Ghost Rider Review

It's said that the West was built on legends.

Tall tales that help us make sense of things

too great or too terrifying to believe. This

is the legend of the Ghost Rider. Story goes

that every generation has one. Some damn soul,

cursed. to ride the earth, collecting on the

devil's deals. Many years ago, a ghost rider

was sent to the village of San Venganza to fetch

a contract worth a thousand evil souls. But that

contract was so powerful, he knew he could never

let the devil get his hands on it. So he did

what no rider has ever done before. He outran

the devil himself. The thing about legends is

sometimes they're true. Hello and welcome to

the 17th episode of the M .Wire Movie Week in

Review. Today we are going to be discussing Ghost

Rider in our Marvel Spotlight. This is our second

to last film that we'll be reviewing in the Marvel

Spotlight. I'm your host, DFT1Mike, and with

me today is Derek Ferguson of Better in the Dark.

Hello. Yeah, hello, Mike, and greetings and salutations

to everybody out there in Movie Week in Review

land. How are you? Oh, doing pretty good, doing

pretty good. I was feeling crappy early on in

the week, as I mentioned to you when we discussed

me doing this. You know, I had some dental work

done. Yeah. You know, so I had, like, stitches

and everything and blood and swelling and everything

like that. So, folks, if I sound a little bit

funny, I apologize, but that's the reason why.

But, yes, I'm feeling much better now. That's

good. That's good. Yes, I am. Actually, listen

to your all's Better in the Dark, episode 68,

which is your part one of two Superman discussions

with Michael Bailey. What is his show called?

What is it? Tom's going to kill me because I

just went blank on it. I should have written

this out before here. What is it, Abuse from

the Long Box? Because he's got like three of

them that he does. Yeah, Abuse from the Long

Box is the one I was thinking of, yeah. Right,

that's the Superman one. Yeah. After listening

to that episode, it's your all's fault that I've

gone back and I've broken out my Lewis and Clark

DVDs, and I'm actually doing, slowly throughout

each day, I've been doing marathon watches of

all the episodes. I've already finished the season

one set. I'm now in the middle of season two.

Well, listen, that's our purpose in life, to

make you go back and obsessively watch these

things, you know, over and over again. I know,

and that's on top of three or four, no, three

other movies that I've had to watch this week.

Wow, what else did you watch? Ghost Rider, which

is the topic for this show. Yeah, I watched that

last night. Framed Roger Rabbit, which will be

the ToonCast MWire crossover. Oh, matter of fact,

I watched that, what was it, last Sunday, I believe.

Yeah, last Sunday I watched Framed Roger Rabbit.

And Can't Hardly Wait, which will be episode

19 of MWire. Oh, okay. So do you have anything

else you'd like to impart on our audience before

we get into the topic today? Just listen to Better

in the Dark and... I'm looking forward to an

informative and enjoying debate with you about

the merits and demerits of Ghost Rider. Demerits,

oh boy. Open to play once we get around to the

Disney animation spotlight and toon cast when

we talk about the sword and the stone. Oh, Lord.

We'll be right back. Johnny Blaze, no one has

ever attempted such a distance before. 300 feet

from field goal to field goal. What's going through

your mind right now? You look really good. I

got lucky. Luck don't cover it, JB. You got an

angel looking after you. Maybe it's something

else. All you have to do is sigh. Forget about

family. Forget about friends. Forget about love.

You will be the writer for as long as you live.

I'm not doing it. You have no choice. Story goes

that he'll be normal during the day, but at night,

in the presence of evil. The rider takes over.

You deserve a second chance. Blackheart's coming

to create hell on Earth, and you have the power

he needs. Stay away from anybody he can use against

him. Roxanne. Don't you care about me at all?

You have to leave now. I'm not going anywhere.

Any man who sells his soul for love has the power

to change the world. I could smell your fear.

I'm gonna take this curse and use it against

you. We had this rat shopper. It was all flames

and stuff. His face was a skull and it was on

fire. On fire. Like... Back to hell. Looking

for someone. Yeah, I'm good. I feel like my skull's

on fire, but I'm good. Alright, we are back,

and today's topic in the Marvel spotlight, as

I said in the intro, is Ghost Rider, which is

a 2007 superhero film written and directed by

Mark Steven Johnson, hey, Daredevil, based on

the Marvel Comics character of the same name.

Don't get me started. The film stars Nicolas

Cage as Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who

morphs into the demon vigilante Ghost Rider.

All right, now, wait a minute. What do you mean,

don't get you started? What's your beef with

Daredevil? You mean Daredevil, a .k .a. Frank

Miller's greatest hits? No, really, because when

I look at the movie, to me, that's what it is.

It's Frank Miller's greatest hits. You know,

it's not... It's not a movie per se so much as

a bunch of the major incidents that took place

during Frank Miller's classic, deservedly classic

run on Daredevil and compressed into, you know,

one movie. All right. Now, we've already covered

Daredevil in the Marvel spotlight, but I'm just

going to ask you this now. Which version have

you seen? Have you seen the theatrical version

only or have you seen the director's cut as well?

Oh, here we go again. Uh -uh. Just asking. No,

because you know why? Okay, first of all, let

me answer your question. I've only seen the theatrical

version. That's the problem. Now, every time

that I say that, everybody I know says, oh, well,

then you really haven't seen the movie. You have

to see the director's cut. As if it's like going

with the wind. They say, oh, it's a totally different

movie. You've got to see the director's cut.

You've got to see the director's cut. Now, see,

I won't say it's a totally different movie. It

keeps the same thing the theatrical cut did.

It adds a few things in. rounds out the story

better than the theatrical cut did. Okay. So,

you know, if you go to Blockbuster or something,

I'm sure you can find it in a $5 bin or something

like that, or you can get it on Netflix. If you're

a Daredevil fan and you kind of sort of maybe

like the theatrical version, you need to see

this because it doesn't just tie everything up.

This actually expounds on the whole story more

than the theatrical version because the theatrical

version just tied stuff up so fast and just left

a whole bunch of things open. So, yeah. Anyways.

And actually, just let's get this in quick before

we get to the subject of this. Actually, I...

You know, I give Ben Affleck in particular a

lot more slack than a lot of people do because

I thought he was really good as both Matt Murdock

and Daredevil. I mean, to me, he looked just

like a John Romita drawing of Matt Murdock, you

know, when he was Matt Murdock. And as Daredevil,

first of all, I love the costume. It's like one

of the most realistic looking superhero costumes

on screen. It looks like something that somebody

actually would wear if they were a real life

superhero. Right. You know, and I thought he

did a better job than he was given credit for.

Jennifer Garner, well, the less said the better.

Hey, hey, hey, watch it. Good. Oh, you don't

like her? To be honest, the poor girl looks like

a plastic surgeon walked away in the middle of

the operation. Okay. Hey, you know something?

She was just miscast as Elektra. I don't blame

her. Somebody comes to you and says, listen,

we want you for this movie. We're going to pay

you X amount of money. She takes the job. I really

don't blame her. I blame the casting department

because when I think of Elektra, I just don't

think of Jennifer Garner. But that's me. Yeah.

Well, she still rocked in Alias. But anyway.

Never saw it. You've never seen Alias? If I wanted

to watch La Femme Nikita, I'd watch La Femme

Nikita. No, it's completely different. that.

Anyways, we're getting on 10. I'm never coming

back as a co -host. You can tell that right now.

Alright, I never actually saw this film in theaters,

so the only version I've ever seen is the two

-disc extended cut that was released on DVD.

Really? And I've never seen that. I saw it in

the theater. See, the only difference, I think,

is as far as the actual film with this is that

there's like, I don't know, 10 minutes of additional

footage or something. Okay. So, you know, I don't

know. You know, we can kind of go through as

we go along. Yeah, it wasn't something that I

don't even think I was really paying any attention

to it when it came out in theaters in 07. I think

in 07 I was... I know people are going to be

screaming at their iPods when they hear me say

this. I was more psyched about Spider -Man 3

than I was Ghost Rider. Oh, man. You poor man.

It's Spider -Man. Yeah, we're not going to get

into that. But anyway, so... Ghost Rider, it's...

Now, I don't know a whole lot about this character.

I mean, I've... There wasn't a cartoon about

him, obviously. Material is way too dark for

a children's cartoon. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I

mean, you know, demonic possession is not exactly

good Saturday morning fare. No, no. So, I mean,

I knew a little bit about him. I knew about the

character design. I knew the name Johnny Blaze.

I guess I'm just going to get into the actual

plot here, and we can just stop and talk as we

go along here. Okie dokie. The American Old West.

I'm just going to call him the devil. Yeah, I

know. I'm looking at it, too. Mephistopheles.

Yeah, okay, the devil. Played by Peter Fonda.

Yay! bounty hunter of the dam, the ghost rider,

to retrieve a contract for a thousand corrupt

souls from the town of San Venganza. Because

such a large amount of souls would cause hell

on earth, the rider refuses to give the contract

and escapes the devil, later to hide the contract

and himself. I like how they start this film.

The Marvel films, each one of them is very, very

different. Outside of the Spider -Man trilogy,

where it kind of gives you a whole comic book

-y intro each time, and it kind of recaps each

of the films, between Daredevil, this film, and

Iron Man, they all start off very differently.

Yeah. I would even include the Punisher 2004

version in that because I refuse to watch the

reboot. I just won't. Anyway. You didn't trust

me, my friend. You didn't miss a thing. That

was one of the most blatantly violent. Wait,

no, I don't mind the violence. Because, you know,

listen, I grew up watching Sam Peckinpah movies.

My father took me to see The Wild Bunch when

I was nine, so, you know, it doesn't bother me.

What bothers me was the villain, first of all,

Jigsaw. They so blatantly ripped off the Joker's

origin from the Batman movie. To this day, I

wonder how they got away with not being sued.

You never know. Yeah. But, yeah. So, you know,

I wasn't really too... It's not that I didn't

like the film. At the time of its release, I

wasn't really paying any attention to it. But

you know what I really would have liked to see?

Especially since we see him more later on in

the movie. Sam Elliott, who played the old West

Ghost Rider. Yeah, the character. And Peter Fonda.

Now, if they had done this movie as a complete

Western... it would have been off the chain,

I think. Because, I mean, like you said, the

opening scene that's set in the Old West is so

good. You know, it raises your expectations for

the rest of the movie so much because it is so

good. Right. A century and a half later, the

devil reaches out to 17 -year -old stunt motorcycle

rider Johnny Blaze, played by Matt Long as the

young Johnny and then Nicolas Cage as the adult.

Hmm. father's lung cancer in exchange for Johnny's

soul. Johnny inadvertently signs the contract.

When a drop of his blood lands on it after it

was pricked by the devil, before Johnny could

refuse. The next morning, Johnny awakes to discover

his father's cancer is cured. I stopped it there

because I have to talk about the scene when the

devil first shows up, walking down the carnival

thing on the nighttime part. Yeah. When he first

laughed at the sight of the red devil design

on the carnival, he kind of like snickers. Yeah.

I didn't realize it was Peter Fonda. I thought

it was Jack Nicholson, honestly. Really? Okay.

I kind of heard the way that Jack Nicholson laughs,

and I didn't realize it was Peter Fonda. Obviously,

once I saw him, I was like, oh, that's not the

Joker. And I don't know, like, I've never actually

been near a terminally ill lung cancer patient,

so I don't know how accurate the coughing of

the father was. I mean, okay, yeah, cigarette

smoking causes lung cancer. Right. You know,

we all know that. But I've never been, you know,

my own person been close to someone with a disease

that far gone. The person is going to die. I

thought that he played it off very well. I don't

know. What did you think of this after scene

after the initial intro? Well, listen, I always

like seeing Peter Fonda and everything. He's

one of my favorite actors. I do... Kind of think

that the theatrical way that he kind of like

entered, you know, like when he's going down

the fairway, like the lights are busted and everything

like that. I think that was a little bit overdone.

Yeah. You know, I mean, this is the devil we're

talking about. He should have been a little bit

more subtle and, you know, a little bit more

sneaky, a little bit more smarmy. Of course,

he does trick them into signing a contract, you

know. Right. In a way. One thing that I would

like to say, though, is the guy that plays the

young Johnny Blaze, Matt Long, I thought he did

an excellent job in those early scenes. And I

have no idea why they just didn't, but I guess

they needed a name in order to sell the movie.

I understand why they just didn't let him play

Johnny Blaze all through the whole entire movie.

It would probably depend on his age. I mean,

I know a lot of actors and actresses who are,

say, 21 or 22 and play younger or slightly older

than that, but I would say it depends on his

age. Because you know why? And let me just get

this out of the way right now so we can, you

know, fight each other with rusty knives in the

middle of Main Street at high noon over it. You

know, I mean, to me, Nicolas Cage is totally

miscast for this movie. See, I don't think so.

Because the only reason why I say that is because

I have watched the special features on the DVD

and Cage was saying that, you know, he basically

engrossed himself and he learned everything he

could. It wasn't like stupid -ass Bryan Singer

coming into X -Men not knowing anything. You

know, Nicolas Cage says on those special features

that he read as many Ghost Rider comics as he

could. Yeah, well... Okay, yeah, because, I mean,

as I know and you know, and I'm sure most of

the listeners know, Nicolas Cage is a legitimate

comic geek from way back. You know, he took his

last name, you know, from the comic book character

Luke Cage when it came time for him to start

acting, you know. So, but I think that it's just

his overwhelming desire to play a superhero.

Instead of playing a superhero that is more suited

for his acting talent, he just wants to play

a superhero, like when he was attached to the

Superman project for so long. And then he was

attached to play Iron Man for a while, I think.

And then, you know, and now we got him as playing

Ghost Rider. And I don't know. To me, he looks

like a guy who should be at the end of his career,

not at the peak of it, especially something like,

you know, stunt riding. I don't know. That's

just me. I just thought he was miscast. I didn't

like his characterization of Johnny Blaze because

I noticed that when Nicolas Cage is too lazy

to do any real characterization, he falls back

on playing Elvis. And to me, that's what, yeah,

I mean, you know, Kanye, that's why I don't like

his character. If they took his character out

of Kanye, they'd have had a much better movie

because he just falls back on doing Elvis. And

the thing with the drink and the jelly beans,

I don't understand what that was about and listening

to the Carpenters. I just felt that he was just

too lazy to come up with a real characterization

with Johnny Blaze. Maybe the – I mean I can only

put my own insight into it. Absolutely. Maybe

the jelly bean thing was because – The only way

that I can really justify that is because he

saw what his father went through with cigarettes

and maybe didn't want to become an alcoholic.

I mean, I don't know, as crazy as that sounds,

that's the only thing I can think of. But yet

again, he drinks them out of, like... A martini

glass. A martini glass, goblets, whatever, and

it's like, uh, what? And also, since it's kind

of implied... That, well, it's not implied. You

know, he does these dangerous stunts because

he knows he's not going to get hurt. Because

his soul is sold to the devil. You know, so he

knows he's not going to get hurt. So, if you

don't mind jumping a motorcycle over six Black

Hawk helicopters, you know, why would you balk

at, you know, having a 9 o 'clock martini? I

see what I'm saying. You know, I mean, you know,

go ahead and drink the damn martini. What I think...

What I think it really is, is that because they

had the PG -13 rating, because of course they're

trying to get in teenagers, and they're trying

to get their dollars, they had him drink jelly

beans out the martini glass, where if it was

an R -rated movie, they'd have had him drinking

martinis. Yeah. See, I don't actually know, and

like I said, I've watched all the special features

on the two -disc extended cut DVD edition. They

never actually say... As far as I can remember,

because I just watched this right before we started

recording this. I was watching it this morning

because I was getting the audio bumpers for the

intro -outro stuff like that. They don't actually

say what they were going for as far as rating.

They don't say really... what it was originally

supposed to be, what they may have had to cut

to get a certain rating or whatever. I personally

think that this film is too dark as it is, even

a PG -13 movie at all. I would not take my teenager

to this film. I would not even let them watch

it on DVD if I had. Obviously, I don't have kids,

but you know what I mean? This just isn't...

I don't know. You know, maybe it's the fact that

I grew up not really into horror. And I understand

this isn't a really horror flick. It's more of

like, the way they describe it on the special

features is they were going for like a horror

western type of thing. Yeah. And I know I remember

on one of the other episodes I listened to, you

mentioned that you're not a fan of horror movies

or of... westerns I believe you said well westerns

the old westerns now I'm not giving any disrespect

I'm not meaning any disrespect towards all them

but the old westerns when I would watch those

when I would try to sit down and watch those

the plot would just draw out so long, and it's

like I'm in a freaking time warp watching this

thing for 16 hours. And the dislike of horror

films, I was forced to watch Nightmare on Elm

Street when I was like four or five years old,

so yeah. That and Witch Board 2. So yeah, no

horror films for me. Well, listen, I, you know,

like a lot of horror movies myself, I'm really

not... a fan of myself. I remember quite distinctly

going to see the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre

and I went with a bunch of friends of mine and

they actually asked me to get up and move my

seat because I was laughing. Really, because

I didn't see how people could take this seriously.

It was so stupid and, you know, people said,

you know, whenever somebody tells me about how

they were scared about, I mean, from the Texas

Chainsaw Massacre, I just look at them and I

said, really? You thought that was scary? But

then again, that's just me. So I understand where

you're coming from with horror movies. I don't

know if it's because it's a Marvel character

or it's a Marvel film. Outside of the villains

part of this, I really didn't see the Ghost Rider

part, the character of the... I didn't really

see that as horror, but the villains part with

the freezing and the liquid and all, that was

just creepy. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, the

character as he's portrayed in the comic books,

especially like later on, like during the 80s

and 90s is when I think that it really got to

be more of a horrific elements were brought into

the characters. Because like during the 70s,

because I remember reading when he was actually

a member of superhero team, John Byrne created.

a super team called The Champions with Hercules

and the Black Widow and Iceman and the Angel

and Ghost Rider of all people. What's he doing

on a superhero team? Don't ask me to this day.

But yeah, it wasn't until later on that really

the more horrific elements of the character were

brought out. Because I'm like you, I never really

thought of him as a horror character. Yeah. I

mean, I don't see, you know... Just from watching

this film, I don't see Ghost Rider as a horror

character. I see the villains as more of horror

characters. Yeah, yeah. Than the actual, I guess

you could... Now, how would you really classify

Ghost Rider? I mean, would he be a superhero?

Would he be a hero type? Or would he be an anti

-hero type? Because, I mean, you... But it's

not really clear cut. Yeah, at the end of the

film, and I know I'm jumping ahead, but at the

end of the film he tells the devil that, you

know, no, I'm going to own this curse and I'm

going to, you know, use it to fight you. So,

yeah, he is kind of, but I mean, still, just

by looking at the character, what would you see

him as? Okay, I'll see your confusion is justified

because... Even the movie doesn't even make it

clear as to what he is. You know, yeah, okay,

he does have that little speech at the end. I'm

going to use this curse to fight you. Yeah, well,

and? You know, what does that mean exactly? You

know, haven't you been fighting him all along

up to this point? Yeah. You know, well, what

are you going to do? I mean, the Ghost Rider

is not really a character that has, like, a mission

statement. He's not like Superman. Well, Superman,

what's he about? Well, truth, justice, and the

American way. Okay, Batman. Parents got shot.

grew up, trained himself to be the best crime

fighter in the world. Criminals are Cowley's

superstitious lot. Spider -Man, with great power

comes great responsibility. I mean, these are

characters that you could, you know, you have

the X -Men, hated and feared by the world they're

sworn to protect. They've got clear -cut mission

statements. What's the Ghost Rider's mission

statement that's never really stated in the movie?

See, I think that, you know, and I'm, the way

I classify myself when it comes to religion is

that I'm spiritual, but not religious. I mean,

yeah, I grew up as a Christian, but I mean, you

know, it just, I don't want to get into that

whole thing, but, you know, this movie is technically,

it's almost a, you could classify it as three

different genres, horror, western, and religious,

because it does bring in the religious mythology.

Well, yeah, well, I think that if you're going

to honestly deal with, you know, the ramifications

of demonic possession, because let's face it,

that's what we're dealing with here. Johnny Blaze

is possessed by a demon. You know, the only fact

that the demon picks on the bad people is what

makes the material, you know, palatable. Yeah.

You know, he's not going out and he's not, you

know. molesting babies and stuff like that. So

we say, okay, well, he's possessed by a demon,

but at least he's going after the bad people.

He's not going after the good people. But yeah,

you can't avoid the religious angle. You really

can't. Because if you do, then you're not being

feared to the material. Oh, exactly. So actually,

getting back to the film discussion, apparently

his father's cancer is cured. But he dies that

same day in a horrific bike crash. Johnny accuses

the devil of causing his father's death, but

the devil considers their contract fulfilled.

Years later, Johnny has become a stunt writer

famous for surviving disastrous feats. Before

a particularly dangerous new stunt, Johnny meets

his childhood sweetheart, Roxanne, who her younger

version is played by Raquel Alessi, and the adult

version is played by none other than Eva Mendez,

who provides the movie. With its most amazing

special effect. I think you know what I'm talking

about. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

And if anybody out there listening to this has

eyes, they know what I'm talking about, too.

Yeah. Now, I agree with you, but you have to

admit, the special effects in this film are cool.

Oh, yeah. I mean, okay. I know people... who

said they didn't give a flying kitty about the

rest of the movie as long as they got the look

of the Ghost Rider right. And they did. I mean,

100%. I mean, they nailed that. I mean, all the

special effects really are absolutely good, but

the success of the movie lived and died on how

the Ghost Rider looked. And as far as that goes,

I mean, first of all, he's got one of the most

striking visuals in comic book history. And I

think that when you see them on the screen for

the first time, it's like, I mean, the theater

I saw it in, there were people breaking down

in cheers and applause and, you know, gasping.

Oh, shit. You know, that is the Ghost Rider.

Yeah. So she shows up. She is now a journalist,

makes a dinner date with her, and then he makes

a dinner date with her that evening. During the

same time, Blackheart, who is the devil's son,

comes to Earth to find the lost contract to overcome

his father. Okay, what was that? Well, okay,

well, first of all, I'll just say that no matter

what other special effects they have, they pale

in comparison to the special effect Eva Mendes

brings to the table. But Wes Bentley, that's

a cat. You know what? If I ever meet him... I'm

going to take him aside in the corner and say,

you know, dude, you really should give the check

back that you got for Ghost Rider. If you have

any kind of artistic integrity at all, you'll

give that check back. And that's all I'm going

to say. I'm not going to beat up on the poor

guy. That's all I'm going to say on that. So

you don't like the characterization of Blackheart?

Not the way Mr. Bentley plays it. No, I don't.

I think he's the worst actor in the movie, and

every time he comes on screen, he just sucks

the life out of the movie. All right, now, is

this because of you reading the comics and seeing...

Now, Blackheart is part of the comics, is he

not? Yes, he is. He was introduced much later

on. Okay, now, is the reason that you don't like

Bentley's performance of him because of the...

Did something change in the translation from

the comic to the film? No, I just don't like

Wes Bentley's acting, period. I don't mind the

characterization. See, me, I'm not a person that

really gets all twisted out of shape when characterizations

are changed in movies because I, unlike a lot

of other comic book fans, realize that there

are two different mediums, and what works in

one medium may not work in another. So things

do have to be changed. For instance, let's take

Spider -Man. Then we can go back there for just

one minute. The organic web shooters. Now, that

made more sense to me. Well, yeah. You know,

they changed it because, okay, listen, let's

face it. If you have a guy like Peter Parker

and he's smart enough to make, you know, this

web that can tire people and restrain them without

hurting them, then you say to yourself, well,

there isn't a police department in the world

that wouldn't pay millions of dollars for this.

Yeah. So his problems are solved. So if you're

going to do that for a movie, you have to change

that. You have to take that out of the movie.

Otherwise, people are going to say, well, why

did he just sell this to, you know, the police

department or the army? Oh, right. Well, with

him. So in that respect, for him having organic

web shooters, that made more sense. Okay. Exactly.

Yeah. So, I mean, I understand that things have

to be changed. It's not the characters. I just

think they should have just got a different actor.

for that role. I mean, he was just bad. I'm sorry.

To ensure himself allies, he enlists the fallen

angels known as the Hidden, a trio of demon spirits

who represent three of the four elements. The

water demon Wallow, played by Daniel Fredrickson,

the earth demon Gressel, played by Lawrence Brules,

and the air demon... Abagor, played by Matthew

Wilkinson. Now, I remember in the special features,

the Lawrence Brules character, the Gressel character,

I believe this was his first film of this nature.

I think the demons, or the I guess you can call

them henchmen, did a pretty good job, and the

effects, while they are scary, are kind of cool.

In response, the devil makes Johnny the new ghost

rider, offering Johnny his soul in return for

feeding Blackheart. Therefore, Johnny confronts

Blackheart at a train station where the contract

was once buried, and kills Gressel while the

others escape. On his way out of the station,

he uses his Penance Stare, an ability to sear

the pain felt by all whom a person has harmed

into the wrongdoer's soul. on a mugger, leaving

the man catatonic. Now, the penance stare, that

is a cool effect. Now, I have never seen this

in comics. I've never actually read a Ghost Rider

comic, so, you know, if you want to come at it

at that angle. But the effect for that in this,

that was cool. Oh, that is from the comics. That

is. Yeah, that was... He didn't have that when

he originally appeared. That came later on, like

I said, in the, like, 80s and 90s when the character

became more horrific and they had more overt

horror elements that was in it. Yeah, but that's

from the comics. And that's a cool power. It

is. Where he, like, literally where he makes

his victim feel all the pain that he's caused

everybody else in his life. You know, that, yeah.

Now, if you're going to have a power, have a

power like that, that's really going to mess

somebody up. Now, one part of the film where

it gets to the point where Blackheart's on Earth

and he's going up to that bar, I don't understand

why the bouncer said angels only. Now, was he

talking about female angels only, or was he talking

about the heavenly angels only that are allowed

in the bar? That's how I took it. Yeah, that

it was for heavenly angels only. Maybe it was

a bar where it's only, you know, angels that

are on Earth, you know. After they've had a hard

day of being guardian angels, they go there to

unwind and have some martinis. Wow, you just

reminded me of a movie I have to add to our schedule.

What's that? You're not going to like it because

it's another Nicolas Cage film, but City of Angels.

What? I like Nicolas Cage. I like Nicolas Cage.

I mean... Listen, don't get me wrong. I mean,

he's just one of the best actors that we have.

I just think sometimes he's, like, lazy about

certain roles that he takes because, as I said

earlier, when he doesn't want to be bothered

to do a real characterization, he falls back

on doing Elvis. Matter of fact, I just saw Adaptation.

Now, that was a brilliant film because he actually

convinced me he was two different guys. He plays

twins in that movie. Have you ever seen that?

No, I don't think I have. Great movie. Watch

it. He plays twins in that movie. But he does

it so well that I was honestly convinced it was

two separate guys. That, you know, this wasn't

the same after playing two different people.

That's how good he was. brings it to the table

that's how good he can be but when you have a

movie like con air or you know ghost rider he

says that listen i got the 20 million dollar

check i really don't have to go through all this

work so let me just uh say thank you thank you

very much you know he does that sort of thing

i mean again that's just me wow okay so The next

day, Johnny wakes in a cemetery chapel where

he meets a man called The Caretaker, played by

Sam Elliott. Yay! I had to look up Mr. Elliott's

IMDb page because... You had to look up Sam...

Wait, wait. Again, this is my first exposure

to this film, and I had to look him up because

I wanted to see what other things that I might

have seen that he was in. Uh -huh. Because I

honestly didn't recognize the name. I honestly

didn't. I don't know. All right. Well, you know,

listen, I don't know. I don't know. You know

what? There's just certain actors that when people

tell me they've never heard of them, I just say,

well, where have you been? You know, and Sam

Elliott is one of those. I mean, I've been watching

the guy's movies for like 20 years. And to me.

Anytime he's in, even if the movie sucks, if

Sam Elliott is in it, he's good. I don't think

I've ever seen the man in a bad performance.

You know, give a bad performance. Seriously.

You know, I just, I needed to refresh my memory

because I, you know, I thought I've seen him

in other stuff. I just couldn't remember at the

time. Okay. Fair enough. He does play this. Now,

you know, again, you're coming from the comic

book side of it. I mean, does he give caretaker?

Does he give that character good representation?

I know it's two different mediums. I get that.

Does it translate well into his performance from

the actual comic? Actually, in all the Ghost

Rider comics that I've read, and that's probably

anywhere between 50 and 75, I've never seen the

character in there. I believe that was the character

that was created. Now, there is an original Ghost

Rider. You know, from the old west. Right. You

know, but there's never like a character like

the caretaker that comes and explains everything,

you know, to Johnny Blaze and everything like

that. I think they created this character for

the movie more to explain things to the audience

than anything else. Yeah, he's just there for

exposition. But, I mean, he does do an awesome

job as the character. Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah,

no doubt. I mean, hey, it's Sam Elliott. Yeah.

He can do no less than be awesome. who seems

to know all the history of the Ghost Rider. When

he arrives home, Johnny finds Roxanne and tries

to explain his situation, but she disbelieves

him. The police arrive and take Johnny into custody

for his connection to the damage done to the

city and the deaths caused by Blackheart. He

transforms into Ghost Rider in the cell and escapes

to track down Blackheart. All right, now the

jail scene. Wow. Where do I start with this?

Well, first of all, we didn't really talk about

the original transformation when he first became

Ghost Rider. I think regardless of maybe Cage

being lazy sometimes, like you often say, you

know, the screaming, the moaning, him actually

looking like he's physically burning. I thought

that was good effects and somewhat good acting

on his part. I mean, because you could see the

fact that he felt that he was going through this.

Well, yeah, well, I mean, it's supposed to hurt.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, this isn't supposed to

be like, you know, a little pleasant, you know.

So and so. I mean, you know, this is actual physical

and spiritual transformation. It's supposed to

hurt. Right. And when he eventually does transform,

it's the classic Ghost Rider that we, the majority

of people know and love from the comics. I love

the chain gimmick. That was, you know, the whole

thing with him wrapping it around his shoulder.

I thought that was really cool. And, you know,

who doesn't like fiery skulls? And actually.

You know, I have to give the director. Mark Steven.

Right, Mark Steven Johnson. I got to give him

credit for this because during the course of

the movie, we pretty much get the several versions

of the Ghost Rider as he's been presented throughout

the years. Like later on in the movie, he gets

the shotgun that fires the hellfire. That's something

that comes later on. The chain predates the shotgun.

but that was something that was done like during

the 80s when he had the chain, because he didn't

have that when he first started. Oh, he didn't?

No, no, no, he didn't. When he started, he was

just a leather -suited motorcycle rider. He could

throw hellfire from his hands. He didn't have

the pennant steer, the chain, the pennant steer,

the shotgun. That all came later as the character

he bought. And as a matter of fact, the shotgun

came from when Johnny Blaze, there was a period

where he was no longer. Ghost Rider. Somebody

else was Ghost Rider. But Johnny Blaze still

had demonic powers and he could fire his hellfire

through the shotgun. Right. That's where that

comes from. Okay, but all of these, even though

they predate each other or they weren't in the

beginning, as of now, as of today in 2009, all

of these gimmicks now are seen as classic Ghost

Rider things, correct? Oh yeah, yeah. You're

absolutely right on that. And I'm glad that they

incorporated all of these various elements into

the movie, especially the chain, because I love

the chain. Yeah, it was awesome. So going back

to the jail cell scene, he's like, you can't

put me in there, you can't put me in there. And,

of course, after a few pokes and prods from the

rest of the prisoners, of course, he turns into

Ghost Rider. And there's only one, I believe

it's a little boy. I think that's correct. Says,

oh, come on, leave him alone, leave him alone.

And out of all of them, he basically, I don't

remember the effect he uses. He does something

to where, it might be when he transforms, where

it basically just clears all the criminals, just

leaves the little boy standing. Yeah. And he

takes his little bony finger and points and he's

like, not guilty or innocent or whatever. Yeah.

And he, like, you know, he basically lights the

door of the cell on fire. I thought that was

a really cool scene. Yeah, well, you know, that

whole thing goes along with the Ghost Rider being

the spirit of vengeance, which is one thing I

have to understand, that I have to admit that

I don't understand about, because if the Ghost

Rider is a servant of the devil, why would the

devil give him the spirit of vengeance? What

interest does the devil have in, you know, avenging

the wrongs that humans do in other humans. That

kind of... Again, it goes back to what I'm saying,

is that the Ghost Rider's mission statement is

really kind of fuzzy. Yeah, I think with this

film, and especially watching the behind -the

-scenes stuff and the making of stuff, they said

that... They even admitted in it that there really

isn't a clear -cut way of telling the Ghost Rider

story, but they told it as... Johnny Blaze had

to make a choice. He made a deal. So he had to

go through with the deal. And as far as the spirit

of vengeance, he only affects the people that

have done wrong to others. Right. You know, I'm

trying to think of a reference. Well... Okay,

in the comic book version, it's actually stated

that Johnny, you know, he is actually controlling

the demon to some effect, the demon that is possessing

him to some effect, so that he can channel its

rage into doing these good deeds, you know. But

it's not really that brought out in, you know,

that clearly, I don't think, in the movie. Like

I said, Ghost Rider, when you talk about his

mission statement, it's really kind of muzzy.

It's not that easy to just say, okay, well, this

is who he is, and this is what he does, and this

is why he's doing it. Right, right. So he tracks

down Blackheart and his minions. He fights and

kills Abagor in full view of Roxanne. of the

police force. Observing the scene, after obtaining

the location of the contract, Blackheart realizes

that Roxanne is Johnny's weakness. Johnny goes

for advice to the caretaker who tells him of

his predecessor, Cotter Slade, a Texas I was

going to say a Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Holy

crap. As a man of honor before his greed became

a reason for him to be sentenced to death, Slade

made a deal with the devil to break free. In

return, Slade became the ghost rider who hid

the contract of San Venganza. The caretaker then

warns Johnny to stay away from those whom Blackheart

and the fallen angels can use against him. Johnny

then returns home to find Blackheart already

has Roxanne. During the resulting fight, Johnny

finds that his penance stare has no effect on

Blackheart, who has no quote -unquote human soul.

Blackheart threatens to kill Roxanne if Johnny

does not deliver the contract to him. All right.

Yeah, that was kind of shocking when he tried

to use the stare and it didn't work. He's like,

oh, yeah, it ain't going to work on me because

I ain't got no soul. I ain't got no soul, yeah.

Yeah, and then, of course, at the end of the

film, that would come back to haunt him because

he has, you know, a thousand evil souls. Yeah,

yeah. Turned around and bit him in the ass, didn't

it? Yes, it did. So Johnny returns to the caretaker

to obtain the contract, though reminded of the

consequence. Johnny asks the caretaker to trust

him. The caretaker then reveals that he is Carter

Slade, having held on to his last bit of power.

In expectation of this moment, he speculates

that Johnny has God on his side because he has

made a deal with the devil because of love rather

than greed or desperation. Huh? Okay. I mean,

a deal with the devil is a deal with the devil.

It doesn't matter why you do it. It shows Johnny

the way to San Venganza. They ride together in

the desert, both in Ghost Rider form. They stop

short distance from the town where Slade gives

Johnny his shotgun and the warning to stick to

the shadows before fading away. Now, I gotta

say, it's very cool seeing the Carter Slade Ghost

Rider. Well, he's actually called the Phantom

Rider. Yeah. Yeah. And as a matter of fact, that's

taken from the comics because back during the

60s, Marvel had a Western character, Carter Slate,

called the Ghost Rider, who wore an all -white

outfit and wore a white horse. And his gimmick

was that his costume had phosphorescent dust

on it so that he glowed at night and appeared

to be a ghost. And then when they came up with...

the Johnny Blaze character in the 70s and called

him Ghost Rider, then they changed Carter Slade's

name to the Phantom Rider. Now it's all been

retroactively done so that it's revealed that

Carter Slade, yes, was the ancestor of Johnny

Blaze and he was the Ghost Rider in the Old West,

which I don't have a problem with. And he was

possessed by the same spirit that Johnny Blaze

was possessed by, which I don't have a problem

with because it gives us what to me is the best

shot in the movie with them riding through the

desert together. Exactly. And before, I don't

know if it's before or after Johnny himself transforms,

but he asks him, do you think you can keep up?

Because at the time, the horse, Carter's horse

had not transformed. Right. And he then transforms

it, and it's like, yeah, I can keep up. Yeah.

Oh, man. The effects in the desert are awesome.

First of all, the flaming wheels on Grace, that

was great. And then the flaming hoof prints from

the horse. Ah. I'm telling you, that was the

single best shot in the whole movie, seeing the

two of them ride through the desert. You know,

if nothing else, that was worth the price of

admission for me to see that. Yeah, very much

so. Of course, then, of course, they go and screw

it up. Huh? Yeah, because, okay, now we're all

pumped. We see the original Ghost Rider and the

new Ghost Rider, and you figure the both of them

are going to team up, and there's going to be

this great battle that they're going to have

against Blackheart. He rides all the way with

him, and then he just gives him the shotgun and

says, okay, well, you're on your own. Bye. Well,

all right. Well, you've got to realize he also

said he only had... And that's one thing I kind

of agree with you on. I don't understand it either,

because he said he only had enough... power to

transform one last time for this. Now, he says

for this, which led me to believe that he, again,

like you said, was going to fight with him. Yeah,

exactly. But they was going to wait until they

got there. Then he was going to transform. Yeah.

And, you know, use his last bit of power to help

Johnny fight, you know, Blackheart. You know,

you're going to tell me you've been saving up

all this power just for one last ride through

the desert. Well, you never know. And you get

to, like I said, I'm not knocking it. You know,

I love that scene. But, you know, what would

have really capped the movie off for me would

have been to see them fighting together. And

then after the fight is over, then he says, okay,

well, that's it. And then he rides off into the

desert, you know, and everything like that. But

I guess Nicolas Cage said, no, I got to be the

one to take the guy down by myself, whatever.

See, I, no, I don't think it was that because.

Look at how the movie ended with him and Roxanne

fighting the thing off. Right. You know, that's

probably why that that happened, so they could

have the two, the male lead and the female lead

in the final scene. Oh, yeah. So after killing

Wallow, Johnny gives the contract to Blackheart.

He quickly transforms into Ghost Rider in an

effort to subdue Blackheart, but Dawn comes and

he is... Rendered powerless, Blackheart uses

the contract to absorb the 1 ,000 souls into

his body, taking the name Legion. He attempts

to kill Johnny, but is distracted when Roxanne

uses Johnny's discarded shotgun to separate them.

After she fails to destroy Legion, Johnny takes

the gun and moves it into the shadows. This allows

him to create a Hellfire shotgun to blast Legion

apart. Legion forms, but Johnny moves and uses

his pen and stare made effectively by... of the

thousand souls inhabitating Legion's body to

render him catatonic. Johnny turns away from

Roxanne, ashamed of his monstrous appearance,

but she approaches him. Now, I'm not too crazy

about the after effects of the fight, because

the skull kind of turns blue, and then she puts

her hand on his flaming skull head, and then,

of course, he then transforms back into Johnny

Blaze, I did like how they, I don't know if it

was Cage that they had his voice altered. I did

like how they used the voice and said monster,

calling himself a monster. Yeah. I like that

effect. And I think that the thing with the skull.

Changing from orange to red to blue, because

at various times it changes color. And I think

that was a deliberate thing that they did to

reflect the Ghost Rider's emotional state, like

when he's in a more mellow kind of mood, then

the flames turn blue. Right. Yeah, I think that

was done. And when he's really pissed off, it

turns red. And when he's like, eh, so -so, it's

like orange or something like that. I think I

read that somewhere, that that was a deliberate

thing that they did. Okay. So at the end of the

film, the devil appears and gives Johnny his

soul, offering to terminate the burden of Ghost

Rider. Johnny refuses, saying that he will use

his power against the devil, against all harm

that comes to the innocent and avenge for his

father. Infuriated of being robbed of the power,

the devil vows to make Johnny pay, to which Johnny

responds, recites his favorite saying, you can't

live in fear. The devil then disappears, and

Blackheart's body disappears with him. Johnny

and Roxanne share words, they kiss at the tree

marked to symbolize their relationship, whereupon

Johnny rides into the sunset. Slade's voice then

acts as a narrator to close the film. I like

how they took... and made him the narrator at

the beginning and the ending. That was cool.

Yeah, because he just has such a wonderful voice

for that type of stuff. That's why one of my

favorite movies, The Big Lebowski, where he also

is the narrator of it. I mean, he's just got

one of those voices you can listen to all day

long. Yeah, oh yeah. So we are going to take

a quick break. I'm probably going to put some

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back, and we've just finished the film, well,

the synopsis of the film. Overall, I understand

your feeling of Nick Cage sometimes going lazy,

but overall, I thought his characterization,

of course, it's the only... characterization

of blaze that i've seen blaze and ghost rider

that i've seen i thought it was fairly good for

what he was given well well okay well first of

all my feelings about this movie over time my

now if you had gotten to me like a week after

i've seen this i would have told you i hated

it but see i'm the type of guy that over time

i tend to mellow out And like I said, I watched

the movie again because I knew he was going to

be doing this today. So I said, well, let me

pop it in and just refresh my memory about it.

I can't say that I'm crazy about it, but I don't

dislike it as much now as I did when I first

saw it. And, yeah, I mean, if you're a Ghost

Rider fan. Yeah, I mean, it's a perfectly acceptable

movie. It's not what I consider to be the definitive

Ghost Rider movie, but it's acceptable. I mean,

it's not going to kill you to watch it. No. Yeah.

There are only, at least in my own opinion, there

are only two Marvel movies that I will absolutely

die if I have to watch them again. What's that?

Elektra and the 2003 Hulk. Oh, now see, now we've

got to fight. Wait a minute. Elektra, I agree

with you 100%. The 2003 Hulk, you know, I don't

understand why that movie... You know, comic

book fans screamed, bitch, moan, and whine for

years. Comic book movies got no respect. They

didn't get good actors. They didn't get good

directors. They didn't get good scripts. Matter

of fact, Sam Elliott was in that movie. Yeah,

he was. The 2003 Hulk. Yep. Yeah. Okay, here

you got Ang Lee, one of the most respected directors

in the world. He comes along. You got a literate

script. You got top -notch actors. And for some

reason, comic book fans just hated the movie.

I loved it myself. I think, just for me myself,

the reason why I didn't really like it was because,

and I will always make this reference, it is

basically Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with

superheroes. And the main part about that, what

I mean... Really? I've never heard it described

that way before. Now, that's interesting. Well,

Ang Lee did that film as well. He did both of

those films. If you look at the Hulk scene in

the desert when he's jumping like 40, 50 feet

in the air from platform to platform, that's

the exact same scene that I've seen from Crouching

Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with them fighting in the

air and doing all this and all that and everything

else. When I first heard about the dogfight scene,

okay, when I hear about aerial dogfight, I think

of airplanes, not a freaking giant green guy

fighting a couple of rabid, monstrous dogs. Uh

-huh. But, I mean, we're on a whole other subject.

You know, to each their own. If you like it,

that's fine. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, well,

you know what? There's some movies that I just

have come to accept that I like and nobody else

likes them. And I just don't know why. Now, don't

get me wrong. I like the other Hulk movie that

they recently made, too. I thought that was excellent,

too. I mean, I thought the both of them were

perfectly good movies. I mean, I just don't know

why the first one. I guess the first Hulk just

didn't have enough action for, you know, most

people. I don't know. The only. The only part

about the remake of the 2008 film that I did

not like was they recast... Betty Ross. Yeah.

Jennifer Connelly is the better Betty. That's

not to say that Liv Tyler is not a good actress.

She is. I just don't... I just couldn't... I

connected more with the Jennifer Connelly version

of Betty than I did with... The Liv Tyler version.

Yeah, you and me both. And for me, Liv Tyler

now, when she's in the movie like Lord of the

Rings where she plays the elf, she looks natural.

How can I put this respectfully? Because I do

like her. She's an unusual looking woman. Let

me put it that way. Look at who her father is.

Oh, yeah, well, yeah, yeah. So getting back to

the Ghost Rider cast, Eva Mendes, just awesome,

first of all, hot actress, but awesome actress

as well. Just, I mean, she does do, I've only,

I think, I'm not sure what, I know there's one

other film I've seen her in, unfortunately, that

was Too Fast and Too Furious. I don't know what

else I've seen her in, but I remember seeing

her in other stuff. Yeah, I've seen her, you

know, and me, I'm with you, like I said. Eva

Mendes has the best special effect In the movie

And I even liked her in the spirit As bad as

that was I liked it because any movie That gives

me a gratuitous nude butt shot Of Eva Mendes

That's a movie I gotta see Now my better in the

dark partner Tom Deak Don't ever mention Eva

Mendes to him Why? Because he goes ballistic

You got to understand something about Tom. When

Tom doesn't like something, he really doesn't

like something. He doesn't like Eva Mendez at

all. But me, hey, if you say she's in a movie,

listen, I'm there. Yeah, yeah. Actually, it's

funny. When I first saw this, I never actually

looked at the casting for the father, Barton

Blaze. At first, I thought it was Chris Cooper,

but it isn't. It's a guy named Brett Hullen.

Okay. I don't know. For some odd reason, I got

the Chris Cooper vibe where it kind of looks

like that guy, Chris Cooper. Chris Cooper is

done in several... He's mainly known for being

in The Bourne Identity. He was the Uncle Joe

in The Great Expectations, Ethan Hawke, one of

the Paltrow film. Yeah. He was one of the colonels

or something in The Patriot. He was a friend

of Mel Gibson's character in The Patriot. I really

like him. If you ever get the chance, rent a

movie called Lone Star. Matthew McConaughey is

in it, too. It's a whole bunch of other people

that's in it, really good actors. But Chris Cooper,

that's like the movie where he really broke out

and people sat up and, you know, they paid attention

to him. He plays a Texas Ranger investigating

the murder of his own father. Well, no, he's

not a Texas Ranger. He's the sheriff of this

small Mexican Texas border town. And he's investigating

the murder of his own father, who was also the

sheriff of... that town. And it's a very excellent

character study as well as a study of this town

and the relationships between the Mexicans and

Americans and whatever. It's just, listen, just

go get the movie and then we'll talk. Lone Star,

that's the name. I thought he did very well as

the father, you know, trying to teach his son

that, you know, a choice has to be made and stuff

like that. You know, holding him to some sort

of respectability. Of course, you have Wes Bentley

as Blackheart, which we all know you don't like

Wes Bentley's acting job. No, no, Mr. Bentley

needs to go back to acting school. I liked the

character. If I could find his acting teacher,

I'd beat the crap out of him. What did you teach

him? I liked the character of Blackheart. I liked

the way it was portrayed, I guess, but I don't

know. I would have to see Mr. Bentley in something

else to compare it. Of course, you have the magnificent

Sam Elliott as Carter Slade slash the Phantom

Rider, who is just awesome in this. And then,

of course, you have Peter Fonda. Oh, yeah. You

know, Peter Fonda is the devil. Donald Logue

as Mac. Now, I've seen this guy in other films.

He always plays that... supporting type role

character for the movie. Oh, yeah, yeah. I believe,

I can't be for certain because I didn't look

at his IMDB page, but I believe he played the

best friend to, oh, what the hell was that movie?

Crap, it was the Cameron Diaz. I can't believe

I'm even admitting to this. It was some Cameron

Diaz film or some... Some film like that where

Reese Witherspoon, where she conks her head and

loses her memory. I'm going to have to look it

up, but I'll do that later. You have Matt Long

as the young Johnny Blaze, who I think did a

very good job. Yeah, I do too, yeah. And it amazes

me how close the two of these child actors are

to their actual live counterparts. Or not live,

but... Adult counterparts, I mean. With Matt

Long and Raquel Alessi, comparing them to Nick

Cage and Eva Mendes, I thought they really, you

know, you could really tell that they were younger

versions of their adult characters. And you know,

that's something I always appreciate when the

casting department does its job and actually

finds younger counterparts. of older actors that

you can look at them and say, okay, yeah, well,

I can see them growing up into being this character

because that really ticks me off when you give

us a younger version of a character and then

you give us the older character and they look

nothing like each other. Yeah. You know what

I mean? I mean, that just drives me up the wall.

I said, how hard can it be to find an actor that

at least somewhat resembles the older version

of who he's supposed to be? Mm -hmm. Yeah. And

then, as I mentioned before, you have Dan Rolfe.

Daniel Fredrickson as Wallow, Lawrence Brules

as Gressel, and Matthew Wilkinson as Abagor.

Going into the music for this, in December 2005,

musical composer Christopher Young was announced

to score Ghost Rider. In addition, Spider -Bait,

a band Johnson befriended during filming in Australia,

performed Ghost Rider. cover of Ghost Riders

in the Sky for the end credits, which people

will hear that at the end of this episode. I

grabbed the audio from the outro where Slate

is talking and then part of that song. You all

right over there? Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?

I heard you moving your mic a little bit. That's

all. Oh, okay. That's all right. That's no big

deal. As far as the promotion, they launched

the official website in 2005. Following July,

the studio presented Ghost Rider Panel at Comic

-Con International and screened a teaser for

the audience. The teaser, which did not have

finalized footage of the film, eventually leaked

online. In the same month, Majesco Entertainment

Company announced its deal with Marvel to acquire

worldwide rights to produce the video game Ghost

Rider for PS2, PSP, and Game Boy Advance. I'm

not too big on comic book movie video games,

really. I like... There are a couple Spider -Man

video games I like, but comic book film translations

into the video game market, I'm just not that

interested in. Yeah, you and me both. I understand

it from a business standpoint. But, yeah, but

I'm with you. You know, I'm not a person that,

you know, okay, well, I've seen the Fantastic

Four movies, so that doesn't mean I necessarily

want to play a game of the movie. You know, why

wouldn't I just watch the movie again? Exactly.

You know, there is, you know, again, Spider -Man

is one of those franchises that has been around

for a while in cartoons and video games and stuff,

so there are some Spider -Man games that I do

like, but I have tried some of the movie games,

and I just don't like them. But anyway. Yeah,

now, I would get a original superhero -based

game, like I hear that Marvel Alliance, you know,

that that's a really good game. Now, see, that

I would play because that's not based on any

existing movie or anything like that. That's

like an original story. That I would get, but

something that was based on a movie. Like I said,

why wouldn't I just watch the movie again? Yeah,

exactly. On April 19, 2007, Sony Pictures Home

Entertainment confirmed that in America the film

would be issued on June 12, 2007 as a single

-disc theatrical cut DVD, two -disc extended

cut DVD. Blu -ray disc, and UMD. Special features

on the Extended Cut DVD include two commentary

tracks, a comic book history featurette, and

a making -of film featurette. The Extended Cut

version was also released on HD DVD in France

on September 7, 2007. Wow, France is still doing

HD DVD. Hey, listen, hey, listen, don't knock

it, my y 'all. As a matter of fact, my brother

-in -law, there's a website that he, and he's

like racking up. I think they have like HD DVDs

for like five or six bucks. Well, you know. And

he's just like, and he just like buys like 10,

20, you know, and he orders them online. He gets

like a shitload of them. Right, but. Are you

talking about Blu -rays, or are you talking about

the actual HD DVD? HD DVD, yeah. I was going

to say, because, yeah, Blu -ray won the war.

The war's over. Yeah, but, well, you know something?

It hasn't won the war with me yet until they

come down on those prices. You know what? Easiest

way to forego the prices? Yeah. PS3. Yeah. This

PS3 is Blu -ray, and that is the only way I will

go Blu -ray is if I get a PS3. Well, yeah, that's

the same thing that I was saying, because as

a matter of fact, even me and my wife, because

we just recently, as a matter of fact, I'm waiting

for it to be delivered. It should be here today

or sometime next week. We ordered a Wii. And

I was going to either get the Wii or either the

PlayStation. And she was asking me, well, why

the PlayStation? And that's what I was saying.

I said, yeah, well, you know, it's got a Blu

-ray player in it as well. So, you know, we're

not just getting the game system, but we're also

getting the Blu -ray player. And I'm with you.

That's the only way that I would do it. I wouldn't

go buy a separate Blu -ray player and then, you

know. Because what, the discs are like 20 bucks

each or something like that? No, they're more.

They're more than that, right? Yeah. And you

know something? I mean, as much as I love movies,

you know, I just watch a movie usually maybe

like once a year. I may watch it more if I'm

doing something like what we're doing today.

So I watched Ghost Rider last night. But I don't

really want to pay like $30 for a disc that I

mainly watch like once a year. That's a little

bit pricey. Yeah, it's going, as far as I know,

the Blu -ray versus actual regular standard edition

DVD. It's going the same way when VHS was on

its way out and DVD was on its way in. When DVDs

first came out, they were like $23, $24 .95,

and a regular VHS was like $16, $17, brand new.

Yeah, I remember. It's the same way now where

DVDs are now anywhere from $10 to $20, and the

Blu -rays are like $24, $25, some of them are

even $30. Yeah. So it's going that same route.

And the thing about the DVDs now is that the

price on them drops really fast. So if like me,

you're willing to wait and hold out, like, okay,

the disc may come out and maybe like 18, 20 bucks.

If you're willing to hold out and wait like a

few months, you can get it like for $5. Like

I go to Walmart and I go straight to the $5 bin.

And I see like a whole bunch of movies that just

a few months ago, I know that I saw up on the

racks. For $18 or something like that, now they're

in the $5 bin. So that's what I do. Yeah. As

far as a sequel for Ghost Rider on February 9,

2007. Wow, that was my 27th birthday. Oh, congratulations.

No, that was two years ago. I'll be 30 next year.

Oh, you old man. Yes, I know. You're catching

up to the rest of us. I know it. Marvel producer

Avi Arad announced the development of Ghost Rider

2 at a press event. Peter Fonda has also expressed

his desire to return as the devil. In early December

2007, Nicolas Cage also has expressed interest

to return to the lead role as Ghost Rider. Shortly

after another interview, he went on further to

mention that he would enjoy seeing a darker story,

adding he's not eating jelly beans anymore, he's

getting drunk. Oh, I didn't know that. Okay.

He also suggested that the film could do with

newly created villains. Now... Again, you're

more coming from the comic book than I am. What

is Ghost Rider's rogues gallery like? Like, we

all know of Batman and Superman's rogues gallery.

So, I mean, I don't know what Ghost Rider's is

even like. I'm going to be honest with you. I

don't either. That's how undistinguished they

are. He doesn't have light. You know, it's light.

I mean, I really can't think of one off the top

of my head right now that I can come up with.

In September 2008 interview, Nicolas Cage informed

IGN that Columbia has taken meetings to start

a sequel. Cage noted conversations about the

story where Ghost Rider may end up in Europe

on behalf of the church, having story elements

very much in the zeitgeist like Da Vinci Code.

That would be kind of weird. In February 2009,

an online source stated Columbia Pictures had

greenlit a sequel to Ghost Rider. Nicolas Cage

will reprise the lead role whilst the studio

are in search of writers. Well, first of all,

Ghost Rider 2 isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Nah. It really isn't. If you look at the Marvel

schedule between now and 2012, they've got themselves...

a handful of films that they're going to be putting

out. You've got next year's coming up, Iron Man

2. The year after that is either, I believe it's

Captain America and the Avengers, or it might

just be the Captain America movie then in 2012,

the Avengers. And don't forget that we've got

Thor coming up soon, too. Thor is what? Because

that movie has been written, it's been casted.

Kenneth Branagh, he's going to direct it. Yeah.

I never really... I never really pay any attention

to the Thor character that much. I don't... It

might just be lack of exposure. Again, the main

exposure for me to Marvel characters and stuff

is really the 90s cartoons. Oh, okay. And if

there wasn't... If there wasn't a cartoon about

it... That was it. Yeah, exactly. I got you.

Not that I don't know who Thor is and all that

stuff. I do, but it just wasn't something that

was in the forefront of my mind. Okay. Overall,

I mean, I do like to do a 1 to 10 scale, whether

the film was good or bad. I would probably, and

normally I do two different scores. I do a score

on the actual story and then the effects. The

effects for this film, I would give a 9 .5. Yeah,

yeah. The story, I'd probably give like a four

and a half because it is very convoluted. It's

easy to follow, but at the same time, if you're

really paying attention and trying to figure

it out, it's very confusing. It's not compelling.

No, not at all. It really isn't. It's really

not that compelling. I mean, and for my money,

the three henchmen, Blackheart's henchmen, they're

defeated way too easily. Yeah, that's true. They

are. I mean, I think they should have been able

to put up more of a, I mean, a fight. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, they really should have. I mean, I don't

know what else you could have done with them

because they're not really characters. They're

like, as Tom, you know, my partner, he likes

to say they're like the different levels in a

video game that Ghost Rider has to get to to

get to the boss fight. Right. Which is, of course,

you know, Blackheart. Right, right. But overall,

you know, it's not the worst Marvel film. No,

no, yeah. But it's not the best one either. It

falls somewhere in the middle, I think. Yeah,

I mean, it's not one that I would insist people

had to see. Like, you know, anytime anybody asks

me for a Marvel superhero movie to recommend,

I recommend Fantastic Four, The Rise of the Silver

Surfer. you know, that's it, you know, either

one of the Hulk movies, the first Spider -Man,

Iron Man, of course, you know, but, you know,

Ghost Rider, you know, I said, well, you can

save that for later. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I noticed

you didn't put Spider -Man 2 in your rankings

at all there. Oh, Spider -Man 2 is good. I mean,

I have no problem with that. The only movie that

I really would tell people not to bother with

is Spider -Man 3. Unless, of course, well, if

you've seen 1 and 2, you might as well go ahead

and see 3, but don't expect big things from it.

Yes. All right. So before we go into the official

listing, can you give us any upcoming things

for Better in the Dark to kind of plug the show?

Well, we just did the first part of our two -part

Superman on TV, Lollapalooza, where we examined

the Superman cartoons, the various TV shows from

the 1950s George Reeves Superman all the way

up to the current Smallville. So we're having

a lot of fun doing that. The first part is out

already, and the second part will be out not

this week, but next week. And people can go to

www .earth2 .net. There you go. And that's where

they can find Better in the Dark. So thank you

for joining us here on Movie Week in Review.

There are several ways to get in contact with

us or leave feedback for the show. The first

is you can visit www. geekcastradio .com. You

can find all our other podcasts there. Second

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topics there. Those are our new forums. The third

is you can leave the show feedback on iTunes.

I usually try to check this to see if we've actually

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That will help the show immensely. The fourth

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thoughts on each episode. Be sure to say what

show you're leaving the message for and your

name. The number is 502 -526 -5821. We hope you

enjoyed this episode of MWire. We hope you'll

join us next time when we will be reviewing in

the Marvel Spotlight the final film in this Marvel

Spotlight, Nick Fury, Agent of S .H .I .E .L

.D. For now, I am TFG1 Mike with... This is where

you say who you are. Oh, with Derek Ferguson,

co -host of Better in the Dark. Thank you, Mike.

This was most enjoyable. Yes, sir. Saying any

more words of Elizabeth Shue, don't fuck with

the babysitter or anything. Till next time. Sword

of Omens, give me sight beyond sight. I see a

new episode of Tooncast coming this week. It's

said that the West was built on legends. And

that legends are a way of understanding things

greater than ourselves. Forces that shape our

lives. Events that defy explanation. individuals

whose lives soar to the heavens or fall to the

earth. This is how legends are born.