The Lego Movie Review

Hello my fellow geeks, this is Tom Geek Kenny

and you are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Coming up on MWR Weekly we'll be discussing the

possible Space Jam sequel, the recent Guardians

of the Galaxy trailer, and a review of the Lego

Movie. All that and more coming up on MWR Weekly.

Welcome to my weekly the movie podcast dedicated

to the movie week. That was I am when your host

Dan Clark And joining me as always is Kevin optimus

solo. How's it going, man? It is going fabulous

And joining us today as well. We have a little

bit of a special guest here for a short time

He'll be on the episode but glad to have him

here one of the co -founders of the key gas radio

network See if you went Mike, how's it going?

It's going. Is it awesome? No All right for those

joining us for the first time or for those return

visitors, this is MR weekly we begin each podcast

with a discussion of what we've been watching

recently and we're actually gonna do a little

bit of a flip -flop here typically we move into

the movie news right after that but we're actually

gonna Speed on into our main attraction which

will be a discussion of the Lego movie And then

we'll get into the movie news and finish up with

our credit conversation and a look back Look

forward to the movies that will be released on

DVD as well as theaters So let's start things

off here. Has anyone been watching anything recently?

They'd like to discuss I watched jail war Justice

League war the first DC Comics new 52 animated

film and I Liked it. I Felt that I was watching

a updated version of several Justice League Justice

League unlimited episodes There have been several

films from last year that have been on Netflix

for a while that I've been meaning to watch.

I just don't have the time to do so. With upcoming

on Marvelous March, Dan, you and I talked about

Captain America Man on a Time and Planet Hulk,

so I did watch the animated version of Planet

Hulk. I liked it. I thought it was interesting.

It's not something I would watch more than once.

Of course... I saw the Lego movie. I've been

meaning to see Shadow Recruit. I just haven't

had the time. Ah, you don't miss much with that.

But Kevin, have you been watching anything recently?

I had a chance to watch a whole lot of things.

I watched a few minutes of some very awful movies

with my roommates and some friends as they were

doing kind of a crappy movie night. I don't remember

the names of them, but I will find them and give

them to you as hot recommendations. The one had

so many bad rip -offs that they literally even

recited the Star Trek Prime Directive word for

word, as well as ripping off Star Wars and all

kinds of other stuff. So that was fun. theatrical

releases, um, I did see obviously the lego movie

which we'll talk about here in a little bit and

I actually Kind of randomly went and saw Endless

love just to see what that was all about. Brave

soul. Yeah I'm a sucker for for love stories,

I guess. Um So yeah, so that was an interesting

experience. Um It wasn't nearly as bad as everyone

or as I thought it would be. Um, I haven't read

any reviews. I don't know I'm assuming they're

negative. I know it hasn't done super well as

far as box office or anything like that goes.

But I will say that I was actually entertained

by it. I'm a partial sucker for for the whole

idea of like forbidden love type thing. Romeo

and Juliet, I think, is one of the greatest stories

ever. So, yeah, I guess that's a tragic flaw

of mine. But outside of that, I did think that

It avoided some of the pitfalls that I thought

it was going to fall in. It definitely had some

moments that could have been much better, and

some unbelievable moments along the way. But

that's the first time I've seen a film with Gabriella

Wilde, who played the main girl, and she was

pretty darn... captivating in that role. So I

don't know if we'll see more stuff from her,

but I definitely liked her in the role. Alex

Pettifer was pretty good as the other main co

-star. So I thought those two did a fairly good

job. Obviously, it's directed as the 15 - to

25 -year -old female audience. And I think they'll

enjoy it for what it was, but it's not going

to be anything that's going to be in a top 10

list anywhere. Interesting, interesting. I have

not checked it out myself. I'm not gonna say

I recommend But for me it was kind of just a

guilty pleasure like entertaining couple hours

Okay, fair enough fair enough Actually, I gotta

watch a few things. I I did I watched such as

the war as well that Mike was talking about I

kind of I kind of agree with you about it being

simply like more of just a advanced Version of

a justice league episode or something like that

and actually think the justice league episodes

did similar stories a lot better I also just

had issue with issues with the characterization

of a lot of the people and it lacked It was okay.

Like the action was good. The animation was solid

but I just didn't like what it did with a lot

of the characters and a lot of them weren't flushed

out very well and I think my other big issue

it felt like a justice league it felt like justice

league done by josh weeden, you know the director

of avengers and buffy like the the witty quips

and The constant sarcastic attitude about all

the characters, especially like how jordan just

felt unnecessary and It overbearing at times

which I don't know to me I liked it better than

like justice league doom because I felt the story

was better but overall was just Doom is much

better than War, in my opinion. I like Doom better

than War. I mean, as a new 52 movie kind of hitting

on that first chapter in the Justice League comic,

it's fine. but to me coming from watching the

DC animated stuff and knowing from that realm,

and that really has nothing to do with the New

52, but just knowing those characters. I mean,

look at Darkseid in Justice League War. Instead

of just being Superman's rogue, he was the rogue

for the entire world. Like, Superman had zero...

almost zero interest in what Darkseid was doing,

even though Darkseid wanted him for whatever

experiment he was gonna do. The voice acting

was good, I liked it. The only thing I've seen

Jason O'Mara who voices Batman in Justice League

War and he will be returning to voice him in

Son of Batman, the only thing I've ever seen

him in, excuse me, the only thing I've ever seen

him in was... Stephanie plum novel turned into

film one for the money. He played Joe Morelli

and he wasn't even using his regular whatever

his accent is wherever he's from but he was using

like an American accent and Will Arnett did a

better job as Batman. I Guess the reason like

to me justice like Dean was just really dull

and the plotting was all over the place and it

really was incoherent at times with Jessica Lee

war it was at least coherent Galactic, I mean

I've called him Galactus because that's it felt

like Darkseid was treated like a Galactus character.

He was more Yeah treated like a force of nature

rather than a personality I mean, I don't really

I think they're both lesser than like I think

then most of the DC stuff but but what also I

also got able to do I Went to the first day of

the AMC Best picture showcase Mm -hmm. And what

that is is over two Saturdays this week in the

next week. They show all ten or all nine of the

best picture nominees and Yesterday there were

four films Finally got to see Philomena. That

was the only one I haven't seen yet also saw

wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club again

along with 12 years of slave again, so i gotta

watch all those films again starting with filomena

because it was the first time I saw it I went

into that movie not wanting to like it because

i'm like why was this one nominated over stuff

like inside lou and davis and other films I I

didn't have high expectations for it and it it

surpassed my limited expectations. It was better

than I expected it wasn't just like a Lifetime

movie story. The acting was really good. Steve

Coogan was really impressive It had more bite

to it than I thought it would a little bit more

cynical. It wasn't just a fluff piece But overall

I just compared to other films. I came out this

year. I don't think it's nearly as strong It's

just it's a fun story. It's it's a good movie

But I just think it's slightly above average

for the most part though. I did like the score

surprisingly I was surprised I got nominated

but after watching it I have to agree. It's quite

a good score Actually, probably better than the

movie that it's for and then watching Dallas

Buyers Club again I actually did like it a little

bit more the second time, but I still have a

lot of issues with it. I still again I Obviously

like Philomena more than I like Dallas Buyers

Club, but Dallas Buyers Club has two of the best

performances of the year so I see why it's nominated

and McConaughey and Lido better when because

they Their performances are just pretty fantastic

There's no doubt about that I had less issues

with applauding and more issues with the pot

in the first time the second time I think it's

a little bit more fluid and Knowing what to expect

so not much more to say about that one well for

Wall Street for the second time I was like how

is this gonna hold up but Man that movie. I love

it. I love that movie a great deal. It has issues

doesn't need to be three hours maybe not, but

it's a really quick three hours, it's really

fun, a lot of energy, and watching that with

a general movie audience was interesting. A lot

of people were very uncomfortable with it, of

course, with the behavior and whatnot, but it

was just interesting hearing people comment after

it. Some of the remarks were humorous, to say

the least. And then the finishing up with 12

Years a Slave. Which I think I probably should

have put higher in my top ten after watching

it again Like that thing is it is a powerhouse

of a movie. No doubt the acting the performances

it is As close of a masterpiece of anything.

I've seen last year. So I don't think it's my

favorite film of the year last year I still think

that's her but I probably would probably bump

it up to possibly two or three it just it is

the movie to me of the year and if it wins Best

Picture it It better because if anything else

besides like her or gravity wins, I'd be very

upset But uh, I was glad to get to see that again,

though It's not a movie that it's like, oh I

get to watch 12 years of slave again Yeah, and

get the one set all the horrible behavior But

I don't know it's still it's still a really engaging

film that I think you have to see at least once

so All right, that's pretty much it for us for

this segment So we're gonna take a little bit

of a break and when we come back, we'll get into

a discussion of the Lego movie We'll see you

in a bit. Come with me if you want to not die.

What is happening? You're the special, and the

prophecy states that you're the most important

person in the universe. That's you, right? Uh...

Yes. That's me. Relax, everybody. I'm here. Batman?

Awesome! Who are you here to see? I'm here to

see your butt. Oh, my gosh. Pow. Wham. First

try. My fellow master builders. Hello! Lord Business

plans to end the world as we know it. There is

yet one hope. The special has arisen. I know

what you're thinking. He is the least qualified

person to lead us. And you are right. A house

divided against itself would be better than this.

Abraham Lincoln! I'm not the special. I'm just

a regular, normal guy. You have the ability to

be the special because I believe in you. Destroy

him! Aloha, loser! We'll wing it. It's a bad

pun. Take him to the melding chamber. Isn't there

supposed to also be a good cop? Hi, buddy. Would

you like a glass of water? Yeah, actually. Too

bad. We are entering your mind. What?! I don't

think he's ever had an original thought. That's

not true. Introducing the Double Decker Couch.

So everyone could watch TV together and be buddies!

That's literally the dumbest thing I've ever

heard. Let me handle this. That idea is just

the worst. To the Batmobile! Dang it. To the

invisible jet! Dang it. All right, and welcome

back. Today's main attraction is the Lego movie,

and it is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher

Miller, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars

the voices of Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Chris

Pratt, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman,

and pretty much a million other different people.

But I guess going into this, we kind of knew

that it was getting very high praise, and this

week was very limited on the amount of movie.

So we're like, all right, let's do a Lego movie.

So I kind of already know Mike's opinion on this

film. I'm actually Kevin I'm kind of curious

to hear what your thoughts are on the Lego movie

I actually had somewhat avoided Anything as far

as spoilers go with this one. I really didn't

know much about what Kind of storyline they were

gonna go with what characters they were gonna

go. I mean I knew that there was gonna be some

some whatever you want to call it parodies of

Figures like Batman, etc. But other than that,

I really didn't know too much So I kind of went

in just kind of neutral obviously I knew it had

been doing good on the box office and I've been

somewhat vicariously Reading and following along

with the the Lego debates on the web page get

casradio .com What post is that? It's about the

Mike what post is that that? Has all those comments

on it. I don't remember but uh That would be

geek cast radio episode 58 2014 geek movies.

Yes, so there's been some didn't some discussion

there So I was kind of like following along with

that, but I really you know since I hadn't seen

it I wasn't getting too involved and I really

hadn't I Couldn't comment too much on it But

I went and saw it wasn't but with both my roommates

today, and I gotta say I actually did really

enjoy it It was not what I thought it was gonna

be. I thought it might go in a couple different

directions and I was somewhat worried that it

was gonna go more the route and I'm not saying

this in a bad way as far as I like the Lego Star

Wars stuff and I like the Lego DC stuff but I

thought it was gonna go more in one of those

routes as far as from like a visual standpoint

and feel for it and I'm glad they didn't. I'm

glad it was kind of its own thing. and I thought

it definitely had a lot of appeal for the older

audience that would be going, as well as obviously

its target audience with the kids. So I think

it was pretty successful. I can't believe this

hadn't been done already. It's such a great concept

and great idea to make this movie. So I'm surprised

it took this long to make it, but it definitely,

and I know this has been in development for a

good six... 70 at least six years in one way

shape or form. So I'm glad they finally got it

all together. And I don't know. I think it was

pretty pretty successful end product. All right.

Well, I will I guess I'll give Mike final say

here before we get into a deeper discussion,

but I will echo your sentiments about the film

when I kind of heard about the idea of the Lego

movie, I didn't really know what to expect. But

seeing the people who were involved in it, I

kind of got a little bit higher of expectations

because they Did 21 Jump Street last year, which

I did enjoy. Also, they really did this. They

did this cartoon series back in the day for MTV

called Clone High, which was a series that was

a million times better than it should be. And

if you haven't seen it, I advise trying to check

it, track it now. And I don't even know if it's

available on media or anything like that, but

it's quite funny. And that was a call Clone High

Clone High. Its sensibilities are very similar

to the Lego movie in how fast paced it is, how

Does it really goes a mile a minute and what

I think what really impressed me about the Lego

movie is just how? Extremely layered it is on

so many different levels it it is a kids movie

But honestly, I don't know if kids are really

gonna like the best parts of this film it it's

social commentary it It's commentary on just

really relationships between fathers and sons

its relationships about conformity and non -conformity

individuality Creativity and how it kind of boils

that all down It does get a little bit thematically

messy near the end But I think it really works

and what I think I really appreciate about it

is how it takes chances and how some of those

chances really cause you to relook at the film

in new and interesting ways and really rewards

rewatching it because without giving too much

away near the end, it gets re -contactualized.

Basically, everything you saw up to that point,

you kind of view it at a different light. When

you go back and look at it, you're like, oh,

things start to make sense a little bit more.

Things that were a little bit messy, didn't seem

a little bit odd or random seem less random now.

These simple things like this mispronunciation

of words make a little bit more sense. It's just

like, it is very smart in how it layered itself

that way, just on a narrative sense. To me, it's

it is a pretty brilliant film on that level.

My only apprehension is, like I said, near the

end, it gets a little bit muddled, but I still

think it's worked. And I just wonder, too, if

how much kids are going to really love it. But

anyways, Mike, what were your opinions of the

Lego movie? Boy first of all clone high was released

September 20th 2005 on DVD in Canada the first

first and only season I don't know if it's Still

available today, but it is on DVD or it was Okay,

here's the thing with the Lego movie like you

Dan. I have enjoyed and Kevin I have enjoyed

the the Star Wars stuff that they've done on

Cartoon Network. I haven't seen the DC stuff

yet, but I know people have said, oh, it looks

really good, it is really good. I just haven't

gotten around to watching it. A lot of my problem

with some movies, not just the Lego movie, but

if I get too overexposed to it, not that the

film is overrated or overhyped, but if I get

too overexposed to it, It tends to make me go

the other way and either ignore it or just not

even care to see it. And this is kind of how

I go about choosing what I'm pretty much the

mainstream audience. I'm the guy that's going

to go to maybe 13 films a year. If that already

two of them, I know I'm not going to go see and

I'll wait for Redbox or Netflix or whatever else.

Shadow Recruit being one, you know. but the lego

movie i just got so sick of everybody just saying

oh go see it it's awesome it's awesome go see

it oh you know this that and everything else

so my the the theater that i go to that's one

bus ride away from my house it's one of those

hole in the wall theaters that probably i would

say 70 of this town doesn't know that it's there

So, and I know people are going to call BS on

me about this, but it is true. I went this past

Friday night at a 945 showing. I believe I was

the only one there, or I was the only one there

sitting where I was sitting, and I sit because

of my vision. I have optic atrophy with nystigmatism,

which basically, without correction, I have 2

,200 vision, so I basically have to sit in the

front row to see anything. I was the only person

around, so I'm sitting there. you know goofing

off and This that the other thing and of all

people I get called up by phil lamar put your

phone down and watch the damn movie Well, yeah,

that's very true Honestly, if you're on your

phone when I was at the theater I would probably

get someone to get you out of the theater like

that is to me I don't like on so many different

levels first. I don't think you can really Watch

a film with you're distracted with a phone. You

can't really True watch it because you're especially

movie like this that is so quick and fast and

you turn your head for a second You missed a

great deal And I think it's it's I don't know

to me not to mention people around you like it

like I legitimately think no one was around me

everybody else even if someone's like on the

top level that like that person On the first

row if i'm in the back row your light is still

going to be shining, especially with the phones

today, which are the size of laptops um But anyways

back to what you're talking. Anyway, so I I watched

this movie and i'm like everybody's like, oh

my god. It's so great. It's so great Oh my god,

will our next batman is the best thing ever and

i'm like, okay cool. I like batman. I like will

our net It took 32 minutes for him to show up

and I'm like 32 minutes. Give me a break. Oh

my god So the the gist of the movie is that it's

you know basically President business aka Lord

business telling you that hey you shouldn't Do

this with you know, everything needs to be in

a certain order and the basic message of the

movie is you can either be a be Use your creativity,

or you can basically just do what the instructions

tell you. You can be a drone. Now, I am far from

a drone, but I am sorry. This movie, the animation,

the only problem I ever had with the animation

in it was when they got sunk in the water, because

the way the Legos broke on the ocean surface,

it looked like it wasn't even real. It just didn't

look real at all to me. And the message that

I got out of it, personally was it wasn't even

about the glue about taking the glue and sticking

the legos together it was more so oh my god the

dad wants to have it in this perfect pristine

model and the kid wants to play with it and make

new ideas so they're basically telling us how

to play with our toys i didn't well without getting

spoilers away but i would say that that's not

at all what it's telling you to do uh on many

different levels it If you look at, I think you're

looking at just the basic level of what it's

saying and not looking at the other elements,

you're not looking at the element of what it

says about society when you have a society that's

been created and you look at something that society

created based upon conformity, one where you

have a set of instructions that you follow and

you have the other master builders per se that

live in a world of individuality, one that is

dependent upon creativity. And if you look, both

fail. Both are not successful both cannot achieve

their goals until they become into some form

of compromise to me It's not telling you it's

not it's doing the opposite. It's not Its job

is not dictation. Its job is not to instruct

you on a specific way to do things Its job is

about compromise its job about you need to conform

to certain element The conformity is good at

a certain amount and I think what it did really

well. It didn't make conformity That bad like

it made it. Yeah, it was still functional and

it didn't make the evil guy completely evil over

the bat the good guys there was muddledness in

that and I think it made things difficult for

both sides. So I guess the idea of saying it's

Specifically telling you one thing or how to

do things one thing I think that's the exact

opposite of what it's telling you to do Yeah,

well, you know and the thing is is somebody else

posted on one of my Facebook posts about this

and they said that they heard After the movie

was after one of their showings was over they

were coming out and everybody was singing the

awesome song and The guy that commented was like

I just wanted to smack all these sheeple because

the you're not supposed to be singing that song

It's just oh god that that song is just so horrible

Well, it's supposed to be annoying I mean that

what I think about that song is ingenious is

that it it does what a good parody should do

it is commenting on The genre that it is parodying

while becoming a valid part of that of that parody,

which I think is making it effective Yeah, it's

annoying. It's supposed to be hyper annoying.

It's it's unfortunately probably I feel bad for

parents who have kids who probably gonna be singing

it for the next few months and how that's gonna

probably drive them crazy, but uh, I don't know

I feel I feel like I'm we're dominating Kevin

you any other thoughts or ideas on like a movie

Well, I mean I was Okay, if you just take the

the music let's just talk about the song first

if you take about the music part of the song

It is a catchy tune. It's supposed to be somewhat

of a catchy tune Now I'm not saying that's good

or bad catchy doesn't infer necessarily good

quality or bad quality. So I was even humming

it, two of us were actually humming it on the

way out the theater and it's not because we were,

you know, we weren't conforming or whatever,

but it was just catchy and it's a song in our

head. But I agree it is an awful song and that's

what it's, that means it was successful because

it was supposed to be an awful song. So, and

I think it did a good job of adding to the commentary.

on the film in general. And I think there's,

you can, one of the beauties of film is you can

take from a film what you want. And the messages

in this film. and the commentary on this film

can be on multiple different levels. And you

can take it something as simple as just a commentary

on toys in general. You can take it to the more,

probably the more, the purpose it was more meant

to be. possibly without getting inside the head

of the creators with the whole balance between

conformity and individuality and the good and

bad parts of each of those and or just a general

commentary on our society and our world and a

reflection of where we are at today in our history.

So I mean, there's a lot of different levels

you can go on. You can take it on just kind of

the surface value, you can take it on an individual

message, or you can take it on a societal message.

And I think it works on all aspects of that.

In the end, do I hate the LEGO movie? No, not

at all. I just simply don't care. And if the

eventual sequel does come out, I'm just going

to ignore it completely. For me in LEGO animation,

it has to be the franchise characters. I know

that now. It has to be Star Wars. It has to be

whatever they want to dip their LEGO blocks into.

It has to be something that's franchise that

doesn't have these original characters for me.

What you're saying is you are more You're more

on the side of Lord business and you want Basically,

you know that you want the set pieces where you're

you're knowing that what you're getting basically

not necessarily no because like I said I just

really don't conform to anything because I wasn't

even gonna see this stupid movie until Until

it came out on Netflix or whatever else but The

thing is, I like doing anything with knowing

what I'm getting into. If you actually liked

the movie, would you tell us? Yes, I would have

said something. Another aspect that we can kind

of talk about a little bit, that really should

have no bearing on your... You know whether you

liked it or disliked it you can comment on this

But something I kind of appreciated was how One

thing that Like the video games even though I

like them and they're fun and whatnot and some

of the other you know specific Trademark properties

that the Lego stuff is done Although they're

fun, and I don't dislike them one thing that

they aren't is they aren't Lego II I'll explain

that in a second. You should framework that word.

That's one thing that I really appreciated from

this movie is how LEGO -y it was. And what I

mean by that is the way the piece is moved, especially

you get that in one of the opening sequences,

is not really spoiling anything. But when he's

doing his stretches, it shows the complete movement

of a LEGO's body. You know, the head being able

to spin around is seen at different times. The

idea that their hands are in the shape that they

are. The calling out of the of the pieces, just

like you would when you're building Legos with

a friend, being like, I need a two by two or

three by four or whatever. There were so many

aspects thrown throughout the movie that directly.

related to your playing with Legos and different

things that you would have experienced as far

as how the pieces fit together, how they look,

how the humans... i'm sorry the lego people uh

work so i really appreciated how lego -y it was

compared to some of the other lego properties

that have been before it which i don't get that

feel from as much um and then along the same

lines but slightly different i really appreciated

um the fact that they incorporated so many different

generations and sets of Legos. One scene in particular

where they're kind of like looking throughout

the map and they talk about the different areas.

And then a little funny moment where they talked

about a bunch that they weren't going to show,

which was very clever. So I like that they, you

know, they acknowledged All the different types

of legos and that they acknowledged the individual

uh workings of a lego if that makes sense Yeah,

like every animation every thing that was done

was lego. All the animation was pieces of lego

They didn't cheat on that to the fire were pieces

of lego Mike you mentioned the ocean, but I think

it was odd at first because the entire ocean

was Pieces of lego. So it had it didn't have

like a liquid look to it. It was uh You know,

it had a physical sense to it, but considering

they were using all Legos to me was rather impressive.

I don't know if it was stop motion animation

or if it was computer generation, whatever it

was. It was computer generation. That's a question

that we were all asking ourselves as we came

out to. We were like, was that part partial stop

motion or what was that? According to the at

least according to the stuff I read, it says

it's a computer animated film, but it seems like

there are stop motion elements in there. Yeah,

yeah, let's see that that to me is impressive

just how it it looked like it was done with real

legos It looked like someone had a lot of free

time and made this movie with actual legos Which

I I thought is pretty commendable. Well, they

didn't cheat on that at all But yeah, that's

a good point like on an animation side alone.

It's just incredible, especially those big set

pieces It's just the minute detail that they

put into that stuff is pretty incredible. I also

appreciated Because I think another thing that

you can kind of fall on one side or the other

about a Lego film is. how many of the, I don't

want to say generic, but of the traditional LEGO

characters you have and how many of the, for

lack of a better term, celebrity LEGO characters

you have. And I thought they did a good job of

mixing that as well as, I guess, creating a couple

of new ones. Outside of one character, I really

didn't have any problem with any of the characters,

but I like that you got a regular construction

worker and a regular space. You know explore

in the mix and that these quote -unquote celebrity

Lego characters For the most part outside of

a few play the much smaller role. I kind of liked

that What did you think of the mix of those Mike

or Dan? What which character didn't you like?

I didn't know Twilight Sparkle Oh the cat. Oh,

yeah I liked the character fine. I didn't like

how much to me it screamed Twilight Sparkle or

Rainbow Dash or whatever other My Little Pony.

It was too close to those for me where I felt

like that's what they were reaching for. Maybe

it was. I just wish it would have been a little

bit distant, a little bit more. But as far as

actual character, I had no problem with it. I

just, I don't know. It to me didn't fit as much.

Maybe that is that an actual Lego piece of some

type of It is now it actually it wasn't before

the movie, but it is now see and that's that's

somewhat something I have a problem with I'm

not gonna have a lot of problems with this film,

but it kind of falls back from that thing We're

talking about, you know, if you're talking about

a limited universe, I don't mind creating New

characters or if you're introducing this I know

they always want to have like at least one unique

character that didn't exist before But for me

when you're talking about a franchise or a property

that has so many things already created for it,

sometimes creating new stuff makes no sense to

me. There's so many other things that they could

have used to play that role that are already

in existence that sometimes I have a problem

when you're just creating something for the movie.

But I know it happens in every reboot, in every

remake. So Mike, what did you think about the

mixture of characters? I like the mixture of

characters, I wish the celebrities would have

taken over though. So you want it to be Wreck

-It Ralphies? No, now wait a second here. Wreck

-It Ralph is an original character, the game

Fix -It Felix is an original game, it just has

the old school feel. No, he's talking about having

just a whole thing full of all... I would go

the other way I would have rather had like generic

police officer generic night generic because

those were the ones I played with I didn't play

with Batman and Superman and Han Solo Yeah, but

see that's exactly why I have a problem with

this movie is because I haven't played with Legos

in over 25 years and I know there are a lot of

people my age nowadays that still play with Legos

and that's all well and good for them. Some of

them are parents, some of them aren't, and that's

great. But for me, I haven't touched a Lego since

I was like 12 or 13. So me solely disliking or

liking it based on animation or story content,

that's all I was going into with this movie.

It had nothing to do with the actual toys themselves.

So you just like, well I know we're going off

tangent, but I just want to pinpoint what you

disliked. You disliked the story of the film?

Pretty much, yeah. And the animation? No, no,

no, no, no. I like the animation, the story,

and the fact that it's about Legos, and, you

know, having that connection of playing with

Legos. I don't have that connection because I

haven't played with Legos since I was 10 or 12.

Well, I haven't either. Well, I'm just saying,

it's like, I don't even, I don't know, I remember

playing with Lincoln Logs more than I do Legos.

If it was about Lincoln Logs, would you have

liked it more or less? Probably I guess I don't

understand that really cuz I was never a slave

but I can watch 12 years of slave and appreciate

that and I was never really, you know, and I

was never compared 12 years of slave to the Lego

movie because the Lego movie is Basically, I

never played arcade games, but I like director

elf I guess I don't understand the the incessant

need to basically say a this isn't about my childhood

So I can't like it because I'm not in my childhood

anymore I can appreciate a film based upon what's

to put in front of me like I'm a big video game

fan and why I don't like I like Wreck -It Ralph

But my issues with it have nothing to do with

its aspect of video games I guess I don't that's

my issue with fanboys at times is how everything

has to be tied to the past and Then when that

is the case then you can't ever experience anything

new you're stuck in this neutral all the time

and I guess I don't what I liked about to go

back to the kevin's question regarding the mixture

of characters is I think this is where it excelled

Compared to bracket ralph where the its use of

stuff like batman wonder woman green lantern

Made more sense the context of the movie when

you without giving a spoiler. There's a certain

huge switch that happens and you're like it Little

jarring at first, but when you go back and you

look at okay. Well now it makes a little bit

more sense while why this would have such an

oddball mixture of characters because If you

see it through the lens of the person that was

crafting it it makes sense. Um And I like the

fact it didn't I think if you put the batman

for example and put him as the main character

then you lose Everything that story's about you

know, it's a story's about a character. I mean,

it's not a ground -based Breaking by any means

it's themes. It's pretty much you'll see this

type of themes in something like aladdin or In

other movies are probably even done in a little

bit better You know the idea of you know, your

in event individuality who you are is what makes

you special I mean, that's not groundbreaking

by any means but if you make that main character

into a batman or you make him into a green lantern

Then you lose Then it becomes less effective

because of course that person's special because

they're a superhero. But in this case a person

who was quote -unquote, the hero or the leader.

He had no special powers. He was no extraordinary

person. He was just a regular guy who was able

to kind of find that balance between the conformity

and the individuality, which I think that's what

I appreciate about it. I'll go ahead and respond

first. Well, to jump on a small point, not to

go off on a tangent here, but jump on a small

point, Wreck -It Ralph was not solely celebrity

characters. They had cameos, but all of their

worlds that Ralph was in, those were individual,

new things. They didn't go into Mario World,

they didn't go into Sonic, they didn't go into

any of that kind of stuff. No, but what I'm saying

regarding, it's the... Cameos of the characters

really had little to do with the actual context

of the story They can be removed completely and

you really change nothing about it with this

film You don't change a great deal. But what

I'm saying is Its use of franchise characters

has a purpose beyond the fact that they're franchise

characters. Unlike Wreck -It Ralph, which I don't

think it had. Like my issue with Wreck -It Ralph

has nothing to do with the fact that it had Sonic

the Hedgehog. I mean, that's fine. That's fine

and dandy. I think what this one did a lot better

than that film, because I think it's a good comparison.

I think they do go for different things, is that

it's world building. It is so much better and

done such quicker and... Such a part of that

is the pacing but it's it's so much more fluid

where you learn about the world as it's happening

with without it kind of giving away what's going

to happen in the story with wrecked Ralph where

it establishes this rules really clunk in a clunky

way that is really awkward and Obviously going

to lead to we know what the story is about. That's

why that that's again another another topic for

another day, but uh That's what I think this

film that's superior to that one and I don't

want to make myself sound stupid by saying that

I didn't like Unikitty I Want to go back to that

person because I like the character. I didn't

like the creation of that I'm not saying that

I mean there was multiple characters created

for this film that didn't exist in the Lego world

before But for some reason that one was more

jarring to me than the other ones Most of the

other ones I felt more fit into that world whereas

this you know, unicorn slash anime kitten combination

thing. I just had a harder time finding that

fitting into the LEGO world, but maybe that's

more because I'm the LEGO world I knew when I

was growing up is much different than the LEGO

world that exists for kids now. So maybe they

would find that more natural. Yeah. And I just

had a really, really horrible thought, Kev. And

here comes a reference, folks. Shut the hell

up. Cringer. And Swiftwin had a baby. Hopefully

it would be more fierce than Unikitty. I wish

you'd get angry at one point. But I was interested

in your opinion though, Dan, on what I'm talking

about with the creation of characters that exist

outside of the LEGOs world. Did you feel like

most of them fit into that universe, or was there

any that kind of stood out to you? I mean, stood

out in a good way or a bad way? Either way. Uh,

well one that stood out in a good way I thought

was the good cop bad cop Just because I think

Liam Neeson gives one of the most creepiest performances

as good cop It's just it's more nerve -wracking

than the bad cop just something about it in the

switch between it just is is odd Wait, he was

both of them? Yes. I knew he was bad cop, but

I wasn't sure who was doing good cop. That was

Liam Neeson, which... Holy crap. When you go

back and you watch that, you're like, that is

just frightening on many levels. Imagine that

voice in Taken. That's all I'm saying. Taken...

That's what Taken 3 is going to be about. Yeah.

But I guess the other... The other like I could

see what your some of the um, uh, uh, the main

character himself. I thought chris bat was good

the um, the girl I can't think of her name At

the top of my head wild style wild style. She

was thanks. I don't know. I thought they could

do more with that character I thought she was

a little bit left out to dry. She was that The

person who was kind of explaining the world to

her and she did that job But I felt she was kind

of near the end. They didn't really know how

to handle that character very well, but but I

did like I said really like bad cop and I did

like You know Lord President or whatever. I thought

he was pretty fun I thought real Pharaoh was

really fun in the film in that role in that drew

I'll just say in that dual role that he was placed

into I was really surprised when I Don't know.

I was surprised at the end of the movie how they

did that I'm not gonna spoil it, but I was really

surprised how that That bottomless pit is a straw

Did you did you like that decision to go that

route because I know I could see that really

turning off a lot of people especially kids because

I think it's gonna it could probably ruin their

heads just trying to think about it I found it

interesting, but at the same time If they're

gonna do that and put in Don't think this is

a spoiler or not, but if they're gonna do that

and put in live -action elements, I would want

it to be something like Space Jam or something

like Roger Rabbit or Not just one aspect of the

movie, but the whole movie have it a mixture

of the two But I mean it didn't it wasn't one

of my oh my god, give me a break kind of moments

It was like, oh, okay. Well That's interesting.

Okay. So what would you say were the oh my god?

I guess without spoilers. I what? Batman You

didn't like it or you did like it. No, I did

like it everything to do with Batman. I did like

Okay, so what were your other? The others it's

mostly Emmett. I hate him as a character. He's

one of the worst characters I've ever watched

in a film What were your issues with them? He

is that guy that yes, he does try to fit in but

He tries a little too hard to fit in I guess,

you know and you think of this, you know when

you see that opening scene and I don't think

this is too much of a spoiler but basically he's

getting ready for his day and You think he has

all this stuff in the world and he basically

has kind of nothing and nobody and that's very

sad But I just... I don't like him. He reminds

me of Shia LaBeouf from Indie 4. In what way?

Just a useless side character. Okay, so you're

saying that you don't like him because he's trying

to fit in, so... No, I'm saying I don't like

him because he's trying too hard to fit in. Right,

but if he wasn't trying so hard to fit in, then

doesn't the rest of his character development

throughout the movie make no sense? I dunno,

I just didn't like him. He's just not a likeable

character to me. Fair enough. I mean, it's just

one of those things where as soon as I saw him,

I'm like, oh great, this is gonna be the character

to hate for the entire movie, regardless if he's

supposed to be this, you know, chosen one or

not. Do you feel like he developed any way throughout

the film? By the end like the last very the the

final scene. Yeah, but as until we get to that

point, no Uh dan, what was your favorite character?

Oh, that's a good question Hmm. I did love a

good cop. Uh batman was pretty funny i'm not

gonna I I thought will arnand's performance as

uh voice acting as batman was pretty spot on

just and it's uh It was very similar to Christian

Bale's while being very funny at the same time.

I don't know how he pulled that off. It was better

than Bale's. Yeah, well, it's a lot different

than Bale's for sure. You can actually understand

what he was saying, which is helpful. I did like

the main character. And actually, you know what?

I think maybe, I don't know if it's the best

character, but I thought the best or hilarious

performance was Morgan Freeman. I just thought

he was really funny in that role. He can do comedy

really well. Though without with only the slight

change of his voice. So that might have been

my favorite character. I did I did love the the

interaction Without spoiling it that that character

has with a string I think my favorite was actually

Benny aka 1980 something space. Oh, yes. I don't

know if that's just because that's one of the

first Lego type things I had was the they were

my brothers he had the space set and he had the

some of the police sets when I came along it

was the the Knights you know the medieval stuff

but I just thought they used him very very cleverly

and they really did bring those 1980 elements

into it and I thought he was funnier than I expected

from that character. I thought most of the comedy

would come from the cameos and stuff like that,

but to have a lot of comedy in one of the regular

Lego classic characters was pretty cleverly done.

Yeah, he was pretty funny. I think Charlie Day

did that voice. Yeah. At first, it walked the

line of being kind of annoying, but at the same

time, similar to other aspects of it, when you

kind of figure out Where that voice is coming

from and like, oh it makes so much sense and

that sheer energy thing It just like, you know,

it took over so that that was a really highlight

of that moment when you see him and Him achieve

his ultimate goal, which which was pretty fun

I will say about I will say about Morgan Freeman's

performance He's playing an animated version

of God Reminded me so much of his performance

in Bruce. Almighty. It really did Yeah, I can

see that in a way for once. I understand your

reference. And I really, really like it. I wanted

to bring up one thing, which is going to be hard

to do, I guess, without somewhat spoiling a part

of it, but I'll try to be as careful as I can.

They use an element in this film. Dan, you referred

to it as mispronounced words earlier. I want

to get your take on that aspect of the film in

respect to the fact that that is not the first

time that has been used in film history, not

that you can do much today that hasn't been somewhat

done, I guess, before. So I'm not faulting it

just for doing that. But used in that way and

in that type of environment, it's been done.

in a couple of huge franchises before, and I

don't want to name them because I guess that'll

give it away, but do you just kind of let that

slide by and just take it for what it is and

enjoy it? Because I didn't dislike it. I thought

they were funny moments. I thought they were

interesting things that kind of... gave you an

insight into where this film was going eventually.

And it kind of gives you clues and different

things that you can kind of predict or at least

foreshadowing with that. But it does at times

still slightly strike me every time I see that

exact tactic being used only because I've seen

it so recently when I was rewatching all the

films in two different franchises. So those that

are really Huge followers will now know what

I'm talking about maybe But I don't know what

was your take on on that that tactic When when

it was happening, I thought it was it seemed

kind of cheap not like kind of like oh, this

is fine. It just it seems Like okay, like this

has been done. Like you said, it's been done

before in similar ways and it didn't It wasn't

a huge focal point. It was just kind of side.

It's not like that was the only joke it had.

So I was okay with it. It wasn't something I'm

like, oh, that's clever. It's like, okay, we've

seen that before. But I think what really sold

it for me is when you find out the reasoning

behind it, I think makes it a little bit stronger

because that by not making it a focal point and

by just kind of making it kind of a side joke

here and there, it To me makes it more effective

because it's like, oh, it's that like light bulb

moment. Then it's like, okay, I get it now I

get why that was happening. So is it the best

part of the movie? No, but I I just like that

little bit that little twist on it. It's not

you know, it's not Completely reinventing the

wheel, but it's you know, putting a new rim on

it, I guess And what about we already kind of

heard from Mike as far as some of the moments

that he didn't like or some of the reasons why

he didn't like the film as much as everyone else

seems to like. What were the what were the chinks

in the armor for you in this one? I think it

near the end. I think there is a big confusion

regarding what this movie is trying to say, which

is good in some ways, because I think it elicits

a discussion, which is a good thing. I think

when a film can cause people to have different

viewpoints, it's a good thing. But I think sometimes

it can be a bad thing because it Could be because

you can't put fittingly enough you couldn't put

the pieces all together the way you wanted them

to and I think near the end it It loses a little

bit of that steam and it doesn't some of its

messages become like, okay Is it saying this?

Okay now it's doing this now on the side. So

it's more of a now It's like a relationship story

while being an anti -conformist story While having

social commentary and it didn't tie it together

completely. Well, um, not that it Was a failure

per se it was just going for some high concepts

and it didn't completely hit those and uh, also

The key relationship near the end Didn't really

ring completely true. It was a nice solid moment

But I think if uh, the directors had maybe some

more experience with live action like serious

direction They probably could have made that

even more effective. But uh, so those those were

my really major issues with it, but How about

yourself? I don't have as much of an issue with

how the end plays out. I thought I was going

to as it was happening, but then the more I think

about it, the more it sits well with me. I do

understand what you're saying with the relationship

could have been a little bit more developed,

I guess, in a way, but I don't know without extending

that. final act a little bit longer how you could

have done that because you can't do it at any

other point in the film really Without having

the same effect that it does So so I don't know

what the solution was there But like you said

maybe just someone that was a little bit more

seasoned with something like that might have

done it It was definitely an interesting group

of people that were Creating the film here, which

we didn't talk a ton about but definitely some

some interesting characters they got together

for this. I did want to mention, I know you're

talking about some of the chinks that I had in

the armor. For me, let's see, besides the fact

that a few things were a little jarring at first,

like I said with Unikitty, there was a couple

scenes at the beginning that I, well there was

a couple times, I swear at one point they showed

water as water. And that one and then the rest

of the movie they showed the water as the Lego

pieces The water is water was the underwater

scenes Okay. Well, I thought they showed it from

above at one point and it looked like water I

have to rewatch it to see that but I was wondering

if there might be some consistency issues there

but Outside of that I really I'm gonna have to

rewatch and be a little nitpicky I guess to find

that because I really can't come up with a lot

of chinks in the armor Me personally, I guess

I would have rather even had a little bit more

of the classic characters I would have liked

some of the Knights to play a better bigger role

or some of the more you know just generic figures

and a little maybe a few less cameos, but It's

not something that I would hold against the film

So yeah outside of that I know we already talked

about one of the main songs that they do But

as far as the music throughout the rest of the

the film I was wondering if I can get your opinions

on that outside of everything is awesome You

know, we had a little bit of the lonely island

involved there as well as some other people doing

the music Dan What were your thoughts on the

music in the in the film? I didn't really like

it. I think the lonely Island did the everything

is awesome song too, or at least they're part

of it I liked it. I like that movie such a high

energy like all the time and I think the music

really matched that It was noticeable when it

needed to be and it it went to the background

when it didn't need to be there but I thought

it was very effective and it was really Fitting

for the aesthetic of the film. I thought the

music was good It's just that one song that just

ruined the entire thing though Fair enough. You

know it was supposed to be annoying, though,

right? Yes. OK. Just wanted to get that out there.

No, I know. Dan, let's, I guess, look at it in

general. I want to say that, obviously, it's

been well received from both a box office standpoint

and a critical response standpoint. You know,

it's 96 % last time I checked at Rotten Tomatoes.

um doing well on all the other you know websites

that assign scores for the film i did question

a couple people i was reading some reviews now

after the fact i do question a couple people

that's that are claiming that it's been i want

to get like an actual quote here from somebody

that says um something about like the last year

or two being like a void in animation and this

is this is Yeah, Hollywood report arriving at

a time when feature animation was looking and

feeling mighty anemic and then there was another

one that said something about like after a After

a year of of an animation void. It's good to

see a great kids film Have these people not seen

frozen? I Think that's more so that it was just

frozen last year and not much else. Gotcha But

I wanted to get into a discussion real quick,

you know, obviously it's fresh and it's too early

to make historical judgments on this but given

our last five, 10 years, how do you feel the

Lego movie fits in against things like Frozen

and Tangled from Disney, like Wreck -It Ralph,

even going back to the Toy Story franchise and

some of the other stuff we've had more recently,

how do you feel the Lego movie fits in amongst?

Animation films. Yeah, I mean that is hard. We

just saw it I don't think it reaches like the

level of like a toy story 3 emotionally or an

up or in Wally I think those films are much more

dynamic and have I think deeper like meaning

to them than this But I would I guess it's fair

to look at it compared to frozen That's a tough

comparison. Like I go back and forth. They're

very different films doing very different things

I think the easiest and that's the reason I brought

up Toy Story because to me the Like you can compare

Disney princess movies to Disney princess movies

a lot easier than you can compare this to frozen

To me Toy Story Wreck -It Ralph Are the easiest

things to compare it to maybe? But I was trying

to compare it to frozen just because that was

one of the last yeah really good animated films

not my first Initial reaction is that I would

not put it in the league of frozen, but I would

put it in You know in that next closest league

and I would put it slightly ahead of uh, well

more than slightly but I would put it ahead of

record ralph in my book at this point, but Like

I said, it's it's real early to judge that I

think I liked it a little bit more than frozen

I don't think you like frozen a little bit more

than me. I I did really I think this is maybe

a little bit more at my alley Um than than frozen

so I don't know if it's really fair to compare

it I don't think like I said, it's anywhere near

a torii story And I I do like i've already mentioned.

I do think it's better than record ralph and

like a Tangled. But it is, I would say if this

was a Pixar movie in hindsight, I would put it

like in the upper, like the middle echelon of

Pixar, not in like the Holy Grail, but in like

the realm of something like Ratatouille or...

Um, like the Incredibles which is a movie I think

is really great, but not their best. Um, I don't

know it might be that's so hard to say But uh,

if we say we're gonna do the top 100 Again, I

would think it's top 50 the top 40 ish of all

time at this point Which is hard to judge because

it just came out but uh, it could a rewatch couldn't

even make it go higher But to me, it's probably

the best animated film i've seen since That's

hard to say that's toys to me toy story 3 was

there. Uh, I don't know maybe I don't know My

question is will it be the best animated movie

of this year? Which if how to train your dragons

anything like the original it may not be but

uh, I don't know It's got some stiff competition

regardless of Mike your opinion of this year

I think it's gonna end up being an actually a

pretty good year of animation on multiple levels.

But where do you think this one fits in? Okay.

Well, I haven't seen frozen so I can't compare

it to that Comparing this to Wreck -It Ralph.

I enjoyed Wreck -It Ralph more I agree it does

not go as high as like Toy Story and all that.

For me, it's probably one step above Flushed

Away. And as far as my thoughts on the year in

animation, just because I say that there are

zero animated films this year that I'm really

interested in to actually see in a theater. doesn't

mean that i think it's going to be a horrible

year in animation there's some ones that i just

don't care i just don't care to like take example

box trolls i don't like the animation style so

i'm not gonna see it am i gonna sit here and

rant and rave that oh my god this is the worst

movie ever no because i'm not gonna see it because

i don't care for the animation style um i i just

wish that this year we've had a little bit more

maybe a uh... Just maybe despicable me three

or the if well just pick me four or five or six

or minion Well the minion movie minion movie,

but yeah, but it's just one of those things where

I Looked at a list of all the things I've seen

several trailers from it from most of them that

have that that are coming out Not all of them,

and it just nothing impresses me enough to go

see it in the theater. That's all Fair enough.

Fair enough. I don't know. I know you're not

a big fan of soft motion animation, but no the

box troll Movie played before this and I just

I can't wait for that movie Fantastic trailer

there was quite a few good trailers actually

before this one and I think the other thing to

look at is Possibly I mean as far as Warner Brothers

animation Or Warner Brothers as a studio that's

putting out animated films Does this help catapult

them into a competing? Stage with Disney Pixar

Dreamworks that type of thing or is this just

another franchise where they're gonna do their

scooby -doo movies They're gonna do their DC

movies and they're gonna do their Lego movies.

I don't know because here's the thing Warner

Brothers animation all as we've had since god

knows for how long is direct -to -video because

sadly Mask of the Phantasm back in 93 didn't

do all that well and yes I know that's a superhero

movie that's not a Scooby -Doo movie and all

that stuff but like I don't think I've seen a

Warner Brothers animated film in a theater since

maybe 98 -99. They've been mostly direct -to

-video and that's where they've succeeded in

doing so. um lego movie because of how big legos

are maybe this can be their new franchise you

know and maybe they can go on to other franchises

and and bring their animation back to the big

screen but i prefer the the warner brother stuff

to be direct to video um well i think they're

probably going to build upon i mean like a movie

is a huge success i could only imagine a sequel

is going to be shortly it released Now far from

now It could do what shrek did for it, you know

for dreamworks Uh, it's gonna be the question

like they have lego. Can they I think warner

brothers issue of as of late as hey They have

batman, but they can't do superman. Well now

they have lego. Can they do anything else besides

that? That's gonna be the question. I think that's

it's if it can do another movie. That's just

as successful We could maybe see another animated

studio out there. But as we know with warner

brothers, like they seem to They seem to see

one hits see one thing do well and then try to

just repeat that and drive it into the ground

so who knows According to the Hollywood Reporter

and coming soon net May 26 2017 is the Lego movie

sequel Yeah, so we have three years to wait Awesome

I just if they do it again they get the same

people Because I think it if you don't have these

people that you don't have the directors behind

it I don't know if this movie is nearly as good

as it should it it is now so Anything else before

we Take a break and move on into news. Well before

I leave since I don't like talking movie news.

I just want to let everyone know that The regular

MYR episodes are returning I will be doing Need

for Speed and I don't know who's joining me on

that one yet since everyone seems to think it's

going to fail and no one wants to talk about

it. But Dan and Kevin will be joining Steve and

I on the Muppets Most Wanted episode coming up

later in March. And the main difference for those

that are wandering or kind of scratching their

heads now between the regular MWire episodes

and what we do as our main attraction here on

MWire Weekly is obviously we try to be We're

current we're with the news and we try to be

spoiler free with them our weekly whereas in

the regular and more episodes We will go in depth

and there will be spoilers. So if you want even

more on those, that's where you go for those

That's right. Yeah looking forward to it. I mean

this summer or this I guess summer starting early

with these first beans coming out March and Captain

America coming out first weekend of April Yeah,

she's there's a lot of movies coming out here

and and towards the end of March Yeah, it is

a little bit crazy, but I am very happy that

I no longer have to do the geek cast radio episode

about the 2015 year and film exploding since

almost everything that was supposed to happen

in 2015 is now moved It's wait till Star Wars

moves and then you can do the 2016 one But before

you go Mike, how can people get a good hold of

you? Well, as always, you can find me on Twitter

at TFG1Mike. You can also follow at GeekCastRadio

over there. That's pretty much it. You can check

out my fan page on Facebook. I usually don't

give out the fan page link, but I think it's

facebook .com slash TFG2Mike, because I use the

TFG1Mike username for my personal Facebook. All

right. All right. Well, I appreciate you, Mike,

coming in and stopping by. I know we kind of

unfairly teamed up on you, but I appreciate you

keeping up with us. That's all right. I'm just

really surprised that Phil Lamar called me out.

Go Phil. I cannot agree with him more. Anyway,

all right. We'll see you later. And when we come

back, we'll be discussing this past week's news

and getting into the upcoming releases. So stay

tuned, and we'll be back. Pixels in the animation

is the Geekcast Radio Network's video game cartoon

review show. We are covering every episode of

nine different video game cartoons. Join TV's

Mr. Neal and myself, TFJ and Mike, as we trek

through multiple Mario tunes, Zelda, Captain

N, Mega Man, Sonic, and we are also driving through

Donkey Kong Country. Pixels in the Animation

is 100 episodes of video game cartoon goodness,

so tune in to help us find the Pixels in the

Animation, which you can find every Wednesday

on iTunes and www .geekcastradio .com. Any surprises

in this past week box office? I think it's probably

not gonna happen for quite a while I mean it

is the dregs of the the year, you know, or sorry

Yeah, the the dregs of the time of year where

there's nothing really big coming out. So i'm

pretty sure The lego movie is gonna stay on top

for a while. Yeah, it's it's not about which

film will be on top At this point, last week,

this week, next week, et cetera, it's not about

what film is going to be on top, it's going to

be about how much does that film on top actually

bring in. I think is what I'm more curious to

see, and to see even if it is on top, how much

does it drop or how long does it stay at a plateau,

that type of thing. And I think it's obviously

becoming even more successful than I thought

when we were talking about our Predictions for

the year. I'm starting to think I didn't have

this one high enough But yeah, just looking You

know, I know we will talk about coming soon specifically

a little bit later on and there there are some

films that are coming out but as far as a film

that's gonna actually dethrone this one We're

might be waiting about two weeks before that

happens And my guess would be that the film that

dethrones that is gonna be possibly the sequel

to 300 Just because it'll be two more weeks down

the road and You know it comes out March 7th.

So Lego movie will have come down a little bit

even more by then and then that's To me just

looking at what's coming out. That's the first

one that I think has a chance of of dethroning

that top spot. Yeah, I I wonder if the non -stop

coming out next week has a shot just because

liam neeson does You know doesn't have that Taken

type of vibe to it where people are just wanting

some sort of action film so they go see it But

yeah, I think the best chance like you said is

probably 300 just because it is that franchise

that people might go check out And it'll be something

new and fresh that you know Have been waiting

It's gonna draw a different crowd that's been

waiting for a good movie to see because I don't

think they were I don't think they all went and

saw Pompeii this week. So no, they're still waiting

for that That epic, you know action slash, you

know, whatever you want to call 300. It's kind

of hard to Put a description on it, I guess.

Yeah, speaking of Pompeii that in three days

to kill or the two big other two The films are

opened up this weekend and neither of them did

very well three days to kill came in numbers

too with 12 million and Pompeii not far behind

with 10 million Exactly Pompeii with a budget

of a hundred million dollars and three days to

kill with only 28 million. So Yeah, I don't think

Pompeii is gonna be making that budget back.

So no, what was interesting? This is Rare week,

I think because there's literally not a single

film that did better this week than last week

until You go all the way down to the legend of

Hercules, which is like 40th or some 30th or

something on this list. It actually had a 40

% increase over last week, which still doesn't

help it at all But literally no film outside

of that had an increase No, no, it's it's it's

pretty crazy and even good and even the Lego

movie increased in theater camp It still went

down in box office. So yeah, so that might be

a sign that it's gonna start start going down

a little bit I you know, I went to a 6 30 p .m

Sunday night showing and they were still I mean

it wasn't packed or anything, but it wasn't empty

we still probably had a couple dozen people there

Interesting to see though out of those since

all the films did drop the the ones that dropped

the most and I'm talking not just in percentage

change over the gross But I'm talking about spots

as far as where it came in About last night had

a random drop for me. It's it's it went from

second to sixth So Robocop and the Monuments

Men jumped over it even though they've both been

out longer And about last night dropped 71 percent.

So that was a big drop. Endless Love, which I

talked about a little bit, went from fifth to

ninth with a 67 percent drop. And then Jack Ryan's

Shadow Recruit went from 12th to 17th, which

is also a significant drop. And then perhaps

one of the biggest drops would be given to the

combination of Vampire Academy and Labor Day

who were both in the top 20 last week and now

are not even in the top 30. Labor Day dropping

81, almost 82 percent and Vampire Academy dropping

86 percent. There is a lot of films that like

we keep talking about are not Doing well as far

as the budget versus the girls. Yeah, maybe we

did the top best, you know the top 10 box office

choices last week Maybe we should done the top

ten biggest bombs of the year because we would

have a lot of movies to choose from already It's

hard to pick. You know, there's so many that

have the potential to be disastrous, but you

talked about Pompeii I mean, it's only got 10

% of its budget Robocop is not even halfway to

its budget and if it's only bringing in nine

or ten million They would take about six more

weeks for it to make its budget and that's not

going to happen. You know, monuments men might

eke out to if it sticks around a couple more

weeks and does what it does. Didn't does what

it did this last week. It will make its budget,

but there's just a disaster after disaster. Winter's

Tale is not going to make its budget. So yeah,

man. there's a lot of people that are probably

past the nervous stage now they're just trying

to like find other ways to make money and I don't

know what the what the process is i frankenstein

legend of hercules none of these films are even

going to come remotely close no no you can kind

of see why they uses us and dumping around though

I mean those movies weren't Well, I can't really

say because I haven't seen them, but I guess

I can make it in case and say that probably weren't

very good, which is probably why they didn't

do very well. But you can see why people don't

really put a lot out here, though maybe the success

of the Lego movie will maybe cause some people

to rethink that and think, hey, you can release

a franchise film and do really well because there's

not much else competing against you. But some

things that you might want to look for if you're.

those people out there that like to, you know,

chase the numbers at the box office, uh, Lego

movie should actually, we talked a lot. I talked

a lot last week when we were trying to predict

our top 10 most gross in films of the year, uh,

about that 200 ,000 mark and then films that

would probably need to reach that to have a shot

of that top 10. Well, the Lego movie is going

to make that by next week. Um, most likely. So

it is going to be the first 200 million uh dollar

film of the year which should if my theory was

correct give it a shot at being in the top 10

um and frozen which brought in another almost

four and a half million uh if it stays out for

for about another month it's gonna break the

400 million mark Which I could see happening

as of right now so it's at 384 right now and

it brought in like I said about four and a half

so it only needs three four weeks of staying

right where it's at and If it's bringing in four

million even with the Lego movie Then I would

say would have a good shot Yeah, very true. So

anything else looking at the weekly box office?

No, that's pretty much all I got you want to

take us through this past week's headlines Yeah,

and just real quick before we do that if you're

curious you shouldn't be as far as the yearly

lead right now Lego movie in first ride -along

is in second as the only two movies that are

above 100 million and the rest are not worth

mentioning As far as their potential to stick

around at the top Alright, first headline up

for today. It's never bad, I guess, to talk about

Mark Wahlberg. He has a good fan base out there.

Apparently, he's producing a movie that's going

to begin its principal photography, as far as

the headline goes, and that movie would be an

entourage movie. And the headline also reads

that the original cast is all returning from

the film and that they may be adding a few new

faces. Obviously the stars there for those that

are not familiar Kevin Connelly Adrian Grenier

Kevin Dillon Jeremy Piven Jerry Ferreira What's

your thoughts about I were you a fan of the TV

show at all No, I never really watched it. Honestly,

it just looked like a bunch of people I had no

desire to hang out with in a bit but uh, I never

really watched the show but So I really can't

comment honestly, so but maybe some entourage

fans out there will be happy apparently the new

Faces will be that of Billy Bob Thornton and

Haley Joel Osment. I think so Osmond Wow playing

a father and son that are somehow connected to

this world It actually has me interested just

to see what he's up to now So entourage fans

probably rejoice I guess or maybe Don't know

I'm in Michael Bay is not involved so you should

be alright, right? Anyway other stuff news coming

out about anchorman and we know that was just

in the theaters but apparently an alternate version

and our rated version is about to hit theaters

with over According to the article 700 new jokes

How is that even possible that is Wow 763 new

jokes That is insane. It's like a two wolf of

Wall Street's back -to -back. And apparently,

there's some legal stuff here. They couldn't

release this before because you can't have, according

to the MPAA, you can't have the same film out

in theaters at the same time with two different

ratings. So you have to pull, they had to pull

anchor, they had to pull it. Then... Redo it

so it has the new rating and then you can put

it back out The MPAA never ceases to amaze me

with their craziness So they didn't want any

confusion about people accidentally going to

the wrong version So that's why we've had the

delay and why they weren't both released at the

same time I guess it's like instead of having

to wait to the DVD to get like the the unrated

cut, they're just gonna put it out in theaters

now, so I guess that's an interesting way to

get more money. Yeah, sure, I guess. So I guess

if you're a fan of Anchorman, you can go see

a dirtier version. Yeah, it just reminds me of

the last Anchorman movie when they actually made

an entire second film just with the footage they

didn't use, so I wonder if it's something similar

to that. And I only brought this up because it

to me was an odd but interesting Headline and

we're talking and we needed to get some comic

book talking. So let's do it If there's not enough

height for a day x -men days of future past apparently

Bryan Singer is saying that he is comparing it

to the usual suspects I Don't see it but okay,

and he says it resembles it in two ways one structurally

And also in the way that he shot it I don't know

I Think that's a bad idea to do that because

it's like, you know this movie that people have

said is my best movie I've ever made Yeah, the

new one I'm doing is just like that and I think

it's never never a good thing I maybe he meant

more so in like the The technical aspect which

I could I could get um when he says story structure

that makes me curious because the story structure

of Usual suspect is really unique Uh, so if xbin

does something like that that I don't know I

would not be expecting that so that that does

have me wondering what they're gonna do Have

to see what exactly that turns out to mean. Um

So that's it for the main headlines going into

some sequel stuff There has been rumors of plenty

going around the internet about Space Jam 2 There

was rumors then they were all taken back and

then it was just apparently just nonsense But

the headline earlier in the week was that LeBron

James was gonna be a star in Space Jam 2 Apparently

not only is he not gonna be in there, but now

they're saying that Space Jam 2 is not even in

the pipeline to be done. Is it good that these

rumors are all false? Yeah, the world does not

need another Space Jam, though it did have so

many unanswered questions, so who knows? But

yeah, LeBron James, you're not Michael Jordan.

People don't really like you, so it's not going

to work. I think you'd have a better movie with

Dwyane Wade or even getting Michael Jordan back

again. I think people would rather see that than

LeBron James. I agree. Alright, and then going

into some casting news. We got a couple different

ones, not a huge deal, but about four or five

that will go over here real quick. And the first

one has to deal with Expendables. And in an odd

news for us, I guess, we're not talking about

someone who is cast, but someone who will not

be cast. And Kurt Russell is saying that you

can rule him out. He will not be appearing in

any of the Expendables films. Is that a good

move or a bad move? Good move here. Kurt Russell

probably been moved for the expensibles. I can't

get everybody. No. Their power only goes so far.

Maybe he just wants more money. Who knows? He's

holding out. Robert Pattinson starts filming

the movie called Life. And this is supposedly

a film about James Dean. Honestly. At first glance,

the casting of a Robert Patterson as James Dean

seems completely out of the field, but I can

kind of see it because if you look at their careers,

you know, not that Robert Patterson is anything

close to the actor of a James Dean, but this

hot, you know, celebrity that's a huge hit and

thrown actually. Oops, sorry. I'm not trying

to cut you off, but I believe. I thought the

same thing at first, but I believe he's not actually

playing James Dean. Oh Well, I see uncorrected.

I believe he is playing The story is centering

on a photographer who's commissioned by life

magazine to photograph James Dean and Pattinson

is playing the photographer and James Dean is

being played by Dane de Han. Okay from Amazing

Spider -Man 2 Interesting so and yeah, apparently

Ben Kingsley also is gonna be in it So anyways,

sorry So completely forget what I said about

him playing James Dean, but uh, I I think Robert

Peterson actually could be a good actor I think

Because he was not that bad and he was in Harry

Potter. He was fine in that and some other films

He was he was fine. And I think the Twilight

films were Gave him a bad performance because

they were just bad movies, but You know, I think

he's a much better actor than like Kristen Stewart.

So I could have seen him playing James Dean though

Yeah in a weird way So, I don't know. I didn't

know they were doing a James Dean slash Dennis

stock I guess is the name of the guy that photography

or photographed him. I didn't know that was in

the works. So But I'll be on the lookout for

more on that one because I'm a big James Dean

fan. So So there's that one and then we also

have more ongoing Terminator casting With apparently

I don't know how to say his name. Is it jai kourtney

jai kourtney? Um is signing on to play kyle reese

He's one of the ones rumored before so it looks

like that casting is basically um Wrapped up

as far as the main cast. Um So yeah, add that

to the 2015 films, I guess that you want to talk

about at some point He's the guy for those who

don't know jack kourtney probably You know him

best maybe from the diehard remake. He was john

mccain's john john mccain's He was the son he

was in oh he was in jack reacher for a little

bit, but I find I honestly think him and sam

worthington and taylor kid should do a spin -off

of the expendables called the forgettables because

they just they're they're actors to me that just

lack charisma and but I don't know I I could

be wrong, but nothing he's done at this point

really I've not been very impressed with his

work so far. All right. Well moving on then We

talked a little bit a week ago or a couple weeks

ago about the possibility of this film or a film

about this character coming out. Marvel has yet

to confirm the identity of any of its 2017 releases,

thank God, because we would have rumors flying

everywhere. But they have strongly hinted that

one of them will be an adaptation of Doctor Strange,

which we talked about a little bit. It's talking

about... possible directors for that film and

50 -50 director Jonathan Levine is one of the

four contenders with Mark Andrews who was did

work on brave and a couple other individuals

Possibly up for that and obviously Johnny Depp

has repeatedly been linked with the role What

do you think about Jonathan Levine possibly heading

up? Heading into the comic book world and taking

on a doctor strange property more with their

choices for directors always Confuses me it works

out for them. Like if you look at the biggest

director that they've gotten so far well John

Favreau But before that he didn't really do much

like elf was his biggest movie and Joe Johnson

Was probably the biggest director they've gotten

but I don't know like I don't see him in that

role But apparently the people who dragged to

the new Captain America film only did TV same

thing with the Thor sequel so I think they just

get a cheap director who's competent and then

They pretty much control most of it. So, I mean,

that's just, you know, that's just my speculation.

But I love 50 50. I don't see how that correlates

with the Doctor Strange movie, but doesn't mean

you can't do it. It just to me is an interesting

choice, I guess. I agree. Like you said, I like

50 -50 films, so I'll give them a shot, but it

seems like a departure from that style. So that

does it for the casting call news, but we also

have a very limited amount of trailers that were

released over the course of the week. Maybe only

one worth talking about, but maybe there's one

that catches your eye. We had a trailer for the

movie Lock, Frankie and Alice. gin in the blood.

And then we'll get to the other one in a second.

But any of those that caught your eye or any

trailers that I didn't list that you saw this

week that were interesting to you? Well, it's

not listed here. It's one that's been out for

a while, though. We talked about it earlier.

I just I can't get enough of the Box Trolls trailer.

I just it just. I love that song, and it just

fits so well. But no, those trailers really did

very little for me. Usually I can find at least

one or two that interest me, and they were not

there this week. Outside of obviously the both

trailer slash teaser slash character looks, if

you can call it that, for Guardians of the Galaxy,

which debuted over the course of the last week

so now that we've actually seen some footage

some snippets from the film what is your opinion

on what you saw from Guardians of the Galaxy

this past week I must say I I know that I'm probably

biased because I like that comic and I was really

looking forward to it but I was really diggin

the trailer I think they did a smart thing by

going very comedic and not taking it seriously

it's such a high concept out of the fall type

of Movie that it's gonna be a hard sell when

the fact that your main character is a raccoon

in a tree I don't know how well that's gonna

go over with a lot of people I think most people

I know There's a lot of mixed reaction I feel

like I I know people who have known nothing about

guarding for the galaxy or anything about it

and we're really confused by it and but I think

For me it really hit the tone of the comic. It

didn't take itself too seriously. It looks like

a lot of fun I love the world. It looks really

colorful and the creatures look really cool and

I love the use of the song hooked on a feeling

and I saw a small tidbit which was kind of funny

that after the trailer sales of the song went

up 700 % Which is kind of crazy, but I liked

it. I'm not gonna lie. I I'm curious to see more

of a Trailer that gets more into the story or

it's into what it's really gonna be about but

for an introduction into these characters I thought

it was effective, but what did you think of the

trailer? I thought was interesting. I think the

look of the characters is pretty well done from

what I can tell They definitely did some amazing

work from a visual standpoint It should have

an interesting shot at being involved in some

type of visual awards I would think towards the

end of the year just based on making you know

a tree, a raccoon, and some crazy -looking people

look pretty realistic. We'll see. It's got a

lot of potential, and I think it's going to be

interesting and unique. Maybe not that it's needing,

you know, not that I have anything against the

superhero stuff that's out there, but maybe a

breath of fresh air within the genre, if that's

possible. So yeah, I liked what we saw. I wish

the little character pieces would have been a

little bit more... Lengthy or in depth not that

I need to say I'm not saying I want to see more

of what they're gonna do in the movie But maybe

more about what you know the creation of them,

but yeah, I can wait for the DVD blu -ray release

I guess for that. Yeah that The James gun did

do like a breakdown of the trailer and there's

a lot of characters that they actually didn't

introduce yet that they're waiting on so I'm

curious about that Yeah, it doesn't give you

a lot really. I think it's really just setting

the tone So I'm hoping that we get more from

it shortly But anything else before we take a

look at coming attractions? No, okay The three

DVD blu -ray releases as of late have been kind

of dry Apparently they're all saving it up for

this week because like everything's coming out

on DVD and blu -ray We have blues and warmers

color, which is perceived really brave reviews

last year Gravity finally. I can't wait to pick

that up is coming out which I'm curious how that's

gonna translate to To tv because I don't know

if I wonder if it's gonna work nearly as well

nebraska another one. I I loved last year I think

you enjoyed that film as well and also thor is

coming out So a big week in the world of dvd

and blu -ray. So any of those you think you'll

be picking up at all? um eventually, uh Gravity,

Nebraska and Thor will all be in my collection.

I don't know which ones I would buy like right

away or which ones I'll wait But they will all

eventually be purchased Yeah, I am right there

with you but Looking at the DVD and blu -ray

releases. I'm sorry looking at the theater releases

coming out Not so much nothing really all that

fantastic the two biggest releases of course,

like I mentioned previously or non -stop the

lian mason movie of taken in the plane and the

film son of god, which I Learned recently is

actually a take off of the the history channel

bible series. I didn't realize it was uh, kind

of a spin -off of that. So Yeah, and then also

um I thought there was one other one that I was

looking at slightly. I think you mentioned Stalingrad

a few weeks ago. Yeah, Stalingrad I think is

gonna be an interesting one, too. That one's

being released in IMAX in 3D, but the war film,

World War II film, but taken from the German

and Russian battles between each other. I thought

that looked somewhat interesting. We talked about

the bag man a little bit in trailers, not that

it looked that great. I thought we had talked

about repentance at one point, but maybe we did

not. Oh yeah, with Forrest Whitaker and Anthony

Mackey, Mike Epps, psychological thriller. So

there is some choices for you, some new stuff

that you could go see. I don't know, do you think

Nonstop will do better than Son of God and Stalingrad?

That's a good question. I think it'll definitely

do better than Stalingrad. I don't know, like

Son of God, it could... Could be one of those

really big surprise hits because I know that

tv series was a huge uh, like rating sensation

So it could do well But uh, I still think lego

movie takes it but I would assume non -stop the

second and then son of guard son of god That's

a close third Alright, we'll have to wait and

see what happens Looks like it's gonna be a a

battle for second or possibly just a battle for

third that we're looking at next week Yeah, and

the finished off we finished each week with a

credit conversation and last week We asked you

we we counted down the top ten films of the year

or we thought would be the top ten films of the

year Hopefully, we'll see who's right at the

end but a lot of people had similar thoughts

to us a lot of people thought The one film I

saw repeated the most was probably Hunger Games.

A lot of people thought that's gonna probably

be number one and can't disagree with that. One

thing Epicurious did mention, he talked about

how we did not mention A Million Ways to Die

in the West and Neighbors. He thought those two

films could do really well. And I think they

could do well, but I don't see them doing well

enough to make it in the top 10 movies of the

year. For a comedy, it's really hard, especially

a comedy like Million Ways to Die in the West,

that's a western on top of that. I know Seth

Varlin has a huge success with Family Guy and

Ted, but I don't know if it's gonna be that big

of a success. Yeah, he does have a lot of success.

I just can't see those two reaching that 200

million mark. So maybe I'll be wrong, but I considered

You know, I tried to look at all the films and

give them all a good shake and you know, we only

had ten spots so Yeah and so our question for

you for this week and we just recently just talked

about the guardians of the galaxy trailer and

We're curious does the guardians the galaxy trailer

make you more excited or less excited to go check

it out in theaters I know some people might be

Super excited already, but those that are a little

bit apprehensive, you know, what do you think

of it? You know, do you think it's gonna be successful

but curious to hear what everyone has to say

For sure all right anything else before we bring

this episode to a close No, I think that's it

for this week's movies All right, and if you

do want to get back and get a hold of us There

are a ton of different ways you can call the

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My Twitter name is at movie revolt and how about

yourself? Mine is at after my solo and just so

we don't get any complaints Maybe we should give

a grade for the Lego movie. Oh, yeah, we did

not do that. Good point honestly It was hard

for me to find any issues with it and I loved

it a great deal. So I would I would probably

go four point five out of five. So I if I could

find any issues, I would drop it down a little

bit. But the issues I had were not major. So

I am actually going to agree with you. I am at

the lowest end looking at four and at the higher

end looking at four and a half. But I'm going

to sit on four and a half right now. All right.

Yeah. So a little late, but better late than

never. So I'm sure people and I'm going to say

Mike gave it a four out of five. Yes, he definitely

at least gave it a four out of five. All right,

but that's it for us for this week. Let us know.

Let us get your feedback. We really appreciate

it. But that's it for us. So remember, for all

things movies, keep tuned to MY Weekly. We'll

see you next week.