Muppets Most Wanted In-Depth

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And now the latest and greatest in movies with

MWIRE. Some with the help of daily psychological

counseling Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome

your host Kermit the frog It's the Muppet telethon

with our very special guest. Mr. Jack It's time

to get things started on the most sensational,

inspirational, celebrational Muppetational! This

is what we call the Muppet Show! Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome to the Muppet -tel -a -thon! We have

Muppets standing by to take your calls. Yes,

we are. Good evening, everyone. Could I have

a large pizza with ham? Yes, and boy do we have

a wonderful show for you with our special guest,

Mr. Jack Black! I'm being held captive by these

weirdos! Now you know how we felt for the past

40 years! Somebody? Anybody? Please call the

police. This is real room! Yeah, this 3D is incredible!

Hello and welcome to MYR Movie Week in Review.

I'm your host TFG and Mike... Then joining me

this time around is Jeremy fine from honey outcast

podcast. Hello, sir. I know I'm not I Give it

away You know, you usually make the whores pay

first before they get the divorce but whatever

anyway We are here now a few weeks ago actually

about a month and a half ago, I think M wire

weekly the the overall non -spoilery section

of movie we can review has reviewed and talked

about muppets most wanted the latest muppets

film from muppet studios uh... this time we're

gonna go in -depth on muppets most wanted but

we are also going to talk about the franchise

that led up to it Why don't you introduce yourself

to the movie we can review listenership and tell

them where you came from, what you've been doing,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And when you

first got into the Muppets. Well, Jeremy Fine

here, never questioned it ever. And I grew up

in Brooklyn. And as luck and coincidence have

it, it's going to be part of how I got into the

Muppets. My grandmother's friend was working

at the studio that films Sesame Street. So when

it was about four or five, I got to go there

twice, but I'll get to that in a few minutes.

In the meantime, I've been working on Hunter

Gowcast podcast, which, of course, is a grab

bag of pop culture and non -pop culture events.

And of course, in a few days, I'm going to be

doing a whole month dedicated to the return of

Godzilla. But in the meantime, Getting back to

how else I got into the muppet just actually

my father Got into the muppet show he was channel

surfing one night because you know back then

there was only like maybe four or five channels

we didn't have table and he fell in love and

he would just like drag me to deliver him when

we just watched the muppet show and tape it and

I've never saw anything like this before in my

entire life but Sesame Street going to those

tapings I did get to meet Frank Oz, which was

amazing. And he was in character as Grover. He

brought the Muppet out. And I got to go inside

Big Bird's nest. And there was also, if you pull

back next to Mr. Hooper, I mean, Cooper, Mr.

Cooper, if you pull back where his store was,

There was a closet where all the Muppets were

including Berkeley the dog or Barclay the dog

and Snuffleupagus He was if you Well, you see

what the cameras are were Big Bird's nest is

but if you moved a little bit more towards the

right There was another like area where he was

hanging on the ceiling It almost looked like

somebody shot him stuffed him and kept them up

there as a trophy. It was really bizarre But

they definitely took very good care of the Muppets.

And I did have an opportunity to meet Frank Oz

and, of course, the actor who did play Sweetums

before he passed. I also got to meet Jerry Nelson,

and I believe there is a dedication to him in

his current movie. But, you know, the Muppets

show itself, the only thing I don't quite understand

of Disney bought this franchise Why is it that

they're not releasing seasons four or five on

DVD? And for the life of me you figure that it's

now part of Disney that they're not really pushing

the Muppets a little more like they in MGM studios

in Florida they have You know the 3d show when

they've got the studio store. They had this supposed

live action, but it was really You know, just

guys dressed up in bad outfits and bobbing their

heads up and down where they had audio blast

in the background. I don't know why, even with

the Disney Infinity game, that they don't have

a Muppet section. I don't think people know what

to do with the characters. And my theory is that

when Jim passed away, did the Muppets pass away

as well? I don't know. I think Brian has tried.

The movies, well, I guess we'll get there when

we get there. But the thing is that I don't want

to be spoiled and the Muppet movie itself is

irreplaceable. I will say that the other movies

have tried and they're not unwatchable except

for one and of all of them. And we'll get to

that one when we do, unfortunately. Huh well

as you know I I'm wondering that too about the

Muppet show because I'm doing some research on

TV shows on DVD calm the latest story that I'm

looking at here Says that season 4 was supposed

to be out sometime in 2010 No reason for the

long wait or any specifics however. They also

have other good info there for Muppet fans about

non DVD matters Let's see here Let's see They

released a DVD called Henson's place the man

behind the Muppet They released that on August

3rd of this was when this was 2010 Yeah, but

I mean there's I'm really so yeah, you're right.

I'm surprised that they haven't released seasons

four and five I don't know why they wouldn't

do that. I mean, it's They've already used Kermit,

Piggy, and Fozzie for the facials. They could

probably use Gonzo and Ralph for the next, or

Gonzo and Scooter for the next, for the final

two. I don't know why they haven't. For me, I

grew up with The Muppet Show. Honestly, as a

kid and even now, a lot of the times when watching

it, I will skip. The human performances like

I I will watch them interacting with the Muppets

But if it's like Christopher Reeve singing on

stage, you know what I mean? Whoever doesn't

matter who doesn't doesn't just have to be Superman

But you know what? I mean whoever was actually

singing by themselves. It's it's kind of like

Saturday Night Live, I don't give a crap about

who's doing the hosting duties as long as I see

them in a cool sketch, you know? You know what

it is? I think it's because Jim tried to bring

back the variety show of Vaudeville from decades

ago. And I guess with Reeve, I think it was because

Reeve was trying to get away from Superman. And

you know in that... on that show they were bringing

up you know fast I think he was on veterinary's

hospital where he was bringing up uh quotes about

faster than a speeding bullet and they wanted

him to dress up but he wouldn't do it um I mean

the Gene Kelly doesn't bother me as much I don't

remember every single bad guest host but you

know Ben Fareen was good yeah no I mean the Muppet

Show didn't have bad guest hosts it's just didn't

like I just the whole point of the Muppets show

to me was seeing the Muppets it wasn't seeing

who their you know who their special guest was

you know sing you know sing you know what you

know let's see let's see there was John Denver

Let's see, several guest stars from the series

came out as one of the most theatrical films.

The real -life producers had to call upon their

personal contacts to appear and to appeal to

them to appear, especially considering doing

so meant an overseas trip to Britain to do so.

Featured actors such as Dom Deleuze, some featured

veteran performers like Ethel Merman, Rita Moreno.

uh... featured on the pop world pop singers including

elton john diana ross leo sear uh... so the thing

had an amazing guest list i'd just for me personally

the whole point of the love it showed me was

to see what the moments were doing not seeing

you know the guest stars singing or whatever

else but uh... with the movies though uh... uh...

the movies are awesome uh... running it down

chronologically here we have 1979 the Muppet

movie and then 81 was the great Muppet caper

Muppets Take Manhattan was in 84 92 oh my god

that movie is almost 20 years a little over 20

years old holy crap the Muppet Christmas Carol

uh in 96 we had Muppet Treasure Island in 99

we had Muppets From Space I'm sorry no We do

not need a gonzo alien origin story, thank you

very much. And then we had The Muppets in 2011

and now Muppets Most Wanted here in 2014. You

also had It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,

which was a television film in 2002, and The

Muppet Wizard of Oz in May of 2005. Now I do

know there's also... Muppet Family Christmas.

I don't know where that exactly fits into the

film continuity. I've never actually seen it.

I have and I could have sworn it was in the mid

to late 80s because the Doc from Frog a Rock

had made an appearance as well as Fawzi's mother

and I know Yeah, it's one of the television specials.

That's why it's not an action. It's not listening

to the films. It's December 87. Yeah, that's

right. And you know, it's funny because between

that and the other Muppetful Life where they,

of course, did their version of It's a Wonderful

Life, those are also, I know one's a special,

one's a TV movie, but they're untouchable because,

as you said, I love the interaction with Muppets

and humans. But I also love how the biggest fear

always had was the pop culture references. And

I know one of them makes one of the Grinch for

some reason. And somehow they use it, but they

don't overuse it. They have it where supposedly

Fuzzy is painted green and there are who's and

they're chasing him. And somehow they make it

work where they're not overusing the gag. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, no, I love it's a very Merry Muppet

Christmas movie. I think it's one of the cooler

ones when it comes to a Christmas theme movie.

And I honestly, I'd rather watch this than watch

It's a Wonderful Life, because I just can't get

past the title for that other movie. It is a

Wonderful Life, but it has its moments. Uh, yeah,

you know... It's A Wonderful Life has always

been crammed down my throat and I finally sat

down and watched it and ironically there are

two characters named Bert and Ernie before Sesame

Street. I kind of wonder if that's coincidental

but it takes so long for them to get to the point

of the movie and then at least with Muppetful

they dive right in and I also love how They bring

back doc hopper in a way, you know, they kind

of hint it And even with miss piggy how she was

gonna be like, uh, what was it that that miss

cleo, I think? Yeah, yeah, so But muppets from

space. Yeah, that's my batman and robin That

is definitely my batman and robin muppet verse

Batman and robin is better than muppets from

space. I'm sorry gonzo is a comedy character

but That's the thing. Gonzo is a comedy character.

You know, he doesn't need his own family. His

family is the rest of the Muppets. He doesn't

need to... Oh, boy. You know what it is? Muppet

Babies had something that was interesting for

about five minutes where Gonzo didn't know what

he was because everybody for a while when I would

go to school would think that he was a turkey.

And other people thought he was, because of the,

you know, the beak. And I never really thought

much about it. And other people thought he was

a vulture. I didn't know. But with Muppet Babies,

Gonzo doesn't know what he is. And Fozzi says

something, I always thought you were a cross

between a hawk, an owl, a beach towel, and something

else. And Gonzo looks at Fozzi and goes, are

you crazy? There's never been a beach towel in

my family. But then we find out in Muppet Babies

that he has feathers. And yet... and the Muppet

show itself, you know, and in the movies, he

looks like he has fur. I don't care what he is

or how he was created. It never made any ounce

of sense to over explain. Other than the fact,

I guess they just wanted to put a movie out there

that wasn't, you know, based on a children's

story. Yeah. One of the greatest things about

the Muppet franchise, as far as the films go,

is Muppets Take Manhattan. That has one of the

best intro scenes I have ever seen because it

makes me laugh every time. I like all the Muppets,

but I'm a huge animal fan. animal Amy Frank guys

said that he got him off of a guy that like Would

go out and party and come home at like five o

'clock in the morning You don't know where he

was or what he was doing but animal was like

the guy you just didn't question animal over

the years Starting with that movie and the woman

woman he's had a lot of great friggin lines What

was it some other ones? Well in You know to what

we're gonna be talking about here in a few minutes

to Muppets most wanted sequel sequel sequel It's

like oh my god It's just and they made oh my

god. Have you seen that that I think it's Lipton

iced tea commercial I haven't seen that but I've

been watching that Hyundai commercial where animal

goes. Let's go places and he can't That's a Toyota

commercial, actually. Oh, it's a Toyota, yeah.

Yeah, it's Toyota because that's their slogan,

it's Let's Go Places. No, but the animal... The

animal Lipton tea commercial is basically...

It's basically Be More Tea, Kermit the Frog and

the Muppets, funny ads. You know, the Muppets

2014, the slogan for Lipton is be more tea. And

the way the ad is played out is that he's getting,

Kermit is trying to get Miss Piggy to drink the

Lipton tea because that way she won't turn into...

An animal like the rest of New York City has

turned into animals. The ad is so hilarious.

Hopefully I can embed it into the post. Now for

me, I love the first three films. The Muppet

movie, Great Muppet Caper, and... Muppets Take

Manhattan. Muppets Take Manhattan. Did you have

the board game? No, I had I had the great mupper

caper 3d board game. Oh Oh, let me tell you I

still wish I had it because that we when we move

from Brooklyn to Staten Island to get lost in

the move That thing that's when 3d board games

Were you know you take like an hour to put together,

but it was so worth it It had it looked like

London of course and it had that jewel that you

know Charles Gordon was supposed to steal I don't

remember all the rules to it, but boy that Poster

for great Muppet caper was probably well today

of course everything seems to be downloaded off

the internet But that poster itself was probably

the most popular poster plus puzzle that people

wanted Mm -hmm, because it's them on the paper,

the newspaper. Yeah, yeah. Take Manhattan while,

of course, I was in New York, or so how could

I say no? Yeah. So, okay, I love everything from

the Muppets between the Muppet movie to Christmas

Carol. Treasure Island, I don't dislike it, but

I don't, like, I'm not in love with it. It's

got Tim Curry, I'll give it that. It does have

an interesting opening number. I have to admit,

the opening number, the thing is that with every

Muppet movie I feel, and I'll compare it almost

to Indiana Jones, it's like when you expect the

opening of Indiana Jones, you want something

that'll pop and bring you on and bring you in.

And Treasure Island was no exception with that

Shiver My Timber, Shiver My, you know. But the

problem is with Treasure Island is I kind of

felt that we've been down this road before and

I can true off with Alvin and the Chipmunks when

they started to change their animation, they

did something to this effect as well. And then

a few years later, Disney would try this again

with Treasure Planet. I guess, you know, their

thing with pirates, you know, Jack Sparrow. But

the problem with Treasure Island was Tim Curry

was great. I love the idea with Miss Piggy living

with those, you know, those feral pigs. And I

do love the interaction, of course, with Kermit

and the boy and even with Tim Curry and Sam Eagle.

But, you know, it just felt like they did it

with Christmas Carol, I guess, because they wanted

to go in a different direction, because when

Jim was alive, he did do some storybook type

of shows with Frog Prince and Hey Cinderella.

It doesn't bother me as much. I mean, that was

probably, and I hate to say this, with the exception

of Christmas Carol and Muppets from Space, I've

seen every Muppet movie in theaters. This one

was the last theater where it was packed to the

gills. From me. Which one? Treasure Island. Okay,

wow, that's crazy. You know, it's surprising

to me that out of all these movies, now I know

granted after 1992 Jim wouldn't be able to do

it because he would have passed away, he only

directed Great Muppet Caper. That's kind of surprising

to me. Yeah, it's surprising because as a kid

I would have arguments because I thought, oh

he must have directed... Muppet movie and take

Manhattan, but no Muppet caper you can tell that

it's got his DNA on that movie, especially When

he again tops the bike ride from the first movie

and I have no complaints about it I think that

every Muppet movie has to have that money shot

with the Muppet movies Kermit riding the bike

with great Muppet caper They do it again with

more Muppets with you know, we'll get to take

Manhattan and also with whatchamacallit, even

with the Muppets that came out a couple years

ago, the way the piggy walks away. I think that

the Great Muppet Caper, it kind of falls in the

cracks only because there's the soundtrack, and

that's something else we haven't talked about

yet. The Muppet Movie soundtrack I would play

a lot, especially in college. But when it came

to the Great Muppet Caper, the opening song hates

a movie. I thought was just a little bit too...

On the nose? Yeah, maybe a little small, you

know, too in your face. And I did like the song

of Happiness Hotel. I thought that was a great

song. And even with Charles Gordon singing to

Miss Piggy, I kind of felt it was like in the

last movie where Piggy is fantasizing about marrying

Kermit. But the songs to me... after the first

movie, you would get one or two that were worth

it, and then they really didn't know how to go.

And even with Muppets Take Manhattan, I have

nothing against the songs, but saying goodbye,

a lot of people have said that's one of the saddest

songs they ever heard, even in a Muppet movie.

Yeah, yeah. Now, there was a, oh wow, that's

a long gap. There was a huge gap between films.

There was a 12 -year gap from Muppets from Space

to the 2011 The Muppets. Now I noticed in, I

believe it was 2009 -2010, that the Muppets kind

of started re -emerging. I think what I noticed

with it was, the first time I noticed it was

when they did the Muppets, Bohemian Rhapsody.

I love that. That is so amazing. And they started

popping up on YouTube. Statler and Waldorf started

popping up on YouTube, basically commenting on

videos that they would have seen. Sam Eagle did

American Woman. This is so hilarious. I just

absolutely love everything that they've done

on YouTube to this point. Sam Eagle's American

Woman is just amazing because he's like... it's

by a canadian band what uh... what's that's not

america you know it's like uh... with the with

the new films with with the muppets and with

the muppets i liked it's uh... i thought it was

interesting that they played up the character

story more so than they did the actual muppets

now i didn't mind it Will say right away. I'm

probably one of the few people that I hate like

really really hate loathe Dislike oh my god.

I fast -forward the fucking movie I wish I wasn't

Muppet or I wish I was a Muppet man or what whatever

the hell that stupid fucking that I hate that

song You know the song didn't bother me so much

what bothered me about the Muppets is actually,

and I'm gonna get a lot of heat for this from

a lot of people, but Jason Siegel, but I'll tell

you why. Every time he's been on interviews,

he always comes off as nervous or sweaty, even

when he was trying to promote, and I wasn't watching

Regis and Kelly or whatever that was at the time.

I think he left just because there was gonna

be some discussion about the Muppets. And even

when they were interviewing him, he just looks

so nervous. I would try to watch how I met your

mother because people were like raving about

the show. I don't get hit or him even for getting

Sarah Marshall. I think that with the Muppets,

it tried to. And once again, it was sad that

the theater was empty. My parents wanted to see

it because, you know, they loved the show when

they loved the first movie. So they wanted to

see this one. and we were doing once in the theater

and when we walked out my father looked at me

and said it's not as good as the first and I

said well nothing you saw since has been good

since the first movie but I like the idea that

they were trying to bring back which I thought

was the show because that was the whole point

because you know you have Muppet theater and

but from when I listened to the audio commentary

it was like this powers the beat that said yeah

nice try which I think is a mistake between 1999

and 2011 from what I've read in I think Street

Gang which is based on you know the history of

Sesame Street after Jim died the Henson family

didn't know what to do with the Muppets and they

had sold it and at one point they had they had

sold it to Disney and then they bought it back

and then they sold it again. Now eventually Disney

has it so they didn't know what they wanted to

do with the Muppets after Jim had passed which

is understandable but the the Muppets that came

out a couple years ago, I'm a man or I'm a Muppet,

yeah it's not one of the best songs and I and

I think you know people like it because Jim Parsons

has that cameo which makes sense but Well, I

don't I don't mind the cameo from Parsons. I

just hate the song itself The song is mine. The

song just drones it. You're right. They just

go It won for best song at the Oscars, which

I can't believe life is a happy song didn't that

makes no sense Yeah, or even me party. I you

know, even when the chickens were singing forget

you which I was surprised They were loud to send

that Well now they have done The reason why they

were able to sing forget you is because it was

forget you it was the censored version of CeeLo

Green's fuck you You know, which I'm almost tempted

to actually put the real song into a show Almost

tempted With the Muppets, I liked it for the

story. I'm not a Jason Siegel fan either. As

far as how I met your mother, I don't want to

meet your fucking mother. She's dead. Yeah, don't

tell mom the babysitter's dead. Yeah, exactly.

I don't... It's not that I have... I just have

no interest in the show. I see ads for it all

the time, as much as I like Neil Patrick Harris

and some other stuff, I just have zero interest

in how I met your mother. And that's what kills

me, because Neil Patrick Harris, from what I

heard on the auto commentary, is a ginormous

Muppet fan. I don't understand for the life of

me. Why he wasn't. Right, if Jason wrote the

script and he knew this and Neil just has the

cameo, why isn't Neil Patrick Harris? With Amy

Adams and he could make it work. I think that

Amy Adams Well, it's 80 Amy Adams and she has

to be immortalized forever as far as I'm concerned

with her But you know the story itself. I don't

know what it was, but it kind of felt like a

softer version of Muppets take Manhattan where

they all broke up and then Kerman is trying to

bring them back together Oh, no, no, it's not

even that dude. What what? What the Muppets 2011

is, as much as I enjoy it for what it is, it

is a combination of Take Manhattan and A Very

Merry Muppet Christmas. Because in A Very Merry

Muppet Christmas, it's Joan Cusack who wants

to destroy the Muppet Theater. Oh, that's right.

And in The Muppets 2011, it's... Chris Cooper

who wants to destroy the it's basically the exact

same plot. Tex Richmond yeah and that's something

else too because people were also comparing this

to Blues Brothers for some reason because it

was like they have to you know raise money to

by a certain time or they you know they lose

the orphanage but Tex Richmond I mean Chris Cooper

to me is a chameleon and there was some sort

of backstory I've heard two different sides With

the character, he was upset that he wanted the

Muppet. No, I think it's that he was watching

the Muppets and he wanted his father to hire

them for his birthday and his father couldn't

and he got disappointed. He's hated the Muppets

ever since. But the Chris, I mean, I'm sorry,

I love the rap. It had nothing to do with anything,

but it was the most bizarre thing next to like

Christopher Walken getting out and dancing But

what I couldn't get for the life of me and it's

the only thing that bugs me you have uncle deadly

and you have the bear and For some reason they're

the henchmen I guess because you know Tex Richmond

has to have henchmen All of a sudden deadly realizes

what he's doing is wrong, which is okay. I just

wish You know if they're gonna bring back the

Muppets, especially when they Sing rainbow connection

again. I don't know. I was hoping that he would

bring everything the gym Had done like it would

have been okay to bring back BP Richard from

dinosaurs because that was the last thing the

gym worked on before he passed and It would have

made sense for him to be part of Tex Richmond

Other than that even the Fraggles because I heard

they they want to do a Fraggle Rock movie and

they're they're fighting tooth and nail being

the Fraggles But other than that though, the

movie was satisfying and I just, for the life

of me, go back to what I said again. I mean,

besides a soundtrack for the Muppet movie, do

you have like a favorite soundtrack for the other

movies? No, not really. I just enjoy the movies.

I very rarely can listen to Muppet songs outside

of the context. They're just not, it's just not

my style for that, for the Muppets. Alright,

so I think we've prattled on long enough as far

as this one goes. I'll say this as far as Jason

Siegel goes. The only time I really ever enjoyed

him as an actor is his little little role as

one of the announcers in Dodgeball and Underdog's

story. I don't remember him as an announcer in

that. You don't? No. I'll see if I can pull it

up for you. But anyway, you're going to hear

the Muppets Most Wanted trailer, and then you're

going to hear our spoiler warning alert, because

coming up after the break is Muppets Most Wanted

spoiler -filled thoughts. To someone you know.

It's not easy being mean. It's Constantine, the

world's most dangerous frog. Check this out.

Oh look, it's Kermit. What did you do with Kermit?

There must be some mistake. I'm Kermit the Frog.

I'm not Constantine. You're going to be here

a while. Hi -ho, Kermit the Frog here. I am Kermit,

and now you guys have all the freedom you want.

What? When do I do the indoor running of the

balls? I can't watch. Dominic, international

tour manager. Dominic, bad guy? Fudgy. It's French.

My name will go down in history as greatest thief

of all time. You mean our names, right? Of course.

My name first, then spacebar, spacebar, spacebar,

your name. Hit it, boys. Do you guys think that

Kermit's been acting a little weird lately? That's

ridiculous. He's never been more caring or devoted

to me. Yeah, that's what we're saying. Ricky

Gervais, Ty Burrow, and Tina Beck. This is my

cow. It is illegal now because it's massive size.

Plus, so many Hollywood stars, it'll leave you

wanting more. Yeah. No more. Walk on, walk on.

There's only one guy in this world who can save

us. Only one frog who can restore order. Let's

get out of here. Bring justice and set things

right. You are talking about Kamen Rider. CIA,

Interpol, this is my travel badge. Here's my

real badge. You must have been looking at the

wrong badge. You were saying? I am not Constantine.

Lights out! Turn them back on, I can't see anything.

You have to wait till I'm like out of the hallway.

So we are back after the break yeah the dodgeball

thing that was Bateman not Siegel oh well, but

anyway I still don't really care for for Siegel

so basically Muppets most wanted It's basically

a bait and switch, but I love how it starts off

though. It starts off like right at the end of

the last film So it is pretty much a truce. Like

they haven't changed anything other than the

fact that Seagull and Adams kind of walk away.

It's the stunt doubles, I think. Might be too,

yeah. Yeah, I heard, yeah. It's their stunt doubles

because I think Amy Adams and Jason Seagull...

Well, Seagull, of course, was finishing up How

I Met Your Mother, and I think Amy Adams was

taking care of... Superman. No. No, I think American

Hustle, or maybe Superman. Oh, okay. So this

film picks up exactly where the last one left

off, outside the Muppet Theater, and they basically

have no problem pulling a Ferris Bueller out

of their ass and basically saying to the audience,

hey, look, we're doing a sequel. And they bring

in the new cast and whatever else. This is your

classic Doppelganger movie because Constantine

and Kermit are basically the same guy except

for a giant mole on Constantine's face I Enjoyed

the movie. I thought it was really good. I Don't

know I was hoping for something a little bit

different and I gotta say ladies and gentlemen,

I am so sick so sick of will they won't they

will they won't they either break up with the

fucking frog or marry him already god damn it

I am so sick of this Kermit Miss Piggy thing

of whether they're getting married or not and

the fact that a movie has to kind of center around

that plot I mean they've been playing that plot

to death since the early films Well, not just

that, you know, people are now comparing them

to Ross and Rachel or Penny or Penny and, you

know, Leonard. But you know what? Here's the

problem that I have is that in the last movie,

Kermit made something quite clear that Piggy

is over dramatic. I never saw the chemistry between

these two characters. I don't understand what

Piggy sees in Kermit and vice versa. I can go

back to all the jokes from Family Guy where Kermit's

in a body cast and he goes to Fozzie. We're now

doing Pigs in Space and Fozzie's in that outfit.

I thought it was gonna be Bears and Kermit's

like, it's now Pigs in Space. But they're never

comfortable together. Piggy always seems to bring

up marriage more than Kermit. And quite frankly,

I can't even imagine what their kids would look

like, because in Christmas Carol, it was pig,

pig, pig, frog, frog, frog. Family guy kind of

like had this thing where it was together and

it was saying, kill me, kill me. But past all

that, people have talked about this for years.

I don't think they make a good couple. I know

Gonzo was in love with Piggy for a while, but

now he's in love with Camilla. I don't honestly...

I think it's just to tease the audience. But

yeah, I thought when I was watching a spoiler

picture, we finally get to see the married or

with Muppets Take Manhattan, because there was

supposed to be a real priest. I thought this

was finally supposed to be like, it was supposed

to be like Tony and Tina's wedding. But no, it's

another thing where it's just a total mind thing.

And my problem is, is that by the time they do

get together and get married, nobody's going

to really care about whether they want to, yeah.

Yeah, nobody's going to give a crap. So basically,

Constantine is Carmen Stauffelganger. He is the

world's greatest criminal. He can escape from

anywhere, and he employs Ricky Jermas. I'm sorry,

I don't find Ricky Gervais funny at all. I don't

like him. He has zero likeability even as this

character. I don't even feel sympathy for the

fact that that that Constantine basically continually

puts him down as a sidekick. I just don't give

a shit about Ricky because I don't like his comedy

style in general, and I don't like his routine.

He's just not funny to me. But he plays Dominic

Badguy. No, it is not fucking French. Come on

now. Come on, Muffets. Okay, I can maybe forgive

Fozzie since Fozzie's a little slow, but everybody

else come on and of course Which is so hilarious

to me about this movie Usually the one that they

always say is is is the dumbest one out of them

all is animal Yet he's always the smartest because

he knows what the hell is going on bad frog bad

frog bad frog You know, it's like oh god animal

knows and they even pointed out in this movie

How did an animal though and the rest of you

not know, you know, how is animal the smartest

one of them? Walter kind of knows and so does

a character that that people have forgotten about

piggy's dog frou frou has come back and frou

frou is also you know what it is this tries to

go back to um what buster keaton once said that

the audience loves a slow thinker and again i

get what they're trying to do and this is what

jim henson tried to do was to go back to vaudeville

with them and that's what he tried to do with

the muppet show in the muppet movie the problem

is is that 21st century audiences, even with

the internet, don't remember Vaudeville. And

I think the problem is that that's what kind

of kills. You know that he's speaking French,

you know that in the whip movement, and you also

know what he says, hello, the lovers, the dreamers,

and cheese, or when he has stage fright. And

they're still not picking any of this up. You

know, it would be okay if this were the Muppets

show where it was a 22 -meg segment, but no,

this is getting to a point where people just

don't have the patience anymore to go back to

comedy of yesteryear. Yeah. I mean, I enjoyed

Muppets Most Wanted, but it wasn't everything

I thought it was going to be. I'm glad they didn't

really go back and re -use an old Muppet plotline

like they did with the first film. There was

not... Oh my god, I'm so pissed. There was not

enough Statler and Waldorf in this film. Not

enough at all. Well, they kinda... They kind

of had a lot to do in the first film because

they were there as they were rebuilding the theater

because they were up on their little balcony.

Yeah, they're there, but the problem is that

I don't think they know what to do with Statler

and Waldorf anymore. I think the only time that

I felt they were out of place was when they were

animated into the Muppet Babies TV show. It was

just weird to see them walking around. That one

walled off you're right. They should have their

own spinoff movie. I would pay to see that I

don't care what it would be. I don't care if

it's them just going from like show to show and

just heckling people my favorite was on The Muppet

Show where they heckled Uncle Milti That was

great. I went to the Museum of Television and

Radio I took a friend with me and we had separate

booths and I could hear him laughing from like

Four booths down when he loved this Uncle Milti

bit and I don't blame them, but that one ward

off, you know Well here's the thing, I don't

see how they don't know what to do with them

in Hollywood nowadays because they are, Settler

and Waldorf have always been those guys on the

balcony. They've always been the Muppets version

of Ebert and I was almost going to say Roper,

Siskel and Ebert. And that's the greatest thing

about them because Sure, sometimes Siskel and

Ebert, one of them might be a little bit positive

and the other might be a little too negative

or vice versa. But Statler and Waldorf, they

both pretty much are negatives. And, I mean,

but it works. You know how you say that, you

know, a positive magnet and a positive magnet

or a negative magnet and a negative magnet don't,

they won't work together? These guys are two

negative magnets that work together so far. Well,

I don't see how Disney doesn't know how to use

these guys not necessarily in their own series

your own films but more within the Muppets universe

because when they were doing the YouTube stuff

like when I would watch the Muppet YouTube videos

and they would come out at the end and and they

would actually look directly into the camera

like it was their computer screen and It's like

well that you know when they would give their

opinions on the video that they saw that is a

way to use them I just wish that they had a little

bit more scenes in this it doesn't take away

from my overall opinion the movie that they weren't

in it more But I just I wanted them to be in

a little bit more The plot like I said is I don't

know I I liked it, but the stupidity of it all

and the fact that animal is Okay, I guess you

could make a small case for that Walter kind

of knows that something's up but animals pretty

much the only one Really that figures it out

from from day one because he isn't he there?

When Constantine yeah, he's there when Constantine

makes the switch Yeah, because all it constantly

does is just put that ball on and then Animal's

like, argh! But I think the idea was, again,

which makes no sense. It's Animal, so they always

have to have him walk around like with that leash

on a chain thing, or, you know, which was even

more idiotic. It kind of worked, I guess, when

he was in anger management. But, you know, they

have to take something and drag it out because,

and this is a long Muppet movie to boot. Yeah,

this is a very long movie. They really because

I guess they figured well now it's March and

we really want to try whatever we can to cram

as much Muppet mayhem that we can into this film

to try to Bring everything back in full circle,

but the show as I kept saying it's 22 minutes

and they're able to do variety This is just the

plot that I've seen on Saturday morning cartoons

or even lost in space where somebody looks alike

and they have to do that switch. As for Ricky

Trevayas, you know, I have to say one thing about

Ricky. I'm not too much of a fan. I think there's

been two things that he's done that I like where

he gets voiced on that episode of The Simpsons

where they made fun of Wipeswap and even where

he gets voiced as the dolphin on Family Guy.

But when he's on the Golden Globes, I don't know

if he's just trying to be as outrageous as he

can. He doesn't bother me so much in this movie

because I'd rather watch him over Siegel, but

Ty Burrell who is in this and there's a lot of

cameos. I mean more cameos and I think any Muppet

movie that ever has been because everybody wants

to be in a Muppet movie. I really like the fact

that Tom Hiddleston is in this as the great escape

-o. I don't understand why he wasn't the Ricky

Gervais character because he's a Loki and I would

have liked him more. He's the one I was pushing

for a lot more. And then there's also, this one

was kind of clustered because with the cameos

in other Muppet movies, like Steve Moore would

come on, do his bit and he would have a chance

to do it. Mel Brooks and Bob Hope. This movie,

I don't know for the life of me. You have Grace?

Chloe Moretz, she just comes on for the sake

of coming on, kind of like Selena Gomez, or even...

Well, it made sense in the first The Muppets

film that Selena Gomez shows up with Whoopi Goldberg

because they're coming to the premiere of the

new show. That made sense. But the cameos in

this, I mean, all right, let's just... For the

Muppet performers we have Steve Whitmire as Kermit,

Link, Hog, Throb, The Newsman, Rizzo the Rat,

Foo Foo, Beaker, and Statler. We have Eric Jacobson

as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam Eagle, and Animal.

Dave Golez as The Great Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew,

Waldorf, and Beauregard. Bill Beretta as Ralph

the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Pepe the King, The King Prawn,

The Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear, and others.

So for the cameos, we've got Tony Bennett. Most

of these are as themselves, majority of them.

Tony Bennett, Lady Gag Me, Hugh Bonneville as

the Irish Journalist, Sean P. D. Combs as himself,

Jermaine Clement as the Prison King, Let's see,

Mackenzie Crook, Celine Dion as Miss Piggy's

Fairy Godmother. Oh my god, that's ridiculous.

Zach Galifianakis as Hobo Joe, Josh Groban, Salma

Hayek as herself, Tom Hiddleston as Lisa the

Great Escapo. They have fucking Skeletor in here.

Franklin Jella as Beef Eater. wow that's crazy

Ray Liotta Ross Lynch James McAvoy they have

the young professor Xavier in this holy crap

Usher Raymond as the wedding ush that was that

was one of the best human jokes in this movie

a washer putting putting usher as the usher yeah

Miranda Richardson as Berliner in Window. Let's

see here. Danny Trejo as Danny Trejo, a fictional

version of the actor. Stanley Tucci and Christoph

Waltz as himself. Now I could have sworn Debbie

Ryan and somebody else from Disney Channel was

supposed to be in this too. You know what? They

cramped so many people. I can almost compare

this to, you know, Jane silent Bob strike back

where everybody wanted to be in that movie the

same thing goes with this and even as for Danny

trail He was supposed to be in the last one,

but his scene became a deleted scene I'm glad

they finally put him where it's not a deleted

scene in this but Danny should have had a much

bigger part I think a lot of you even Christopher

waltz even if he keeps playing the bad guy. I

don't care but yeah, I mean The problem is, half

these people I couldn't even recognize until

the last minute, but this really was one of the

biggest cameo casts, and I think even Don Cheadle

was supposed to be in this. You know, I'm just

looking here on IMDb to see, yeah, that's weird.

You know, I don't know. I enjoyed the movie for

what it was, but it didn't knock my socks off.

It didn't... I don't... If I was gonna take four

of the Muppet movies and put two of the worst

and two of the just, okay, I enjoyed them, but

they weren't the best, it would probably be Treasure

Island and Muppets from Space are the worst.

And then the first film, The Muppets, and...

and then Muppets Most Wanted are, they're okay.

But it didn't have, Most Wanted didn't have anything.

It still doesn't hold a candle to some of the

classics. It really doesn't. And I'm surprised

that they didn't do more with this. I really

am I know why because they still haven't found

that screenwriter and the problem is is that

everybody could say why I grew up watching the

Muppets and As I said with the Muppets Movie

with you know on DVD. There's that feature with

them would be Goldberg is Saying like it's about

time Muppets came back. You know what if she

would get off of the view and write a Muppet

script I mean she was in Muppet for life as God

I don't understand why she doesn't have more

of her DNA if she has been involved with Jim

Henson some way or another and the other thing

is is that with Thanksgiving you know it went

up against twilight breaking wind and I don't

know how it you know and now it comes up against

you know diversion to whatever and I don't get

how these emo or coffee doesn't want to make

you kill yourself want some tragic teenage, you

know, esk move. But the only good thing about

it is that we haven't heard from our pats or

Kirsten Stewart in a while, and we probably never

will again. But the thing is, is that, you know,

the studio powers that be claim that disappointed

with the sales and my argument is, OK, maybe

you don't know where to place this movie. And

that's understandable because no matter what.

But on the other hand, I'm scratching my head

because the Muppet movie couldn't have been that

long. You're bringing kids so that even if you're

bringing four or five kids and the price of ticket

sales, I don't know how it's losing to Divergent

but I also think it has to deal with This movie

is going to come out on dvd in a few months.

Actually, I think it's coming out on dvd in a

few weeks And I think that's the other reason

too is that people just saying well, it's coming

out quicker I think the third problem is that

when you watch the clips There's nothing really

new and people who grew up watching the Muppets

have said, oh, it's Muppets Most Wanted. So it's

Great Muppet Caper. And even during one of the

trailers doing a sequel, people have compared

it either together again or hey, it's a movie.

So I guess they figured, oh, it's just Great

Muppet Caper 2 .0. I think that if they make

a third one or whatever they're going to do,

With the muppets if they go to crackle or who

will which would be perfect that they can't bring

back the muppet show They have to do Vaudeville

or variety if they go back to a short format

if they go back to a movie format They have to

do something Don't keep remaking what you did

four years ago or six years ago do something

why Have the muppets do an adventure or even

have the muppets? Threaten the muppets or and

that's the other thing too is that they they

made such a big thing out of the muppets I think

miss poohy Has a cameo in this she doesn't talk.

Yeah. Yeah, she does Yeah, but but that's the

thing too. It's like we haven't you know, Jason

Siegel all he really did was try to bring back

the show. That's all he really did. This movie,

I think they tried to say, well, the Great Muppet

Caper was good, but maybe if we make it a little

bit lighter, I'm like, no, there was really nothing

wrong with the Great Muppet Caper, and there's

nothing wrong with Muppets Take Manhattan. It's

just that people... I think there was something

about that buddy picture between Kermit and Fozzie

and how Kermit wanted to just make people happy.

And you had this evil restaurant owner that wanted

Kermit to be a spokesperson for Frog Legs. And

yet the speeches and the songs and, you know,

as I said, it all it didn't really feel like

a kids film. It felt like something for adults.

That's what you have to do. And if you want to

make something for just kids, then that's Fraggle

Rock and Sesame Street and Dog City. But I don't

know, you know, if there were two Muppet movies

besides the Muppet movie that I would hold on

to, it would definitely be Muppet Caper and The

Muppets and two that I would not. would be Christmas

Carol and Muppets from Space. And I feel that...

See, I loved Christmas Carol. I do. Yeah, Michael

Caine, I get that, but you know what? I've seen

Christmas Carol so many times, and the Muppets

have done better Christmas -themed shows. Like

I said, the Muppet for Life, that's what I'm

saying, is that they had to go to a Christmas

Carol where I, you know, that's my only argument.

I don't know. Other than that, they also tried

a piece in space movie treatment. I don't know

how well that would work. No, see, they just

need to bring the show back, honestly. I mean,

if we could have stuff like, you know, New Girl.

and um uh let's see new girl what what else is

uh supergatory if we could have stuff like that

on television we could have the muppet show back

on tv oh and hell because disney owns it it doesn't

have to be a giant network they don't have to

put it on abc they could put it on the disney

channel how many parents and children watch the

disney channel i'm 34 friggin years old and I

watch more Disney Channel than I watch anything

else half the time. Not more so recently, considering

all the good stuff is going away. As far as the

DVD release, according to VideoETA .com, it's

coming sometime in July of this year for Muppets

Most Wanted. It doesn't have a specific date,

but it's sometime in July. In July, in July...

Stop telling me how to say in July. Sorry. Or

some else reference there You know Muppets most

wanted let's go ahead and rate it here. I'm I'm

gonna give it a three and a half out of five,

which is liked it on the GCR Universal rating

scale I liked it, but it didn't it didn't Make

me go. Oh my god. This is awesome because it

really wasn't I'm gonna be the Open up the elephant's

wound and I have to go with a two and a half

way I give it a smile hint and a wink It's not

though as I said the worst but the problem is

it's it's tough love because You know, I I don't

know why they're pushing Tina Fey, which is somebody

I didn't talk about I do not get Tina Fey one

bit. I don't get 30 rock I don't get her and

she's always known for doing this. She she takes

her eyes and she holds her hands up and she does

like this cutesy poo type of thing. She's just

not funny. And anything that she does because

she always has that half smile, I don't understand

why they just couldn't find a way to bring back

Amy Ems. Or if they were pushing Grace Chloe

Moretz, put her in. The other problem is Ricky

Gervais. Yeah, a little of him goes a long way,

but it's a lot better than Jason Siegel. But

You know, this whole thing of Constantine, you

know, people were saying that he works and he

doesn't work. Constantine works when he's trying

to pretend to be Kermit. Other times, I feel

that Constantine reminds me it's Boris Batonov

in a frog costume, which would have made a lot

more sense. That would have been funnier if they

would have gotten back to Nero. Yeah. Yeah. If

they would have had like a Boris baton off type

of character wearing Kermit, but like nobody

knowing it's Kermit feels like it's the who's

on first Get a Thing with bottom that they keep

going on for like 45 minutes past its prime and

the songs, you know what? No, there are a couple

movies where I like the songs other than we're

doing a sequel Yeah, the and as for Walter, I'm

glad they're keeping Walter Wish they would have

brought back 80s robot. I didn't see him, but

then again I don't know what they would have

done with 80s robot, but I'm glad at least they

have Walter I would like to see something with

him But other than that and I do like Rizzo where

he goes. Oh, you mean we can quick them up It's

there were a few a few chuckles But I think it's

time to leave the party before it leaves you

and yeah, I have to go back to Just stick with

the show Yeah, this is a hundred and twelve minutes.

Yeah, this movie was a hundred twelve minutes

Alright, just for everyone's clarification or

the GCR rating system. I gave it three and a

half which is liked it issues are certainly Prevalent,

but so are the successes typically there is one

specific area of extraordinary achievement animal

or a multitude of quality moments that make the

negative aspects relatively easy to accept, and

you're giving it a two and a half, which is barely

failing. The cons slightly outweigh the pros.

While the negatives aren't overbearing, they

are far too plentiful to make it worthy of a

recommend. There may be certain redeeming qualities

that are worth your time. However, the end product

leaves you wanting more." Which is accurate,

too. Like, I wanted so much more out of this

movie. As far as Tina Fey goes, Her role was

honestly as the warden was fairly minimal. I

mean, yeah, she's in 90 % of the film, but the

best scene she has is when, you know, they turn

the lights out and she trips. that's the best

scene that she has but they put that in the trailer

so by the time i saw it in the movie it was like

he didn't care yeah and that to me is also something

that i think trailers have to stop doing is taking

the best parts i am telling you right now i will

be so pissed if the um I don't think they've

put too many hidden things in the Amazing Spider

-Man 2 trailers, but that was one thing that

really pissed me off about a trailer. Amazing

Spider -Man 1, when they put in the whole secret

thing of where, you know, where Lizard and supposedly

Norman Osborn talk, that was the end credit scene

in the actual movie. Really, seriously? Come

on, Marvel, or not Marvel, come on. Sony, you

can do better than that. But Muppets Most Wanted,

it is enjoyable. I don't particularly care for

any of the songs. I care about the comedy between

the Muppets. Animal is amazing. I did love...

the badge fight i thought that was awesome with

sam eagle and the inspector because that is see

here's the thing that inspector uh i don't have

the the castless pipe around but yeah ty borrell

as the inspector ty borrell should be the next

inspector cluso for the next pink panther movie

like seriously that's who i saw when i watched

him and sam eagle going badge to badge Well,

there are rumors, so... Yeah, there are rumors.

Well, he was Mr. Peabody, so there's that. Let's

not go there. All right, so, um... I'm not sure

what's coming up next time on MWIRE Weekly. Next

time here on MWIRE In Depth, we are going to

be saluting America. Fuck yeah! As we talk about

Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and MWIRE

Episode 102, er, 102... Fuck! MWIRE episode 104.

For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Hynek Outskirt,

Jeremy Fine. And we will catch you next time.

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