The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Review

Hey, Tara Strong here, and you're listening to

the GeekCast Radio Network. Today on MYR Weekly,

we have a bunch of trailers to discuss, including

Godzilla, Interstellar, and Edge of Tomorrow.

Also, a discussion of the latest Hobbit film,

The Desolation of Smaug. All that and more coming

up on MYR Weekly. Welcome to my weekly where

we discuss the movie week that was I am one of

your hosts Dan Clark and joining me today as

always is Kevin ultimate solo. Hello Not much,

how are you? Good also and joining us today.

We have a special guest Nick from the as you

watch podcast and Cinecast calm. How are you

doing today? I'm doing very good. Thanks for

having me. How are you guys doing? Doing well,

doing well. Thank you for joining us on today's

episode. Just to start things off here, Nick,

do you want to just give everyone out there just

a quick rundown of, you know, all the little

websites you are associated with and what they

entail? Yes. So my home site, if you will, is

the Cinematic Cats Jammer, which is at cinecats

.com, and that's with a K. And what it is is

it started last year, January 1st. I decided

to do a New Year's resolution to watch and review

a new movie every day in 2012. Luckily, I was

able to accomplish that, which took a lot of

work, 366 movies in 366 days. But since then,

the site's developed more into a community, if

you will. I have a few writers that work with

me, and we just try to bring you the latest in

movie news, reviews, trailers, lists, anything

you want, all in one place. Got that going for

me and then the as you watch podcast is a podcast.

I started shortly after I started my site That's

me and two other guys Joe and Vern both good

guys and each episode is in a different season

if you will so we have a Different format for

each of these seasons and we're in season three

right now We did top three lists before and then

we did debates and now we're doing Filmography

is of certain actors that we think are under

the radar if you will But yeah, really happy

to be in the movie world talking to movie people

and it's been fun Yeah, definitely and I'll make

sure to put links about those sites on in our

show notes So I'm sure a lot of our member listeners

would be interested as well So, you know if you

want to check those out, I'll put those there

for you, you know for a little easy access And

for those joining us for the first time or those

return visitors, just to give you an idea of

what we are here at My Weekly. Well, we begin

each podcast with a look at what we've been watching

recently. We'll move into movie news and then

we'll go on to our main attraction. Our main

attraction this week is a review of Peter Jackson's

The Hobbit, The Desolation of Smog. I think I'm

saying that incorrectly, but we'll then finish

up with a look at upcoming movie releases and

blu -ray releases and finish with our credit

conversation where we discuss the feedback from

last week. And pose a question for you all for

next week. So starting things off here, Kev,

were there any movies or anything you've been

watching recently you'd wanted to discuss? Outside

of the main attraction, I was actually only able

to watch one other film this week. Crazy week

for me between work and Christmas party for work

and all kinds of other stuff But the the one

film I got to see I actually had some time the

one night and I was trying to Find some of the

stuff that I really wanted to watch before the

year ended some of the some of the things that

have kind of I've missed going through and I

searched out on demand and Went through the entire

listing of films that were out there and I couldn't

find any of the films I was looking for I went

to Netflix couldn't find anything who didn't

have anything I was really struggling to find

a way to watch some of these films, and I ended

up just going back to On Demand and watching

some random film that I came across, which happened

to be a movie called All is Bright. And that

is starring Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd. They

basically are two guys who travel a distance

to sell Christmas trees, and they have like a

con man type history. Paul Rudd has basically

stolen Giamatti's wife while he was in jail at

the beginning of the film. So they're not really

best of friends, but they used to work together,

et cetera, and be good friends. And it was an

interesting film. I don't know if I'd recommend

anyone else watching it, so to speak. But if

you're big fans of Paul Rudd or Paul Giamatti,

it might be something that you want to check

out at some point. Definitely won't be making

any of my top list, but I'm not saying it was

a horrible film It had some interesting stuff

in it, but it was kind of a weird weird film

So was that what you said on demand or on Netflix?

This one I ended up finding on demand and I don't

know it Like I said, I only watched it because

of the two names involved and I'm like I'll give

it a shot But it was definitely kind of weird

Interesting. Yeah, all is bright. That's Yeah,

I mean Paul Redden you think a movie with both

those get a little bit more publicity, but I

guess not and I remember it was in our it was

in our list the one day of DVDs I think that

had been released and And I saw the two names

next to me. I was like, what was all as bright?

I'm like, I never remember hearing about that.

So that's kind of maybe another reason why I

checked it out, but Yeah So it's not a future

holiday classic by any means no All right Nick,

how about you anything? You've been watching

recently you wanted to discuss besides, you know,

obviously the Hobbit Not really. I've been trying

to play a little catch -up on certain TV shows.

Finally caught up with Arrow, which was awesome,

but other than The Hobbit, I really haven't seen

a lot. I saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

a couple weeks ago, so that's still coming out.

But now I have a big plate for this coming week

of what I'm going to be seeing, so nothing. I'm

too poor for just going out, so it's all about

free screenings for me, so it's kind of whatever

I can get. And I have not been lucky lately,

so. What did you think of The Secret Life of

Walter Mitty? I really like the second half of

it. The first half is a mess. When he's daydreaming,

it's just kind of stupid. But then once he goes

on his journey, it opens it up. It's a beautiful

film. I was surprised by that. It's got some

of the best cinematography I've seen this year.

But there's a lot of product placement that's

just really distracting. But it's still, it's

solid, it's not great, it's no Oscar -worthy

movie. I think on my side I gave it like a seven.

So not terrible, but not great. But it's decent.

Yeah, I've been hearing a lot of different things

about that. I haven't had the opportunity to

see it, but I'll surely try to check it out when

I can. I don't think it's worth wasting your

Christmas Day movie, if you will, seeing that.

you know with the wolf of wall street and 47

ronin and whatever else coming out but uh it's

it's serviceable if you will great great uh there

there are just a few things i wanted to discuss

i won't go in great depth because there's actually

i have two reviews up for these movies up on

the site at geekcastradio .com i'm just trying

to catch up like a lot of people this time of

year with different films and i kind of dedicated

this week and getting caught up with some documentaries

and The one I went to see was Alex Gimney's latest

documentary, The Armstrong Lie, which is about

Lance Armstrong. In 2009, Gimney was going to

make a documentary about the comeback of Lance

Armstrong, but when the whole thing broke about

him taking performance enhancement drugs happened

and he admitted to it all, those plans changed.

So he ended up doing a documentary about the

lie using a lot of that original footage from

the comeback. getting another interview with

Armstrong to kind of get more depth regarding

the issue. And it's really fascinating. I mean,

Lance Armstrong by himself is a really fascinating

presence, even if, you know, you'll hate him.

He is a strange looking dude. He's very commanding,

and you can't help but just be infatuated by

him. And I do wish that, given he went a little

deeper with it, and we went and probed Armstrong

a little more. But it was... It was pretty good.

I did enjoy it a great deal. If you're a fan

of Gibney's docs like, you know, earlier this

year he did WikiLeaks, We Steal Secrets. It's

the same normal style with talking heads and

he's a really good storyteller. So any sporting

fan, I would definitely say check that out for

sure. Also, just to finish things up here, I

did also watch a documentary of Leviathan which

is getting a lot of buzz out there and again

I have a review up for it on the site and it's

a documentary that is not for everyone it's literally

what they did was get like these GoPro cameras

and put them in all different places on this

shipping vessel and there's no talking there's

no You know monologue anything like that just

a series of images really and I could see a lot

of people hating it and Thinking it's just kind

of boring and pointless but I was really enthralled

by it and thought the imagery was pretty amazing

and I'm sure both of those documentaries might

make my top ten documentaries for the end of

the year But we'll still have to wait and see

on that so if you have any interest in those

I would advise checking out my reviews on the

site kids a little bit more in depth and get

more deeper opinions on both of those felt so

Before we take a break here. Was there anything

anyone else wanted to go over before we head

on over to movie news? No, that's all the stuff.

I saw this week. I like I like Nick said I have

a pretty busy schedule for this next week I'm

going to be seeing hopefully a good number of

films So we'll have a lot more to talk about

next week in this section Yeah, I've nothing

really I've I've been so behind on my movie watching.

Okay Alright, so we're gonna take a break here.

And when we come back, we'll get into the movie

news for this past week. See you in a bit Welcome

to a collaboration between the geek cast radio

network and the pop culture network This is from

the command center the podcast I am your host

if you and Mike from the GCR in and joining me

is Zordon himself. Oh wait, I mean Scotty cash

That's right Scottie cash from the pop culture

network and today we're introducing you to the

audio version of from the command center the

podcast that will entail our Intake on Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers the episodes the season

and all that other good stuff All right, and

welcome back we'll begin the look into news like

we always do we'll take a look into the past

weekends box office With the release of a Hobbit

movie, of course It's going to rule the box office

and it did just that the Hobbit the desolation

of small opened up with about 73 million dollars

Which was easily number one for the box office

it but surprisingly it did worse than the first

Hobbit film so there was a decline there and

From the original Hobbit film that came out last

year so Somewhat of a surprise that it's not

making as much as the original Probably number

of factors can you know be because of that? There's

more competition right now Of course as we'll

get into that, you know, if you look at frozen

number two came in with 22 million number three

The man who just cannot stop making movies Tyler

Perry's media Christmas makes 16 million dollars,

which is about 16 million dollars too much uh

the hunger games catching fire still ranking

in dough as number four with 13 million and uh

rounding out the top five thor the dark world

with Two million so a pretty big drop there from

four to fifth place. So Any surprises anything

regarding? Uh the box office that anyone sees

for me. The biggest surprise there is that I

expected the top three to be Hobbit, Frozen,

and Hunger Games still. Even with Amidia Christmas

coming out, I didn't expect it to unseat any

of those films, but by three million it did unseat

Hunger Games for that third spot. That's somewhat

of a shock to me. I guess it's, I don't know.

We've seen that before though with a few other

films in that genre, but I still thought Hunger

Games would beat that out. It looks like about

another week, and then Thor will be at the 200

million mark. If it does about what it did this

week, next week, it'll be at that 200 mark. So

that'll be a milestone for that. But no, in that

top five, that's the only thing that surprised

me out of that group. the sequel to The Hobbit

did less in its opening weekend than the original?

I read some articles that were trying to cite

some the snowstorm that a lot of places got hit

with Friday into Saturday. It's at least where

I live. We basically had no snow all week and

then Friday and Saturday we got hit and it's

going to be the exact same this next weekend

where it's not going to snow all week and then

on Friday and Saturday it's going to snow so

I don't know. I just read a couple articles that

stated that that could have had a tiny bit to

do with it. I don't know how much I'd attribute

to that, but I didn't really read any other excuses

being thrown out there. Yeah. The only other

excuse I saw was they said there's different

competition this year than there was last year.

I mean, you have three franchise films or two

other franchises with The Hobbit and Hunger Games

and Frozen as well. It's another big Disney movie

that we didn't have last year. But Nick, anything

looking at the box office that are whole or anything

regarding box office that you wanted? With Unexpected

Journey, that one I think did better than Desolation

of Slog because that one didn't have any competition

until Christmas Day. And this one you have Frozen,

you have Catching Fire, you have Thor. But then

for Madea's Christmas too, I thought that would

actually do a lot more than it did. So I'm very

happy that it kind of bombed, if you will, although

16 million I still think is enough to... Warrant

another movie that Tyler Perry will definitely

make because there's always gonna be a demographic

for fat black women that aren't black women and

I don't know I'm just I'm so tired of him. I

I don't even like talking about him anymore because

I just get so pissed off but Yeah, they're just

he's gonna keep making them yeah, and Always,

you know when you add in layer the cable guy

to that brings in a whole new list of people

So I'm sure that helped make it 16 million Which

I'm sure that movie did not cost that much money

to make so I'm sure he it's gonna buy him another

house That's for sure. Yeah Looked like the the

biggest drops we had overall the best man holiday

dropped 61 % And then moving down the list a

little bit freebirds, which was out last week,

but it didn't make the list at all At least it

wasn't listed when we checked it. Now it's back

on the list, but it had a 72 % drop. It's kind

of scratching and clawing to reach its budget

number at this point. And then Oldboy with an

88 % drop, and that's just all kinds of disaster.

So those were some of the biggest drops. We didn't

have any really increases except for those films

that increased in number of theaters, which is

obviously expected. So there wasn't any, like,

huge surprises, which you usually don't get a

lot of huge surprises when you have a movie like

what we've seen recently, like when Thor came

out, when Hunger Games came out, when Frozen,

when The Hobbit came out, that big blockbusters

like that kind of eliminate too many surprises.

But it will be interesting to see how the rest

of December, I mean, obviously, Hobbit's going

to have a little bit of a run here, but there's

going to have a lot more competition. for the

rest of the year. So we'll see how those films

that are still going wide are still being released,

how they kind of fare amongst these megastars

up at the top. Yeah, I think it'll be interesting

next week because we have a lot of movies coming

out next week. We'll get into later. So I think

it'll be a little bit more interesting next week

seeing how all those plays because you have a

lot of movies going wide as we get closer and

closer to Christmas. Oh, and we forgot to mention

that Jackass did succeed at breaking the 100

million mark. Yes, yes the 15 million dollar

movie has made over a hundred million dollars

There's something about people dressing up either

as old Old men or old black ladies that people

just can't get enough of I guess Basically, all

right, so that's pretty much all there is for

The box office, so I'll pass the mic over to

you, Kev. Do you want to run us down this past

week's headlines? Yeah, as always, for those

people that are familiar with us, you kind of

know this. For the new people, when we do the

news after we do box office, we kind of hit on

a couple... Sections that have kind of evolved

as we've done our podcast. We'll start with just

general headlines then we talk about any delays

or Change of dates as far as releases go and

we usually somehow find a way to talk about sequels

or remakes or reboot rumors Get a little into

any casting news that was broke over the week

and then we'll finish the new section up talking

about new trailers that Released over the course

of the week and kind of our opinions on that

so getting into the headlines a little We talked

about some of the critic awards and nominations

that have been coming out and now we've got our

Golden Globe nominations this past week and a

lot of 12 Years a Slave like we saw last week

with those other awards and American Hustle also

so the five pictures that they had for best motion

picture drama, 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips,

Gravity, Rush and the one that I can never pronounce

right, Philomena, Philomena, Philomena, I don't

know how to say that. And then after that, you

know, they had the comedy or musical, and that

was American Hustle, Her, Inside Llywyn Davis,

Nebraska, and The Wolf of Wall Street. So all

films that we've spent some time talking about

so far over the course of the last couple of

weeks, and best animated feature, they had The

Croods, Despicable Me Too, and Frozen. So I guess

they decided that The Wind Rises is the one that

we were talking about last week, right, Dan?

Apparently they're qualified as foreign language

film and not as an animated feature film. So

they kind of changed that color. So foreign language

film, they had blue as the warmest color, great

beauty, the hunt, the pass, and the wind rises.

Anything that stood out from the Golden Globes

that you wanted to talk about, I know I didn't

talk about any of the actors or anything. I guess

the one thing that surprised me, not greatly,

was that you had certain movies get completely

shut out, like Fruitville Station and 12 Years

of Slave, not 12 Years of Slave, but... The butler

neither got any nominations whatsoever, which

is a little bit of a shock I had assumed it would

get at least an acting one of those would get

an acting or thought the butler might even have

a chance at like best drama But that kind of

walked away with nothing. So Yeah for sure Anything

Nick have you had a chance to look over the Golden

Globe nominations and anything stood out either

good or bad? No, not really. I'm actually pretty

happy with them. I'm glad the butler did not

get anything. Sorry, Lee Daniels the butler.

I'm glad that didn't actually get any nominations

because as much as I like Forrest Whitaker, whatever,

but Oprah Winfrey, whoever I thought was going

to be a lock. I hate the woman personally, so

I don't really care. But I'm really happy with

a lot of the nominations. I'm also depressed.

This is how many I have not seen. And as the

Globes always do, they're kind of weird with

their comedy or musical categories. You know,

America Hustle is kind of a dramedy. Her is definitely

more drama than comedy. They kind of just throw

stuff in. And then like Emma Thompson getting

nominated for Best Drama in Saving Mr. Banks,

I think that one's a lot more comedy than certain

things. But as long as they got all their nominations

in, I don't really care how they fit under. Yeah,

I have no idea how they define their categories

or how they define drama. Yeah, it's really all

over the place. But I am kind of sad that The

Wind Rises got kicked the best foreign language

film because it has no chance of winning that

genre or that category as it would have possibly

had a chance in animated. But that's kind of

always been a kind of secondary category for

the Globes and it's not as big of a deal as it

is more so in the Oscars. But yeah, I'm happy.

I also like the TV nominations too. But yeah,

it's been an interesting year, and I have a lot

of work to do before January 14th. As do we all,

yeah. For sure. We seem to always like to do

some type of headline about superhero stuff since

we are at Geekcast Radio Network here, so let's

get right into that. The news that we got, and

we've kind of alluded to this in previous episodes,

but Sony confirms Venom and Sinister Six films,

an expansion of the Spider -Man universe. This

is not coming as a surprise. Dan, we talked about

it a little bit last week, but what are your

thoughts on them confirming this officially?

Interesting, for sure. I'm curious on how this

is all going to work. They are being very ambitious

with this, but I don't know. If you're going

to do a movie just about The Sinister Six, it

seems weird to do a Spider -Man movie without

Spider -Man, but I don't know. I'm a little bit...

Sony has to win me back at this point when it

comes to movies. I did like the Amazing Spider

-Man, but I It's nothing compared to me for me

like Spider -Man or Spider -Man 2 so I'm gonna

be skeptical. Yeah, I'm going to Be a little

bit wary until I can actually see something and

see the casting and stuff like that, but I'm

interested I mean venom has potential I think

it'd be a good movie if it's put in the right

hands, but it could also be awful as we saw with

Spider -Man 3 so Nick, your thoughts on the plan

to expand Spider -Man Universe and what direction

they're going? Yeah, I really liked Amazing Spider

-Man at first, and then I rewatched it and I

had a lot of problems with it. And the second

one, I just, I don't know, I want to be optimistic,

but I just, I really don't know. I love Andrew

Garfield as Spider -Man. I think that's one of

the best parts of the films, but for Venom, I

think, I don't know, I just think, because Venom...

In the comics, he's never really part of the

Sinister Six, right? Not that I can remember.

So, you know, I don't know why it would be Venom

and Sinister Six without them really tying anything

together. I know in the trailer for The Amazing

Spider -Man 2, we did see Rhino, we saw Green

Goblin, and we saw Electro. But then there's

also a scene in the film where this guy in a

hat is walking through this hallway, and we see

Doc Ock's arms, and we see the Vulture's wings.

So... I'm assuming that's the five. I don't know

who the sixth person's gonna be. I'm thinking

maybe Morbius or Mysterio, but who knows. But

I do like the idea of doing a superhero movie

through the eyes of the villains, like giving

a villain its own film. But with where they are

right now with the franchise, I don't know how

it's all gonna come together well, I should say.

Because right now, it seems like a big mess.

Three villains in a sequel already is kind of

raising lots of questions. I don't know. I'd

like to be optimistic, but I think Sony's trying

too hard to duplicate Marvel right now that I

don't think they can do it. Yeah, it's going

to be interesting. Like we talked about last

week, Dan, about everybody seems to want to be

jumping on board with Marvel and what they've

done with the Avengers. So we just kind of talked

about it with the DC stuff. Now we're talking

about it with Spider -Man Universe. I'm skeptical

like Nika as far as how they're going to be able

to pull this off, but I'll wait and reserve judgment,

I guess, until I see more. Dan, any other thoughts

on that before we go to the next story? No, that's

pretty much all I got. I'm not going to talk

about these on air too much, but if you want

to there's a couple interesting articles that

you can go to geekcastradio .com, go to the episode

post, read about why Tom Hanks will never play

a bad guy, and read why some British researchers

are saying James Bond would be the worst spy

ever. So you can read about both of those and

comment on the website. We'll have links there.

We don't really have any delays, so to speak,

this week. I know we've had a lot in the past,

a lot of movies being pushed around. and changed

around as the chess game continues for 2015 and

2016. A rare occurrence though, this week we

do have a movie being pushed up a week instead

of delayed. It makes perfect sense though, because

of the kind of suspension of Fast and the Furious

as they decide what they're gonna do, there has

been a decision to... bump Dawn of the Planet

of the Apes up a week to fill the week that Fast

and Furious was going to go out, which will give

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes an extra week

before some heavy competition hits. So that probably

is good for that franchise, that it's getting

that spot instead of the one it was in. I know

it's only a week difference, but that might mean

X number of millions of dollars for that. So

that's the only kind of change in scheduling

we had. But we do have, as always, a lot of talk

about sequels, remakes, reboots. whatever you

wanna call them. Starting with, everyone always

waits for the title I'm gonna throw out there,

a Naked Gun remake starring Ed Helms. Hollywood

is planning a Naked Gun reboot. Your thoughts,

Dan. Just don't do it. That's pretty much my

thought. I love Ed Helms, I mean, I've been a

fan since he was on The Daily Show and I loved

him in The Office and I really love Naked Gun,

but I just, I don't know. I think Ed Helms is

the same type of comedy that Leslie Nielsen did,

and I just do something else. I just, I don't

know. Like, Naked Gun is such a sacred movie,

I think, and we've seen movies that try to do

that same style recently, and no one's really

gotten right in a very long time, so I don't

think it can happen, so I would rather them just

not do it. Nick, what do you think about the

Naked Gun? Completely unnecessary. Ed Helms is

already going to be starring in the vacation

remake or sequel or whatever the hell it's going

to be. Let the 80s live, man. They just keep

remaking it all. I'm waiting for like, I don't

know, the kid from Modern Family to be in Home

Alone 5 or whatever. It's just, you know, leave

it alone. You know, it's just those existed as

they did. And, you know, Leslie Nelson's only

been dead a couple of years. Let the guy rest

in peace before you start messing with his shit.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I just. It's unnecessary.

He's talented to an extent, you know, but we

don't need all these recycled ideas over and

over and over again. Yeah, it kind of goes along

with that discussion we had and all the comments

that we got on our web page a few weeks ago about

all the different remix reboots that you could

possibly have, and nobody threw this one out

there. Moving on, we already talked about the

fact that there would be a World War Z sequel.

The news this week was that we have a change

in director. Mark Forster is not going to be

directing the second one instead. We have The

Orphanage's one, Antonio Baena. I'm not super

familiar with his work. Dan, do you know anything

about him or how do you feel with the director

shift in this film? I'm not surprised based upon

like all the issues the original film had with

all the delays and everything like that and the

reshoots that it's getting a new director. I'm

too, I've never seen The Orphanage so I really

can't speak on if this is a good choice or not

but That he's coming from a horror background,

I think, is a good thing. I mean, I did like

World War Z much more than I anticipated, but

I think that was the one thing it was lacking

was there wasn't a huge horror element to it.

So if you get a director that has, you know,

experience in that genre, they could bring that

into the sequel, which I think would be a good

thing. Nick, are you familiar at all with him,

or did you like the first World War Z? Yeah,

I really loved World War Z, so it was one of

my biggest surprises of the year. And I think

Bayona is a good choice. Orphanage is solid,

The Impossible is really good. Penny Dreadful,

a TV show that's coming out I think later next

year, I'm really excited for. My biggest problem

with the sequel is its name. World War Z 2 just

looks really bad when it's written down. The

Z and the 2 get very confused. But yeah, I'm

excited. I don't know where they'll go with it

all. and what Pitt's involvement will be as a

star. But I'm excited. I really wanted to hate

the film, because the book is one of my favorite

books, but I really enjoyed the movie, so I'm

looking forward to it. remakes or reboots or

whatever you want to call them, sequels. I believe

we've somewhat mentioned this in passing before

but Sony is now planning Bad Boys 3 and they're

hoping to reunite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence

for the product which if you can't do that then

you can't make the movie. So yeah, I would hope

that they would be hoping to reunite them if

they were gonna do something like that I don't

know if it's necessary. I know some people, you

know major fans of the franchise might be happy

Dan necessary not necessary. What do you think?

I Mean I would say as necessary as you can kind

of get with some of these sequels I mean, I'm

not dying for a bad boys sequel, but I'm okay

with it I do I did do like those movies They

are kind of gratuitous at times and there are

moments that are just it's kind of It's interesting

watching the bad boys one and bad boys two you

see like the evolution of Michael Bay as a director

and how he's just gone Bigger and badder and

bolder with everything and just more explosions

But I don't know I like Will Smith and I like

Martin Lawrence together. So I think they When

Michael Bay kind of doesn't try to do his comedy,

but lets them do their comedy. It's much better

So I'd be okay with seeing another bad boys movie.

They're usually fun. So I'm for fun movies reboot

or remake that we can talk about was I guess

I didn't see this one coming but I didn't see

the first film so I have really no bearing on

it but we'd bring it up anyways. Peter Jackson

says that he will film Tin Tin sequel when he

finishes The Hobbit. Dan did you see the first

one of these? I did. I did see it. So what are

your thoughts on this then? I thought the first

Tin Tin was okay. It was not nearly as good as

the talent that was involved. I mean you had

Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Simon Pegg,

Edgar Wright, all these great people, and it

didn't really yield amazing results. So I don't

necessarily have a big need for a sequel. I know

that franchise, the Tintin franchise is huge,

not just the movie, but the comics and whatnot.

So I know there's a lot of fans out there. And

I do think that the animation to Tintin was pretty

good. pretty cool and it was the story does lend

itself to future films so I would I would be

forcing a sequel and I think it could maybe be

a little bit better than the original because

I think the one thing the original lacked was

it didn't really set up the world all that well

so with that set up a little bit better I think

the sequel could maybe be an improvement but

like you I just came out of the left field to

me I had no idea they were even planning this

Yes, I guess I'd have to see the first one before

I could determine if a second one was necessary

or not. But we'll see. We'll see how that goes

and see, like you said, if it can expand on the

things and maybe set the world up better. Who

knows? Maybe it would be a worthy thing. Sometimes

I think it's easier with animated stuff or things

of that nature, but we'll see. The final sequel

or remake that we haven't talked about yet that's

been rumored here is the possibility that Tom

Cruise will continue his journey in the film

or in the character of Jack Reacher sequel moving

forward. Now this is interesting because there

was a box office and reviews weren't necessarily

overwhelmingly good but they're going to go ahead

anyways. Not saying it didn't make a lot of money

because it did make a lot of money. But again,

this is another one that I can't comment a whole

lot because I haven't seen the first one Dan

Jack Reacher, do we need to see more of that

character? No, we don't I did see the original

it was an okay movie, but it was Nothing special

by any means. I would be perfectly okay with

them never making another one again I'd almost

be fine with him never making another film again.

I'm just kidding. I don't know. I don't know

where you're hatred from It's funny because I

used to love him so much, but I just can't get

into a lot of the movies he's been doing lately

and that's another one that I just can't seem

to find any interest in that franchise. Maybe

I'm kind of in the minority. Nick, do you have

any interest at all in seeing a Jack Reacher

sequel or did you see the first film? What did

you think of that? Yeah, I really liked the first

one actually. I'm kind of in between with you

and Tom Cruise in that I don't like him as a

person, but I love him as a movie star. And like

The Edge of Tomorrow, which we'll get to a little

bit later, I think that looks great. But yeah,

I really like Jack Reacher. I thought it was,

Stephen McQuarrie was a great director. He brought

a lot of realism, if you will, to an action genre

with kind of the pulpy 70s feel of action movies.

You know, great fight sequences, great, great

car chase sequence. and a really creepy sniper

in the beginning and towards the end of the film.

Yeah, I'm okay with it. I think it all depends

on who they cast as the bad guy. You had Werner

Herzog in the first one. Are you gonna go with

Martin Scorsese or someone in the second one?

I don't know, I'm interested. I'm glad that if

they can keep it grounded and not go all superhero

-like with Die Hard. but what they did. If Jack

Reacher can stay Jack Reacher and not some invincible

god, then I'm okay with it. Alright, so that's

it for some of the sequels and remakes. Again,

some of the stuff that we kind of already knew

was coming or we talked about a little bit before

and then some that were completely out of left

field like Naked Gun and Tin Tin. So we'll see

what next week brings us with getting into some

of the casting call rumors or confirmations from

this week. We'll get the Terminator stuff out

of the way first because we've kind of mentioned

a few of those before as far as Sarah Connor.

And there's an article that is confirming that

Amelia Clark is going to play that role. But

now we're getting our first mention of John Connor's

role and the name coming out. rumored to be connected

to that is Jason Clarke. So we would have Amelia

Clarke, Jason Clarke, and Arnold Schwarzenegger

all appearing in the next Terminator film. Dan?

The Amelia Clarke that we talked about last week,

that would be my choice. So I'm glad she got

it over. I forget the other person that was up

for that role. But I love Jason Clarke in Zero

Dark Thirty. And I like them too in, what was

that movie? I can't Wallace. I thought he was

good in that too that it does I'm curious then

what they're gonna do if they're having both

John Connor and Sarah Connor and both are around

the same age so I don't know if that's more so

flashbacks or how that's gonna work it means

time travel obviously but uh I'd be fine with

Jason Clark taking up that role I think it's

good to have someone who's a little bit famous

but not like Christian Bale famous to play that

like role like John Connor Yeah, I have no problem

with him. I'm a fan of Jason Clarke. Like I said,

Lawless, he was great. He was good on, I can't

remember the name of the TV show he was on for

a little while. But I'm a fan of his and I have

no problem with either of these castings. I'm

not saying that I have high hopes for the film

overall, but with these two castings, it helps

a little maybe for me. Nick, your thoughts on

anything revolving around the next Terminator

film? Yeah, um as unnecessary as I feel the film

to be I know they're gonna keep continuing them

I kind of like salvation parts of it, so I'm

not completely hating it, but was Schwarzenegger's

Involvement that's kind of ish iffy and then

Amelia Clark and Jason Clark or mayor. Yeah,

I can't even talk right now I love Jason Clark

I'm so happy that he's finally getting some more

record recognition. I loved him in great Gatsby

this year zero dark 30 I mean, Emilia Clarke

I love in Game of Thrones, and she's a great

fit for Sarah Connor. The other one was, yeah,

it was Brie Larson, which I don't think she would

have done as well. I just think she's still kind

of too 16 -year -old in her appearance, but Emilia

Clarke can pull a little older, a little better.

And yeah, the way that I think they're gonna

do it is that John Connor goes back in time to

stop his mom or save his mom or some stuff like

that. So that's the age difference. But the biggest

question that remains is who's gonna play? Kyle

Reese and I think that is going to bring the

trio together and if they can get someone good

for that role then I'll be a little bit more

optimistic about it. For sure. Next up on the

casting we had talked about this probably I don't

know maybe a month or so ago about a Freddie

Mercury film being uh... put together and at

the time uh... Sasha Baron Cohen's name had been

rumored around it but that had dropped out so

we didn't really have like a specific name attached

to it but now it seems like we do and the name

is Ben Wishaw who has apparently confirmed to

take the role of Freddie Mercury also the director

has been revealed to be Dexter Fletcher there

will be his third major picture after Wild Bill

and Sunshine on Lathe I'm not super familiar

with him as a director. I haven't seen those

two films, but either thoughts on the director

or on Ben Wishaw taking the role of Freddie Mercury,

Dan? I'm with you. I haven't seen any of those

films, so I really can't speak on the director.

Ben Wishaw, the only really thing I know him

from is from the latest James Bond movie, SQ,

and obviously that's on a role that really translates

to Freddie Mercury, but I don't know. I mean,

it's hard. It's one of those things where it's

like, sure, it could work. Really, there's nothing

for me personally I could say it wouldn't or

would not work. I do kind of wish Sacha Baron

Cohen got that role because I'd love to see him

get into some new stuff beyond just like the

comedy angle. But I'm interested in it, I think,

no matter who really plays it, because I just

think it's an interesting story. Yeah, it's definitely

an interesting personality to tackle. Nick, are

you familiar with the director at all on this

one? No, I'm not familiar with Dexter Fletcher.

I know him as an actor and not as a director.

But I love Ben Whishaw. I loved McCloud Atlas.

I loved him in Skyfall. Fur, portrait of a serial

killer. He's really good in that as well. Or

not portrait of a serial killer. Some perfume.

Or fur. I don't remember which one. He's one

of those. But I'm a huge Queen fan, so I was

kind of excited. I'm obviously a bigger Freddie

Mercury fan. And I was really excited about Sacha

Baron Cohen. And then... I was sad when he dropped

out and then excited for Ben Whishaw as well.

But then I read about that the film is really

going to be kind of tame version of the life

of Freddie Mercury. They won't talk about his

battle with AIDS or any of that towards the end

of his life, which I think is probably the biggest

part of the film that they could have focused

on to kind of give it a lot more heft and emotional,

you know, an emotional appeal as well as a complete,

you know, story of the man. So with that in mind,

I'm not sure, but they do have the rights to

all the songs. So if they can have real Queen

songs in there, I'm okay with it. And Ben Wishaw

is gay, so I always thought that whoever should

play Freddie Mercury should be gay as well. So

I don't know. We'll see. See how that goes. The

big superhero casting news, I guess. Not necessarily...

I don't know, it's not like it's shocking or

surprising here, but it has been confirmed that

Don Cheadle will join the cast in Avengers Age

of Ultron. So, stated it as a key role, so we're

obviously looking at War Machine slash Iron Patriot

showing up in Avengers Age of Ultron. Any problem

with him appearing once again in the franchise

there, Dan? No, I was surprised he wasn't in

the last Avengers movie, and based upon what

they're saying with Ultron that it's going to

be a creation from Tony Stark, I think it would

make sense. It would be odd if he wasn't in it.

And it's good because it's one of those characters

you can put in there that won't make it a big

mess. He's a simple character that just blows

stuff up, and I hope he keeps the Iron Patriot

outfit because I kind of dig that, even if it

is kind of cheesy. Yeah, so not sure if it'll

be more like War Machine, more like Iron Patriot,

how big a role he has. We've already had talks,

obviously, of Ultron, James Spader being involved,

Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch. The article talks

about expanded roles for Hawkeye and Hulk. Anything

about Avengers Age of Ultron, Nick, that has

been rumored or thrown about so far that has

you apprehensive or has you anxious or excited?

It's worth noting that I... After this year with

Iron Man 3 and Thor 2, I've completely thrown

it against Marvel. I'm done with Marvel, in a

sense. I thought both of those films were terrible

this year. And him being involved in the sequel

just sounds like more of a mess, actually. You

know, we're already introducing Scarlet Witch

and Quicksilver. Who knows if Falcon will appear

from Captain America or what's going to come

out of that, but... Right now, I just don't care.

No matter how big or how cool it's gonna be,

everyone's gonna shell out money, so I always

feel like my opinion doesn't really matter because

it's still gonna make a billion dollars, but

I don't know. We'll see. We should have a roundtable

with you and Michael Powers and Dan and myself

and we can just battle and battle about all the

different Marvel films. I recently wrote an article

on my site about why Thor was another misstep

for Marvel. And I just, I have no hope for Marvel.

They've gotten too big for their britches. They

think they can get away with whatever they want,

and they're gonna do it. So, whatever. Interesting

take. Dan, reaction? Yeah, well, I mean, I guess

I obviously disagree because I don't, I thought

Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 were good. They're not

great by any means. I thought they were both

really solid. And I guess I don't see adding

something like War Machine as going to make a

mess. Because he's basically just a military

figure that you don't need a huge... Like, he's

not like he's gonna dominate the movie by any

means. He's just another gun in a way. He's just

a weapon. Well, didn't you just say, too, though,

that he's gonna be joining the role... joining

the film in a major role? This is a key role,

yeah. Yeah, so... A key role could be a lot of

things, though. I mean, that could be... I mean,

that could just be that because he has a relationship

with Tony Stark and Tony Stark causes Ultron

to be... Created or what have you so I don't

know like I I Think key role is also probably

something they put in the press releases They

can make it more of a story than it might be

because if it's like he's joining the Avengers

and help me and I've seen or two no one's really

going to print that but You throw a key role

in there and now it's a story. It's just interesting

because you brought up or saying something like

Marvel being too big for their britches and I

guess that's kind of the thought that I have

with what DC is trying to do and what the Spider

-Man universe is trying to do. I still stick

by my I still haven't seen Marvel make any missteps.

I know you said that Thor 2 was another misstep.

I just haven't seen any missteps from Marvel

so far so we'll have to agree to disagree on

that. That's a longer conversation for another

day. For sure. uh... so it was a correct uh...

at the website about uh... your thoughts of the

next avengers film or a country will be involved

in it and what you think of of the franchise

overall uh... the other major casting news was

uh... have to deal with the appropriate sense

on the theater right now the next uh... next

hunger game uh... her games film mocking jay

and uh... the additional uh... another role they're

doing what was your reaction to this article

I know very little about Hunger Games, so...

There's a lot of... It seems like they're...

The thing that I found interesting about it was

that they're creating characters specifically

for the next movie that weren't in the book.

So I'm curious to see how fans react to that.

And it seems like they're not really adding any

big names. There's like, you know, a few little

seamer Hoffman joining the cast this time, but

it does seem like his role becomes larger. So

that was the one thing that surprised me, that

they're adding roles that aren't... in the book.

And for my understanding, they haven't done that

yet. So I know fans can kind of get very particular

when it comes to stuff like that. Interesting

to see a Prison Break slash Hunger Games crossover.

I guess that's not where I would necessarily

have thought of it with Robert Never. But I guess

that's one of the directions they're going. Nick,

what do you think of the Hunger Games franchise

in general, since we haven't spoken to you before?

And what are your thoughts on some of the casting

news about the next film? I don't care about

the Hunger Games, but I love Robert Knepper.

I think he's an amazing actor, so I'm more excited

about the news of him joining Arrow as the Clock

King than anything else. But yeah, I know nothing

about the sequel either, or Mockingjay. As for

my history with the films, I didn't really like

the first one at all. I'm a huge Battle Royale

fan, and I think it's still a blatant ripoff

of that, and I still haven't seen the sequel.

And I probably won't until way down the road.

So I don't really have an opinion. Gotcha. All

right. Next casting news. I'm going back to some

more comic book stuff here with Batman, Superman,

Dark Knight, Darkest Knight, Blackest Knight,

whatever they're going to call it. Jason Momoa

in talks to joining the group and it's rumored

that it might be obviously as a villain since

that's kind of the mold that he's seen in other

things. Game of Thrones start another game of

Thrones start finding possibly a major role here.

What do you think? How does he fit into that

that universe Dan? Sorry, that was me It depends

if he's gonna talk or not if he I think each

Jason was a good actor if he's not talking Looking

at like his starring roles and like the movie

like the remake of Conan, which was just awful

So if he's just like some I know some people

throw out throughout the like Lobo as a possibility

or some people will even send Martian Manhunter

I don't know it I know he was up for Drax in

the Guardians of the Galaxy that ended up going

to like Batista I thought he would actually fit

that role pretty well because it is just that

it's almost like a Hulk like character But I

don't know. I like you mentioned earlier Kev

I this the DC, you know Batman or Superman movie

to me. It's just It's just I don't know. I have

very little faith in it at this point because

I I feel we're getting more and more Casting

and so far. There's really the story I don't

even know if they're even gonna focus on a story

or just throw as many characters as they can

at the screen and Hope it all goes well Nick

what are your thoughts on this one? We haven't

heard your opinion on this franchise. Well Like

to preface this by saying that although I did

not like Marvel and what they're doing I am a

huge DC fan But I don't want what I'm about to

say to be viewed as a complete DC fanboy kind

of thing So first off I like the casting. I don't

know who's gonna be I hope to God he's not doomsday

because I think they need to save doing doomsday

for later I don't want him as Martian Manhunter.

I actually think he'd be a decent Aquaman if

they had to include Aquaman. But I really would

like to see him as Vandal Savage. I think he

looks the part perfectly as Vandal Savage. And

one thing that's worth mentioning too is that

the reason he was not in Guardians of the Galaxy

is because they were not going to pay him enough.

So whatever Warner Brothers has given him, offer

-wise, I think is going to be worthwhile. So

I think he'll be around for a bit. So I'm thinking

he's probably going to be more of a hero than

a villain or a long -time villain. keeping with

that in mind I want to point out that it may

seem like they're getting a bunch of shit all

into one thing but for instance with Gal Gadot's

casting as Wonder Woman or whatever you say her

name she could have just been a smaller part

of the film these are they're just setting everything

up so we don't know if he's gonna be in the film

as like the main villain or if he'll be as like

Martian Manhunter and pop up towards the end

of the film you know it's just all about the

contracts at this point but yeah I think my biggest

worry with both that and the spider -man franchise

is that and hopefully I'm wrong in it I just

just doesn't seem like they're taking their time

to do things the right way and as is typical

in In a lot of Hollywood etc is that it just

seems like they're so anxious to just make the

money that they might not Lay the groundwork

first. Hopefully I'm wrong with that Especially

seeing that in spider -man. It's like let's just

you know, we need to get to this thing where

we can build up this bigger universe so we're

gonna you know, turn Spider -Man 2 completely

into something that it wasn't intended to be

at the beginning, so we can set up this whole

universe, and, you know, we had the Superman

film, and now it's just like, I don't know, I

feel like they're not, they're not doing it slow,

like they're not being patient with it, but hopefully,

you know, it doesn't always necessarily mean

that, like you said, they might just be playing

a minor part that sets them up for a future movie,

et cetera, so we kind of got to wait and see

what kind of role they're actually playing in,

and hopefully that's the case. One thing I do

want to mention quick is I haven't written it

yet. I'm working on it right now. I don't know

when it'll be up, but I am working on an idea

or an article where an idea of how they can tie

everything together with Arrow and whatnot. And

I think that the fact that they haven't blatantly

said that Arrow is not part of the Man of Steel

universe could mean that who knows. And as of

right now in the show, there's not a lot. So

I think if DC was able to incorporate that somehow,

They'd have a big jump forward. Not necessarily

where Marvel is, but they'd be able to be a lot

better off than we're throwing it all together

in two movies. Because, you know, Arrow's already

a really built -up character. I feel like I mentioned

Arrow like five times in this episode. But, you

know, there are ways, and I think it's too early

to tell. All we have is Man of Steel. Who knows

what's coming? And I think, and I hope that Warner

Brothers is smart enough not to just rush everything.

because you know these are my favorite characters

personally and I don't know I have faith especially

with Ben Affleck signing on you know that guy

is not just an actor he's a creative talent that

I think has a big big say on what's gonna be

happening so we'll see I don't know. Dan any

other thoughts before we move into the next section?

No I guess my only thing is like my worry is

that they have yet to get Superman right For

them from based upon minus deal. So I don't know.

I hope they focus on that first and then like

you we mentioned just setting the pieces and

like Nick and you said Kev it's hard to say because

you don't know like a casting could be anything

at this point it could be like an after credit

sequence it could be you know just a random cameo

or whatnot so it's I mean it's interesting I

guess in some ways but in other ways it's hard

I get you know the thing you keep thinking of

in movies like Spider -Man 3 and all those other

films that are just too many characters but then

if you think of movie like Dark Knight that has

Huge amount of characters, but it's done right

so it is possible and like like Nick mentioned

with Ben Affleck there That you know that is

someone who does know how to tell a story is

a good director So I have a little bit more faith

knowing that he's involved now that no one's

gone. So All right. Well our last new section

as always is the trailer talk Some trailers that

were at least we're not going to talk about all

of them, but you can search these out in the

episode post trailers that were released over

the last week. We had a trailer for Interstellar,

Jupiter Ascending, Edge of Tomorrow, a new Godzilla

trailer, Bad Words, of course, the Spider -Man,

the Amazing Spider -Man 2 international trailer,

Rio 2, Earth 2 Echo, and the Fantastic Fear of

Everything. Dan, out of that group, and the trailers

that you watched this week or saw, which ones

caught your eye? Well, I guess, I mean, jumping

off Christopher Nolan as he was last Left the

Warner Brothers world or the superhero world

and is now going into interstellar And that to

me interstellar that is a teaser trailer done,

right? Like i'd really know nothing about what

interstellar is going to be about for I mean

face -a -thon trailer, you know, obviously some

sort of space and Related I always thought it

was going to be in the future But it seems like

that might not be the case, but it has me super

interested. It's so simple so well edited You

know, Matthew McConaughey is just like on fire

and like his voiceover just works really well

You could basically make that a commercial for

NASA, but it's it's a commercial for interstellar

and that last shot of interstellar that trailer

was perfect. It was staged so perfectly. So that,

I'm super psyched for. Yeah, I thought that one

looked really good as well. The only problem

with that film is how much it's going to be hyped

up beforehand and hopefully, you know, people

don't go into it with, you know, these ginormous

expectations that it can't live up to, but it

is something that... Kind of as exciting and

looks like it could be really good, but I'm gonna

try to hold back So I don't get too hyped up

for it, but definitely looks interesting. What

else did you see? Yeah, I guess I'll also mention

the Godzilla trailer which Wow that to me was

a lot of fun like that it did what I was hoping

it would do and it set the tone it looks like

a massive scale. I thought Pacific Rim was an

enormous scale, but it's like Godzilla is three

times the size of that scale. So that has me

super excited too. Again, I'll try to not get

too excited because the last time we had a Godzilla

movie, things did not go very well. But the talent

involved in that just makes me like Bryan Cranston.

the director who did Monsters, which I thought

was a good indie film. I am really excited for

that and I never thought I'd be that excited

for a Godzilla movie. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan

of that franchise either, but that trailer did

look pretty impressive. I think two, one of the

other ones that caught my eye was Jupiter Ascending.

Maybe it's just because I'm a sci -fi fanatic

or whatever. But the combination of seeing a

trailer for Interstellar and then another trailer

for Jupiter Ascending kind of piqued my interest

for stuff that's coming up. I'm not saying they'll

be good or bad, but it's stuff that I'll definitely

be interested in. So those are kind of the main

ones that caught my eye that I was interested

in. I will say that Godzilla did look impressive.

Bad words looked kind of... I don't even know

how to explain my reaction to that one. That

just seems wrong to me. It could be funny, but

it just seems wrong. Other than that, nothing

really caught my eye. Earth to Echo looked too

much like Super 8 or a combination of Super 8

and whatever. Every other movie that seems...

Yeah, and every other movie that seems to want

to use that technique as far as the cameras go

with the found footage, etc., which I'm not a

huge fan of. But I don't necessarily see what

space that one's trying to occupy that hasn't

already been occupied. Nick, your thoughts of

any of these trailers or which ones caught your

eye or reactions that you had? Interstellar,

awesome. Gave me huge chills when I saw The Hobbit.

That's like what Daniel said, that's how you

do a trailer. You tease. You tease like hell.

You show nothing from the movie, really. And

it was awesome. Jupiter Ascending. I'm a huge

Wachowski fan. I call it Atlas. It's growing

in my favorite movies of all time. So Jupiter

Ascending, I can't wait for it. Edge of Tomorrow

looks like a cool version of Source Code. Like

I said before, I don't like Tom Cruise as a person,

but I really like his movies. And I love Emily

Blunt. Godzilla blew me away. I was expecting

that... teaser that we had I think at Comic Con

with J. Robert Oppenheimer's speech about the

destroyer of worlds. I thought that was going

to be the teaser that was released. I don't know

if anyone's seen that one, but the one we got

was awesome. Visually insane. And yeah, bad words.

I don't know. I'm sorry, Jason Bateman. It's

your first directorial movie, but it just looks

bad. But yeah, a lot of people are talking about

2015 as being the year of everything I think

next year has a lot of movies that are gonna

be very very good Yeah, and that's for sure like

I did one jump on edge of tomorrow, so yeah,

that looks really cool The whole mech suit thing

seems to be like a growing fat like we had Elysium

earlier this year and it seems to be barring

not borrowing but it similar ideas there, but

that I am I guess I do Tom Cruise as a person

might be not the most Not yeah, he he does some

questionable things for sure but I tend to love

him in film so and I kind of like the oblivion

that came out earlier this year and no one can

run quite like Tom Cruise on screen or or ride

a motorcycle he rides a motorcycle on the trailer

as well Alright, so you can check all those trailers

out and a few more on the website Give us your

reactions on those after you check them out and

see what you're interested in or what you're

not interested in and Dan throw it back to you

and go into what we have next Alright, we're

gonna take a quick break and we come back. We'll

discuss Peter Jackson's The Hobbit the Desolation

of Smog See it in a bit The quest to reclaim

a homeland and slay a dragon. When did we allow

evil to become stronger than us? This is not

our fight. This is our fight. In time, all foul

things come forth. One of us is trapped! It's

undoubtedly a trap. Have you awakened that beast?

Alright, and welcome back. And we'll begin this

discussion of the Hobbit, but before we get into

the Hobbit of Desolation of Smog, just wanted

to get a little bit of round -bound foundation

from everyone here just to see what their thought

process, what their viewpoint is of the Lord

of Rings franchise as a whole. along with the

last Hobbit movie. Just a quick, you know, did

you like them? Did you not like them? And as

we move into this one, because I think that's

a good starting point before we get into the

sequel. So, Kevin, I'll start with you. What

were your thoughts on the Lord of the Rings franchise

up to this point, as well as the Hobbit film

that came out last year? I mean, I always have

kind of viewed the Lord of the Rings trilogy

as possibly one of the best trilogies. from beginning

to end of all time. As far as the quality of

each and every movie within that trilogy, most

trilogies have that one film that's kind of a

dud or that one that just doesn't stand up. Honestly,

I mean, yeah, you can say that certain ones of

the Lord of the Rings films are better than the

others, or you can have your order of how you

like them, but that doesn't change the fact that

they're all still really good. And talk about

possibly the best extended feature, extended

cut release of all time. I mean, good Lord, I

remember marathoning that one time in college

with a bunch of friends. That's a long watch

when you watch all three extended versions back

to back to back. So it does have that going for

it. So yeah, I'm a huge Lord of the Rings fan.

As far as the first Hobbit film goes and how

that stacks up so far, I enjoy them and I enjoy

them as additions to the story, addition to the

franchise, et cetera. But I haven't quite, with

the first film, I didn't feel like it quite matched

up with any of the Lord of the Rings films. But

that might be just because I like the story more

of the Lord of the Rings over the story of the

Hobbit If that makes sense But I'm not saying

I didn't I Dislike the Hobbit at all. It's still

it still was a solid film I don't think I had

anywhere near like top film of the year or anything

like that, but it was it was a good film So I

didn't I didn't think it was like a complete

bomb or a disaster. But like I said We didn't

quite live up to any of that in the original

Lord of the Rings films. Nick, what are your

thoughts on Lord of the Rings as a whole in The

Hobbit? Lord of the Rings, I think, is perfect.

I don't think there's ever been a better trilogy

that's come to the screen. And then watching

that and then going to The Hobbit is like...

They're completely... You know, Peter Jackson

may be in charge of both trilogies, but the two

Middle -Earths that we get are completely different.

And I think that's my biggest problem with The

Hobbit is it was rushed. So much, so much CGI.

But I still generally kind of liked it. I think

I ended up giving it a 7 .2, or in your guys'

scale, a three, or right, yeah, three. No, something

like that, yeah. It's about that, yeah, three

and a half. And I just, I don't know. They're

not, nowhere near as good as Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings feels real. It feels like you

can actually go there like you can in New Zealand.

And The Hobbit is like, you can go to New Zealand,

but then you got to go to a sound stage. It doesn't

capture the real essence of Middle Earth that

Jackson did so well in the first trilogy. Well,

and I think too, I forgot to mention it, but

one of the things that kind of separated me from

the movie a little bit with that first one was

the frame rate. That was kind of, I don't know,

it was just odd. Seen it in that That method

of filming and the framerate and everything that

they did with that it was a little Not off -putting,

but it was just a little disconnected for me

So that was one limitation of the first film

in my opinion Yeah, I'll kind of echo what you

guys are saying obviously I agree that what are

the rings as a trilogy is probably the best trilogy

bar none Top to bottom just as a film achievement

just what it did you know making that like epic

adventure and like you kev I have Had the oxy

marathon those in the theater once they were

showing the extended editions last year back

to back to back before the like a couple weeks

before the Hobbit came out sat down saw on a

theater with a friend and man that is it's an

enjoyable, but very It's a tiring adventure by

the end. I'm like, it's like I wasn't worn out

those movies They're so long and in a good way,

but uh with the hobbit like you mentioned kev,

uh nick I did a lot of the same issues with the

cgi. Um going with like the orcs being cgi just

felt More cartoony and in some ways, I guess

that goes along with the book I have never read

the book, but I know it's it is a children's

book more so than lord of the rings. It's it's

a little bit more silly, but Like it does rush

is a good word for that. It does feel brush and

a lot of good points and kevin the frame rate

I didn't see it in the high frame rate. I think

I saw an imax 3d and even then certain moments

just felt very unflashed out and A lot of digital

noise. It looked very It looked like I was watching

an animated movie at times like it And uh going

back to like the lord of the rings movies I think

a lot of the computer graphics and a lot of those

moments hold up so much better of the Hobbit

that I did enjoy, even though those were made

like 10 years prior. I will say that... Sorry,

go ahead. I'll just say one thing that I noticed

too that I think really is at fault is that the

Hobbit films have twice the budget the Lord of

the Rings films do. So in that bigger budget,

I feel that they were able to do more computer

generation and just kind of... Well, let's just

make this look really good with computers, you

know instead of like the Lord of the Rings I

feel really had to work for every dollar they

were given because Jackson had so much to prove

and with the Hobbit He's just like free rein

to do whatever you want with a computer while

you can stay still in New Zealand at your home

and It really suffers for it. Like yeah, the

orcs are generated, you know, we'll get to it

later on but the towns never feel like real places

they just feel like almost like they're straight

from like a Video game or like a Tim Burton movie,

you know, it's very not real You know, none of

this feels like places we can actually visit

and it's it's really disappointing Kevin you

were gonna say oh, yeah, I was gonna say since

we talked about Interstellar and how great a

trailer that was I do got to say that the trailer

for the first Hobbit movie is one of my favorite

trailers in the last like three or four years

I think that whole scene with them doing that

Whatever you want to call it that chanting song

type thing. I thought that was genius That was

one of my favorite parts of the movie actually

Okay, so those are kind of our thoughts on everything

leading up to this point. So now that we got

That out of the way, Kev, what did you think

of the Desolation of Smog? Is it an improvement

over The Last Hobbit? Is it suffer from the same

issues? What were your opinions? Okay, this is

kind of hard here. Hopefully I can make sense

of this. In one way, I think it is an improvement.

In another way, I think it's not. As far as all

of the visual stuff, for me, that felt improved.

Yes, there was scenes here or there or characters

here or there or moments here or there that did

look completely CG not saying that obviously

a lot of the film is CG but but you can kind

of like suspend suspend that in your mind a bit

but there was a couple that just took out like

this is really CG and uh so yeah did have a few

of those moments but i thought overall you know

i didn't have the distraction of the frame rate

um it seemed a little more real for me than than

the first one did but I think I possibly liked

the story part of the first one better than the

story part of the second one. And I haven't read

these books or seen anything else on this whole

franchise for a long time as far as the actual

Hobbit story. So I know a lot of people are very

up on that. So I'm not trying to sound completely

ignorant as far as liking this part or that part

of the story. But I find the introduction of

the Hobbit a little more interesting than this

middle third of the story. So I almost wish that

we could have had that first part of the story

in the first film with the improved visuals of

the second one, kind of like a redo. I think

kind of piggybacking off of what Nick said, to

me Peter Jackson almost like accidentally and

wrongly stole a page out of George Lucas's book.

As far as now that he has the budget, now that

he has the ability, he's just going a little

too crazy with it. And I think both of those

filmmakers are better when they're... Like he

said, I'm trying to make the most out of every

single thing they're doing instead of just having

this... It's almost like a kid in a toy store

or something. There's just too much for them

to play with. So I do think that both films suffer

a little from that, but like I said, I think

visual -wise it's an improvement. Story -wise,

I know a lot of people had a problem with the

ending. I did not have any issue whatsoever with

the ending. I know like three or four people

I talked about this film with in the last couple

days were like, oh, the ending just pissed me

off, blah, blah, blah. I didn't have any issues

whatsoever with that. I still think it's a solid

film overall. I just saw it today, so it's all

kind of fresh in my mind, so I'm still digesting

it a little bit, but I'll give some more thoughts

after I hear what you guys' takes are. So Nick,

what were your opinions on the desolation of

smog? Oh, man. Well, first of all, I'm glad you

guys say smog, too, because I've always said

smog. I know. I know it's probably incorrect,

but I'm like, I, that's all. I've always said

smog, and they smalg. No, it's... They're British,

so they kind of say it right, but it's still

it's always been smog in my mind But yeah, I

have smog smog wouldn't wouldn't rhyme with smog

and fog which is in the ending song there you

go it's true um I it's it's weird the I've been

trying to I saw it Friday night, and I've been

trying I've been trying to write about it as

well, and I Just don't feel anything for the

film. I don't feel negative towards it. I don't

feel positive towards it. It just It just exists,

I think, and that's bad because, like, the Lord

of the Rings films, like, practically left me

in tears. I was so, like, emotionally drained

and invested in these films. And then with The

Hobbit, it's just like, okay, they went from

A to B, they got caught a few times, they went

A to B again, and it just feels like it was the

same thing over and over. And so much from the

book, like, you know, the spiders were such a

small part, Bjorn was a small part. I thought

these guys would be a lot more fleshed out. There

is a love triangle that I feel is completely

unnecessary. You know, the first one was fine

enough that they didn't have that love and they

had to bring it in for this. There are moments

where Gandalf does whatever he wants to do just

in order to build up the fact that it leads to

the Lord of the Rings. And it's, I don't know,

like there's a couple of sequences that were

enjoyable, like the barrel riding. I thought

that was like a full like amusement park ride.

I thought that was really fun. And there are

a couple instances like that where you just feel

like you're kind of waiting for your seats to

move You know those interactive rides that you

can do at amusement parks Yeah, and yet the backstory

with Thorin I don't know everyone loves Richard

Armitage for some reason but I think he's a terrible

actor in this and I think that Thorin is an absolute

dick and I cannot get behind him at all. You

know, he's not a hero. He's nowhere near Aragorn

He's stubborn and it's just I don't know the

story There's just so much that they could pull

from a story that's so solid and it just feels

like it was just kind of just glossed over and

Oh, yeah, we'll get to it. And I like I like

that you mentioned Kevin the George Lucas comparison

I I didn't want to admit that because of how

Terrible George Lucas is seen but if the third

film in this trilogy does not Get a lot better.

I think the comparison is very justifiable Yeah,

and I don't know it's just like I'm trying to

decide if it's the difference between Because

obviously you can't escape the comparisons between

Lord of Rings and the Hobbit and then the two

trilogies I don't know if it's just the difference

between a trilogy being based off of three books

and a trilogy being based off of one book I don't

know if that's what it boils down to but I agree

with you when you were kind of saying that in

the Lord of the Rings there was It seems so much

deeper and there was so much more connection

and it seemed like a much bigger journey and

a much bigger adventure and all the different

pieces you could be interested in and this one

it just seems like in two films we haven't gone

as far as the Lord of the Rings did in like two

-thirds of one film. Right and I think part of

it too is that you know there's 12 dwarves I

still don't know half their names I only know

them from the book. Yeah, we're not really vested

in anything more than like two or three characters.

You're introducing new characters left and right.

Like, hold on, wait, wait. You know, I still

want to meet these guys. And it's just, you know,

Toriel, you know, as much as I liked Evangeline

Lilly, I thought she was, you know, a decent

job in the role. And like Legolas, I thought

he was one of the best parts of the movie, which

was so inappropriate given the fact that he does

not belong anywhere near this story. I just,

I... It's just it's disappointing. There's just

no one to connect to you know Martin Freeman's

Bilbo He's he's nice, but I think it's more the

fact that I like Martin Freeman than I like Bilbo

and You know like I said with Gandalf he does

stuff. That's just not Gandalf like it kind of

just pisses you off And then yeah, I don't really

know any of the dwarves. I didn't connect with

And then you know you get to Stephen Fry in Lake

Town Stephen Fry is a legend in his own right

but he's such a caricature of a human that it's

just like in Lord of the Rings we never met any

human that was anything like that you know there

was no comical bumbly drunken ass who you know

does whatever he wants for his own power in that

kind of way and I just I feel like it's completely

two different Middle -Earths and I think that's

even more frustrating to the fact that we can't

can't connect with anyone yeah just to give my

thoughtful but I think sounds like I enjoyed

it a little bit more than you did Nick and I'll

start with what I did like and you touched upon

some of it and I do feel like the action sequences

in this were improved compared to the last Hobbit.

Like if you compare the barrel ride with like

the escape from the goblin part in the original

in the last film, that escape to me was just

very disorienting and part of that could have

been like the frame rate or it just was hard

to really comprehend what was going on. The barrel

ride I think it was a lot of fun. It had good

moments of both humor and good action beats in

there as well. And I was really digging it up

to that point, how the spider fights and seeing

the tree elves and that portion of it. I liked

it. I was like, wow, this does not feel as bogged

down. It felt like it got going really, really

quickly compared to the last one. But once...

After we get after that barrel roll sequence

and we get to like down things really come to

a screeching halt for a very long time and I

really didn't like much of anything going on

in the whole Lake Town sequence like the town

politics angle I could really care less about

you mentioned the the love triangle part which

to me was pointless and I again just adding fluff

to the film and that was a big issue with the

the last one was it felt like you were watching

the extended edition already like this is the

like there's stuff in here that really doesn't

belong with the story that just thrown in here

to go with the books and that feels like what

we're watching right now but we're actually watching

the original version of it um and i mean i did

once we get finally get to of smog and we get

into that mountain, things do pick up and I did

like the scene between Martin Freeman and smog

as they're trying to go back and forth and I

love Benedict Cumberbatch as smog. Obviously

his voice is augmented digitally in some capacity

but I think his overall just kind of menace as

a voice is still there and though a character

Smog seems to be like the worst dragon ever that

he's unable to kill these like six drawers or

12 that are all in front of him But like I did

like it I did have some issues But I would say

compared to the last Hobbit I do feel it's improvement

so Getting one question I did want to kind of

ask You all I mean one we kind of touched upon

it a little bit but a big controversy I'm seeing

is with the you know the changing the one elf

to she elf and adding in that love story and

There's a lot of backlash with a lot of huge

hobbit fans So I was curious like Kevin you know

what you thought of that angle Did you have an

issue with it or I know you're you mentioned

you haven't read the books But within the story

itself, how did you feel it worked out? I mean

since I haven't read the book I really don't

have a huge problem with anything. I wouldn't

have even known that that was changed unless

somebody told me. As far as the love triangle

that you brought up, I do agree that that was

pointless. That was not necessary at all for

the story. First, it's not believable. I wasn't

buying genuine that that would be something that

was going on. So as far as that... part of it,

I thought the love triangle was silly. But I

do like the general existence of Evangeline Lilly

and Orlando Bloom playing off of each other.

I think that's fine. I think it would have been

more interesting if it was just left with left

with the whole Orlando Bloom or Legolas and Toriel

having some type of interest in each other, but

it not being blessed as far as Thurangel. Legolas's

father, as far as him not blessing it, I think

that would have been enough and that was an interesting

enough drama and angle between those and I think

it led to some good interaction between Legolas

and Toriel and that's all it needed. It didn't

need the love triangle with the third character.

could have done without. But I do like the presence

of Evangeline Lilly. I think she did fantastic.

I haven't seen her since Lost. And I think that

her being in the film and playing that character

was fine. I had no problem with that. I thought

her and Orlando Bloom were good together. So

that part I don't have a problem with. I don't

have a problem with one of the elves being a

female rather than a male. I do have a problem

with the love triangle and I don't think it was

necessary. Yeah, I agree with you, Kev. I don't

have many issues with it, too. The whole changing

of character sex, I don't think it's a huge issue.

And like you mentioned, my bigger issue was that

it just ends up being pointless and doesn't really

get too much, especially when we don't even have

an understanding of either of those two characters.

And I don't really care about that elf beforehand,

so now I gotta care that he has a love triangle.

It doesn't have the same effect by any means.

I know we wanted to avoid spoilers and I'm not

going to be specific, but when you know about

certain things that happen in the book, I don't

really know how certain characters can play into

it all. I guess that's as vague as I can go without

being too specific. But if you've read the book,

you kind of understand where I'm going. But yeah,

it's just, it was unnecessary. So I agree with

Kevin. Yeah, and I didn't want to say that I

use something you brought up to a little bit

ago Dan that I did agree with I did think that

one of the highlights of the film was watching

where I guess listening to Benedict Cumberbatch

as as smog smog however, we're gonna say his

name He was obviously the voice of the necromancer

as well But I thought just listening to him as

the voice of the dragon was pretty cool. I thought

that was well done What do you what do you guys

think of the look of the dragon? I know that

was a they were kind of hitting hiding it in

a lot of the trailers, we didn't really get a

great look of the character until now. Do you

think, special effects -wise, that the dragon

worked as this main villain? I really liked the

look and the sound and everything. It was kind

of amazing to see that on the screen because

you don't really have dragons or anything in

movies. But I think that entire sequence towards

the end with Smog in general kind of wore out

pretty quickly. And his shock and awe, if you

will, faded rather quickly as well. Not to take

away from how cool he was and how great he looked,

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

they weren't as consistent as they needed to

be with him. And what I mean by that is, at the

beginning, when it's just Bilbo and Smog... It

was intense, it was very intimidating, just seeing

his eye open and his size and how quiet Bilbo's

trying to be. Because it really gives a sense

of how dangerous this character is. But then

it just goes, you know, for a lot of those chase

scenes and whatnot, he's flailing around like,

I don't know, like a... Not the same dragon all

of a sudden, like he's not nearly as deadly or...

I don't know, he needed to... There needed to

be some death or there needed to be some... Don't

know. I just I just think the what they built

up in that first few scenes when it's just billable

and the dragon was lost as soon as the dwarves

were involved Because it just didn't seem like

he was as when he was moving around a lot more.

He's kind of Lost his charm or whatever you want

to say Well, it's just like it was just like

all of a sudden he turned in from from this I

think the the first few scenes that he's in and

the last few scenes every night he was in were

somewhat equal. He seems very deadly, very intimidating

in both scenes with Bilbo and then his scenes

after once the gold is involved and that's not

really giving anything away. But those ending

scenes with him, I think those both are on par.

But I just think a lot of that stuff in between

made him come across more as just like a... villain

almost that you didn't take serious because you

didn't expect anything to happen to anybody.

It wasn't believable as it was in those first

scenes and those last scenes, but I thought just

from a look -wise he looked good. Yeah, there

are like a few moments that were almost Scooby

-Doo -esque like when you had them like running

across these there's a moment They're walking

running across all these bridges and that one

would go one way and the other one go to the

next and he was like Shooting back and forth.

I felt like it was one of those things like Scooby

-Doo when they're all going through all the different

doors and and whatnot Yeah, I agree like at times.

Yeah, he is this force that's gonna like destroy

everything and then other times he's almost a

joke in some ways. His aim with the fire was

pretty horrible. It's like, wow, he's a dragon

and he can't even shoot people with fire. He's

rusty. He hasn't flown fire for a while. True,

true. He's got to build up to that. One thing

I thought was interesting, too, is that when

they're in the forest with the spiders, Bilbo

puts on the ring, and then when he has the ring

on, he can understand the spiders. And when he

meets Smog, he has the ring on, he can understand

Smog. I thought that was going to be how he talked.

But then he took the ring off and he could still

talk. Which, I know with how much dialogue he

has, you can't really get past that. But the

fact that no one else in Middle Earth of that

kind speak, I thought was kind of interesting.

But obviously, you know, the Hobbit was written

at a different time. The Lord of the Rings was

written. And, you know, Tolkien had no plans

of doing it all together. So you kind of had

to do with what you have. But, um... Yeah, I

don't know. I just everyone was building it up

is like oh my god smog is the greatest thing

ever I still prefer Falcord and never ending

story Talk about those spider scenes as nothing

definitely was not necessary for someone that's

borderline arachnophobic Yeah, I agree that's

funny that you mentioned that neck because I

had the same thing when he put the ring on I'm

like okay, that's how they're gonna get around

the whole talking thing because Up to that point,

yes, some of the monsters, like the trolls, but

most of those beasts did not talk in any way.

So it was like, how are they going to make that

work? But I guess by introducing it a little

bit with the spiders, it wasn't a huge transition.

But you make a good point saying, you know, Tolkien

wasn't when he designed these books. There are

two different times because they feel like that

totally this. is nothing like that of Lord of

the Rings, and I think that's an issue. It's

trying to be at moments, but then it's not trying

to be, so it's totally against itself, which

makes it a little bit difficult for some of those

moments with the dragon that really pay off a

great deal. Two, I think another issue is if

you look at the stakes of this movie, like what

they're trying to accomplish. You know, Lord

of the Rings are saving the world from a, you

know, this destructive army. Here, they're reclaiming

their homeland. And we all mentioned, like, we

don't even know most of the dwarves' names. So

this is a very personal journey for them. And

when we don't have a personal connection, it's

hard to really have a huge claim into what they're

doing. It's just kind of, you're there for the

action, but the payoff for the story is just

not the same. Well, and one thing, too, is it's

a huge change from the book that I think I can

remember, is that all the dwarves, when they

want to reclaim the, you know, the mountain,

they don't want it for the kingdom. They want

it just for the gold. And, you know, them trying

to give this noble cause to Thorin and his men

just kind of feels so forced and just... I don't

know. It's just... I don't know. I have so many

problems that I... But I still don't hate it.

That's the thing I get frustrated with. is I

have all these problems with the film, but I

just, I don't hate it. It's complicated. And

I think a part of it is that just because I'm

so attached to Middle Earth through the Lord

of the Rings films, that it's just, like, you

will get better. You know, maybe if I watch you

three more times, you'll kind of like you, and

Peter Jackson, you're better than this, and I

don't know. It's just, it's a letdown, that's

for sure, and I don't know. It's hard to put

my thoughts into words for this film. Yeah, I

guess it wasn't a huge lot down for me I'm a

part of that maybe expectation wise because I

was not expecting a huge amount so I was expecting

it not to look that great and I think that kind

of Worked for me was how? Just cleaner and better

the special effects were. Yeah, I definitely

agree with you. I think that was much cleaned

up. Yeah, and especially just the CGI moments

and some of the character wise, it just looks

a million times better. So it doesn't have that

fake feel to it that the last film did. Speaking

of which, how did you all see this? Did you see

it in 3D? Did you see it normally? IMAX or what

have you? I just saw it regular. Timing -wise,

it worked better for me to see it regular and

not to see it in 3D. Okay, actually I end up

singing through these so I'll speak to the 3d

real quick and I'm not a huge Proponent of 3d

it it can work I mean the gravity I think showed

that it you can make 3d work in this It became

there were a few moments here and there like

in the beginning There's like a scene with a

bunch of bees and I was that idiot that didn't

realize it was like swat at the bee because I

thought it was a fly in the you know in the theater,

but it was really the movie. But that was really

the only portion that I thought the 3D had any

effect whatsoever. By 10, 15 minutes in, it was

just flat and didn't have the depth to it. So

if you're thinking, should I watch this in 3D?

I would say hold off and just do what Kevin and

Nick did and just save for the 2D. Yeah, I agree.

So anything else anyone wants to bring up before

we give our star ratings? Nothing in particular,

like I said, I don't want to make it seem like

I completely hated on the movie because it's

still an epic movie to partake of and still a

movie I enjoyed from beginning to end. There's

definitely nitpicks I can do if I want to find

them. If I was doing an overall rating without

too much time to digest this one, I'm probably

landing somewhere in the... High three and a

half to low four range, but I need a little bit

more time to to digest it fully But I'm thinking

three and a half at the lowest and four at the

highest And Nick if you're gonna give this a

rating, what would you give it? So you say me

yeah Well since I gave the first film I think

like a three point two five if you will about

that I'd probably give this one Probably about

the same. I don't know if I like it more than

I do the first one But I don't know if I hate

it less or hate it more. It's I'd say three point

two five three three that that range Okay, and

I'm around Kevin. I With our new like ranking

system. I gave it about i'd give it about a 3

.5 Which is like that. I I did like it as nick

mentioned on rewatchers I could see enjoying

it more and it bumping up But my initial reaction

was you know, I did enjoy it. I would recommend

it So 3 .5 for me All right. So those are our

takes on the hobbit the desolation of smog If

you agree or disagree with us, feel free to comment.

Uh at the end of the show we'll live leave all

the ways you can get back with us feedback wise

and we're going to move on to look at coming

attractions and as we get closer and closer to

Thanksgiving to Christmas there are a number

of movies coming out some movies opening wide

some movies that are getting seen their initial

releases and some big ones are definitely Anchorman

2 The Legend Continues Her which is opening limited

and going to go wide on January 10th Also the

3d 2d animation movie walking with dinosaurs

also opening next week and there's a number of

big movies going wide American Hustle Saving

Mr. Banks and inside Lewin Davis will all be

going to water audiences next week So there's

a lot of things to see next week anything You

guys will make sure you'll be seeing as the theater

gets crowded and crowded as we answer Christmas

time Yeah, I'm gonna be seen inside Lewin Davis

on Tuesday and then the Wolf of Wall Street on

Wednesday. So that's my week. I want to catch

her, if I can, in American Hustle. Anchorman

2 does not interest me. But yeah, a lot to catch

up to, like I said, before the Golden Globes

and before the Oscars. Kevin, anything you'll

be checking out next week? I know we'll be seeing

Saving Mr. Banks, but anything else you'll either

see next week or hopefully any upcoming weeks?

Yeah, I mean, I think if there's going to be

one casualty of this season, it's for sure going

to be Anchorman 2. I mean, that would be a film

that I would see if there was nothing else to

see, but there's way too much to see, because

I definitely want to see half the ones you mentioned

or more. I want to see American Hustle. Obviously,

we'll be seeing Save Mr. Banks. I want to see

Inside Lou and Davis. Um, so there's a lot to

see. I'm going to start my week off actually

seeing two other films that are just being released

in my area. Um, one that you've seen with, which

is All Is Lost and then Blue Jasmine is also

playing at one of the theaters near me. So I'm

going to see those Monday and Tuesday. Um, and

then hopefully I'll get to, uh, Save Mr. Banks

and then either American Hustle and Inside the

Wind Davis or at least one of those, but that's

lofty plans. So we'll see how many I can actually

get to. Um, but yeah, there's no chance I can

go see Anchorman 2 whatsoever. Yeah, actually

I will be on the lamb cast next week, so I'll

be seeing anchor man, too Because we'll be discussing

that but I also will be seeing saving mr. Banks

Hopefully inside Lewin Davis as well and maybe

American hustle if my wallet is gonna be hurting

there's so much coming out this week I'm kind

of jealous Nick that you have Wolf of Wall Street,

because that's not opening up near me until Christmas.

So, all right. And then we're just going to take

a quick look at the Blu -ray and DVD releases.

A pretty busy week coming out this week. We have

8th and Body Sane starring Rue Mara and Casey

Affleck, Elysium, the sci -fi film that came

out earlier this year starring Matt Damon, The

Family, The Mob Comedy starring Robert De Niro.

Who else? Kick Ass 2, everyone's favorite movie,

The Lone Ranger, One Direction, This Is Us, which

is probably really everyone's favorite movie.

Also, Peter Jackson's Sea of Monsters, which

is a franchise that still exists for some reason,

and Prisoners, which I hopefully will catch up

with this week because I missed that out, and

finishing up with The Sound of Music Live, that

TV special that came out a few weeks ago that

I heard a lot of things about. It's actually

re -airing on TV too, as well. But I'll definitely

be picking up Elysium. I actually enjoyed that

film. If I had to pick another one, I'd... pick

up, there might be Prisoners, but I don't know,

I'm torn on that one. Hopefully I can finally

see the family now that it's out, maybe it'll

hit on demand or something sooner, or Netflix

or something. Nick, any DVDs you'll be picking

up this week for new releases? Elysium, probably.

Kickass 2, I actually liked a lot more than most

people did. And Lone Ranger, I want to hate it,

but I'm really curious about it, so I'm going

to rent that one for sure. Yeah, I hypothetical

I'm too broke to buy anything Yeah, when I say

buy, you know rent or obtain other means by of

course, but yeah So there's a lot coming out

DVD Blu -ray rise So the things keep you busy

and let you get away with family getting him

as we head into this holiday season and Speaking

of the holiday season last week The question

we post you is if you had any holiday traditions

movie traditions during this time of year and

we got Lot of feedback a lot of people have different

reactions and the one that caught my eye because

it's it Personally is a good reflection of what

I have to go through This summer is Brian Jackson

who mentioned that my girlfriend and I watched

the holiday around this time each year God, I'm

whipped because he's forced to watch that I have

a similar situation where we watch love actually

though I think it's a much better movie than

the holiday because my wife loves it So we sit

down every every Christmas and partake in that

movie Kevin was there any feedback or anything

you want to mention regarding holiday traditions?

I don't know, just some good feedback overall.

A lot of people have similar traditions. I do,

you know, a lot of people, not a lot, but we

had a couple people commenting on, you know,

that they try to avoid the theaters at all costs

because they're busy and they don't hate dealing

with people that ruin the films. I just got to

say, I'm not saying that that doesn't happen,

but I don't know. I think that's just kind of

like a... That's like a stereotypical thing to

say about theaters just as an excuse not to go

It's something I would expect some of our fellow

podcasters to say But honestly if you're smart

about it like I've been going to films for so

long and I can probably count the number of times

I've had to deal with annoying people in the

theater like on one hand just because I'm Not

stupid about when I go see it. I mean, yeah,

there's certain films that I do like to go see

like opening day or opening weekend, you know,

like when a Star Wars film comes out or something

like that. But honestly, if you just pick your

times wisely, not only do you save yourself a

lot of money, but you don't have to deal with

stupid people. Like I said, in the last like

two years, there might be one time where there

was someone stupid in a theater that somewhat

distracted me. But don't let that, you know...

take you away. There's so many films that are

playing during weekdays at cheaper prices or

during those matinee times. You can easily avoid

annoying people. Nick, you said you're not going

to theater, a huge amount, but I know a lot of

people have different movies they always try

to watch this time of year, give it the holiday

season, anything like that for you at all? Yeah,

Love Actually is one of them as well. Home Alone,

Die Hard, A Muppet Christmas Carol is a staple

in my house. I love the hell out of that movie

and anything of the Muppets. And then one I watched

last year that I really liked that I think I'm

going to try to incorporate into my regular viewing

is Arthur Christmas. I thought that was a really

good movie. And then Elf, if I still have it,

I don't know if I do anywhere. But yeah, I haven't

quite gotten to the holiday spirit as much as

I usually do this year. I think it's all depending

on my paycheck next week Put me in a mood of

whether or not I'm willing to celebrate the holiday

or not, but um Yeah, you know Muppet Christmas

Carol is definitely the one I'll go to and then

crossing my fingers that Sam is gonna get Before

free screenings these next couple weeks Well,

best of luck. Yeah, hopefully that would that

works out for you Speaking of holiday movies

that kind of brings me for the question for next

week as we get closer and closer to the holidays

We had a lot of people talk about specific movies

that they watch and we had a little spirited

debate going back and forth with Certain movies

some people really love other ones. They're not

a big fans of so I had a question for you and

all out there and that is you know, What is your

favorite holiday movie? What do you think is

the best holiday movie? And what do you think

is the worst? holiday movie. There's a lot of

good ones. There's also a lot of horrible holiday

movies out there as well. You know, some really

iconic misfires that have gone on. So I'm curious

to hear people's feedback on that because we

saw that kind of sparked that debate last time.

So hopefully we'll see that again. Nick, since

you probably won't be here for next week, do

you have a specific favorite holiday film? I

know you mentioned a few already, but if you

had to pick one, that's your favorite. Do you

have one? Oh man, that's so hard. It's Between

Love, actually, and Muppet Christmas Carol. Yeah,

and then for Worst, if you want me to answer

that one as well, I'd say the Santa Claus movies.

Anything from Alan, really. Santa's Slay, that

was another terrible one. Santa Vs. The Martians,

or whatever that one is. Yeah, there's always

generic Hallmark crap that comes out every year.

And, you know, good Christmas movies are a lot

harder to find than bad Christmas movies. That's

so true. It's been a long time since I think

we've got a really great Christmas movie. I mean,

maybe Elf, to me, might be the last really good

Christmas movie. I could be wrong. Wait, we had

Arthur Christmas, Rise of the Gun, those are

both pretty good. True, yeah. I forgot. Yeah,

I do agree. Arthur Christmas was a pleasant surprise

for me, too. That I thought was a nice solid

film that really was not talked about nearly

enough. That's pretty much all the feedback I

have for this week. Kevin, is there anything

else you wanted to add before we finish up this

episode? No, I think we're doing pretty good.

Alright, so I just want to give you all the ways

that you can get in contact with us. There are

a good amount. You can leave us a voicemail line.

Our phone number is 502 -526 -5821. You can email

us at feedback at geecastradio .com. You can

visit the forums or episode post at geecastradio

.com. You can visit the Facebook page by searching

geecastradio. And on Twitter, it's at geecastradio,

hashtag M -wire. Nick, what is your Twitter name?

It is at Cinecats, C -I -N -E -K -A -T -Z. And

where's the best place for people to reach you?

Would it be on Twitter, on your website? Twitter,

website, Facebook, I'm everywhere. So yeah, it's

all on the site too, so probably the best place

for the site. Actually, yes, check the site out,

because I want views. Yes, I'm being greedy.

And like I mentioned, I'll make sure to include

it all in the episode post, so people have quick

access to that. And Kevin, what is your Twitter

name? Optimus Solo. I am at movie revolt and

we'd like to thank you all and thank you next

especially for joining us for this week and Remember

for all things movies. Keep tuned to my weekly.

See you next week