heard a lot

of talk about it. It didn't interest me at all

when I watched the trailer. But I know that there's

a lot of people talking about it and maybe that's

the thing. Alright, so we'll have to wait and

see who gets points and who doesn't get points

from all these films that are coming out. That

does it for this week's episode our question

for you guys listening is where does Captain

America Civil War rank for you in the Marvel

Cinematic Universe? Is it number one? Is it number

two right under Avengers and Captain America

The Winter Soldier or is it way down the list?

Where does Captain America Civil War rank for

you out of 13 Marvel films? Alright, thanks as

always for tuning in to the Cinema Geeks this

week. You can contact us in a lot of different

ways. You can call the voicemail line 502 -526

-5821 and actually leave us a voicemail. We'll

play it on the air. If possible, if we get it

in time, you can visit the website geekcastradio

.com, find the episode post and comment there.

We'll try to interact with you. At least one

of us should be able to see that and interact

with you on the website. You can visit the Facebook

page by searching Geekcast Radio Network. And

the best way to interact with us individually

is through Twitter. page site uh... twitter handle

is at the key cast radio this podcast is at cinema

geek cast minus at optimist solo and if someone

wants to interact with you directly how do they

interact with you i can't even i know why and

you uh... have some guest appearances coming

out in the next couple weeks or months uh...

so we'll tease those but uh... what shows are

you going to be on here coming up going to be

on the i think it really and Hydrate Level 4

coming up here pretty soon. Alright, and Dan,

how can people interact with you on Twitter,

and you also recently had a guest appearance

on another show, so why don't you go ahead and

let people know where they can listen to that.

Sure, I am at Mooer Revolts, and I was recently

on the First Time Watchers talking about The

Phantom Carriage, which is pretty much exactly

the same movie as Civil War, so not so much.

It's a 1920s foreign... German silent film, so

there you go. But if you're a fan of horror,

it's actually one of the first horror films ever

made, so we talked about that. You can check

it out. First time watchers on their podcast.

All right, and Matt, what is your Twitter? I'm

at FridleyScent, and no one invites me to their

podcast. Me neither, Matt. So if anyone's out

there looking for a guest, Matt and I are feeling

lonely here in the corner. I'll be really quiet

and then just spew forth a million words about

a thing that no one's really interested in. I'm

really good at that. I'm sure somebody out there

is looking for that exact thing. So your Twitter

is going to be blowing up this week. So that

is it for us. Be sure to check in next week for

another chance to listen to The Cinema Geeks.

I say that and I don't have that up, so I don't

know why I do that every time. Yes, I'm good.

Just give me a minute. I am ready. Soon.