Review: Masters of the Universe

You got the touch. This is Stan Bush, and you're

listening to the Geek Cast Radio Network. Dream

the dream this August. and welcome to episode

245 of The Cinema Geeks. I am one of your Cinema

Geeks Optimist solo, and joining me as usual

is the Common Concierge. How you doing, Dan?

Doing good. How about yourself? I'm doing well.

It seems like a whirlwind of a week or two here.

My daughter finished kindergarten about, let's

see, I think her last day was the 2nd of June,

technically, even though it was early dismissal,

so that was just a... past week and now she's

home you know obviously all the time so we're

experiencing that again and uh we're also in

the middle of completely redoing our guest room

and bathroom like we had all the carpet tore

up and we put new tile flooring in and we spent

the last few days painting and all of the furniture

from that bedroom is currently in our living

room and kitchen and dining room area so my daughter

has been sleeping on a queen -size bed that's

smack in the middle of our living room in front

of the tv So we are anxious to eventually get

the house back in order. So it's, it's seemed

like a crazy last seven to 10 days. How about

yourself? Yeah. Well, my kids are still in school.

They actually, I'm, I'm jealous. Well, I mean,

I guess they are, it's go to the 19th. So they,

so yeah, they think a bit to go. So, but it's

still crazy week time for us too. Cause Connie.

concerts and a lot going on on that end and so

that's so that's a fun time and we've vacation

coming up and so it's kind of may is always crazy

and also but within that you know we are in the

thick of summer movie season and going to the

movies a lot lately and that happened that we

matched up and we both went to the movies the

same weekend which has not happened in a while

so yeah that that's crazy i'm so glad i got to

sneak it into because now with my daughter not

in school like we had to figure out like when

her grandparents could watch her so i wasn't

able to go opening night or the preview night

or or even saturday so i had to wait a little

while i know it's still opening weekend but for

me it was like one of the ones that i for sure

was not necessarily wanting to see opening day

but i wanted to see before anything got spoiled

for me it's that type of a film for sure and

then i'm also flying uh to texas for business

for like the majority of this next week so i

was like everything lined up and i was able to

sneak it in so i'm very happy that that was able

to happen it's nice and this is i i'm not mistaken

this was your most anticipated movie of the year

am i not wrong correct from a completely geek

centric fanboy point of view like not necessarily

like the quote unquote like cinema side like

side things and like you know getting into something

that i was going to take super serious but yes

this was definitely from just that standpoint

and part partially because this film has been

talked about and rumored and alluded to i don't

have an exact time but at least for 20 years

yeah like it i know the original live action

quote unquote film there there were some animated

films as well i don't know why i did quote unquote

but there was some animated film with the secret

of the sword that kind of bridged he -man and

shira and then there was the 1987 live action

film and then it seems like right around the

same time period that the 2002 series came out

the mike young production i think it was on cartoon

network that really the rumor mill started churning

about live action film and there was like a thousand

different writers and directors and people connected

to it that never came to fruition I was actually

listening to a podcast that Mike and I had done

previously where we were kind of recapping all

of one of the He -Man series and we literally

teased like that one of the next episodes we

did was going to be about the live action film

that literally never happens until right now

so and even kind of I guess kind of going back

to the 1987 film because that film leaves off

with a cliffhanger as if there would be more

to follow which obviously didn't happen the 1987

film along with one other film that that studio

did literally put that studio out of business

in in a very like rapid night i'm sure there's

a lot more you know complex factors that went

into that but like it definitely was like the

last two films that it did did not do it any

justice in the in the studio kind of folded shortly

thereafter so we definitely never got the the

answer to the cliffhanger from the 1987 film

and then oddly enough the 2002 cartoon series

also ended up getting canceled early and left

us with a cliffhanger so it's like at one point

like are we gonna get any of this and now i'm

really scared because of of how this one ends

so we'll get into that much later but yeah i

will uh kind of We're going to start off by just

giving some general thoughts on the film, some

reactions, maybe our theater experience and things

of that nature. So it'll be spoiler free here

at the beginning. And then we'll probably fairly

quickly put up a spoiler warning and get into

more of the nitty gritty as far as the movie

goes. But Dan, anything you wanted to talk about

before I kind of share my feelings? No, I will

say, though, be careful which movie you watch

because. There is a Master of the Universe movie,

which I almost watched because I was like scrolling

through, I think, you know, Amazon, just seeing

what's on and what's going through. And I'm like,

it's like Master of the Universe. And if you

look at the poster, it looks like a He -Man poster.

It's like a really muscular guy with a sword.

And I'm like, what is it? I thought, wait, because

I know it's an Amazon movie. Right. So I'm like,

I thought. So I clicked on it and I'm like, what

is this? And I looked at the cast list. I'm like,

that's not, but it was an Amblin movie. You know,

like the people who make the, the, the, the mock

busters whose entire premise basically is like

people don't pay attention. So if we make something

that kind of looks like it and the title is close

enough, we can just make enough money. make a

living which is kind of crazy that like lack

of attention to detail is all studio needs to

exist um but yeah don't watch it i looked at

the i watched the trailer it looks pretty it

looks like wow i'm pretty sure a lot of those

films were like the ones that used to show up

in like the dollar bin at walmart oh yeah yeah

it was like good fodder for like a crappy movie

night if you want to get together with some friends

and like a drink or something or just do your

mystery science theater 3000 stuff yeah definitely

did that with they made that's the same studio

that of course they made sharknado but they also

made titanic 2 that is uh that's quite the watch

so you know oh lord that gives me memories of

like nazis in the center of the earth or something

like i don't know what we watched it was like

something bizarre that some friends and i used

to watch on crappy movie night but yeah one of

them had uh i swear one of them had mark hamill

in it but that's a story for another day starting

off with my theater experience i need to go into

this because this is like the quintessential

like it reminds me of obviously this doesn't

apply to me because i've been to a lot of films

right like i go to the theater i used to go to

the theater a lot obviously not as much since

my daughter's been born but i'm sure that'll

start to pick up here soon but it's like the

quintessential story of someone that hasn't been

to the theater since the original he -man movie

in 1987 because And on my trip to the theater,

it basically what I came across is if I didn't

have a clue what I was doing. So I bought tickets

for this film. Once I knew that it was going

to be the Sunday that was going to be the day

that I was going to see it. We always buy our

tickets early because both the theaters near

me. I don't know. I think most theaters just

in general now allow you to pick your seats and

stuff like that. But at least that's how it is

near me. So I was like, OK, I got to get online

a little bit early, make sure we get our seats,

etc. So I bought our prototypical seats, which

are the back. all the way to the back and then

the middle two like that's what we always buy

and so i did that and we were all set to go there

hadn't been many tickets purchased at that point

so i figured we were good the movie was going

to start at four o 'clock today so i am definitely

coming right off the heels of this so we dropped

my daughter off at her grandparents house we

drive to the theater we actually went to a little

bit further theater there's a theater that's

somewhat closer that has nicer it's a nicer building

it's nicer seating etc but they also i didn't

think they were going to have any of like the

special merch and giveaways and anything like

that that may exist at like the amc so we went

to the amc which is a little bit further get

there uh we don't have to go to like the ticket

thing because i already have the tickets purchased

i just need to you know the qr codes on my phone

all that jazz so i go to the guy that scans the

the qr codes and he scans and he's like that

says no tickets and i was like well you can see

right here it says confirmation number it says

you know all the different things right it has

like my old amc number and all this stuff it

says two tickets like he scanned it like three

or four times he's like oh let me try it a couple

more times now then he's like well i can see

that it's there so if it doesn't work i'll just

let you in anyways i'm like okay this is weird

like i don't know why it's not scanning and then

we you know we get our stuff and we're supposed

to be in theater one show times four o 'clock

we get our snacks and whatnot we start walking

into theater one and we realized that oh we must

be here too early because it's still showing

the mandalorian movie and i was like and i was

checking my watch or my i don't have a watch

i was checking my phone and i was like well it's

kind of late for a film to still be going on

beforehand because we were there like at 3 45

ish 3 40 and the film's supposed to start at

four i'm like that's kind of weird and then i

look at my tickets again because i was like we

are maybe we're at the wrong auditorium i'm like

no it says one and then i look a little bit closer

and it's for next sunday not this sunday and

i was like how why would it come up next sunday

like i i for sure was looking for the seventh

like how could that i don't know if it just like

scrolled on me and i didn't realize it or when

i went to pick it it adjusted because when i

brought it up today afterwards when i was trying

to figure out how to fix this when i brought

the amc site up again it also defaulted to next

sunday and i was like so i went back to the guy

that was scanning i'm like well i figured out

why it wouldn't scan like my tickets are for

next sunday but i looked at today and there's

a showing at 4 15 can we just go into that one

and he's like well no because you picked your

seats and there might be somebody else in those

seats so then i had to go back to the ticket

desk they had to return my first two tickets

put them on a gift card, buy me two tickets for

today's pay for it with a gift card and then

get there. And meanwhile, like the clock's ticking,

right? Like it's getting closer to four 15. I'm

like, how did any of this happen? Like I am such

like the old man that doesn't know what I'm doing.

And now I've talked to like multiple people that

think I'm crazy. Cause I'm like, I don't know

why I won't scan my tickets and all this other

jazz, but we got to the right theater, which

was theater number two, instead of theater number

one. So then we're not even thinking at all because

now we're like, feeling like we're against the

time right like it's getting close to four ish

and the movie starts at 4 15 so we just like

grab our stuff go in there's like a few people

seated here and there and we sit down and like

the credits were rolling for the previous film

which was the masters of the universe and so

then the end credit sequence comes up and i like

had to quickly like shut my ears and my eyes

and whatnot yeah amanda watched but i couldn't

hear or see anything i saw like the first glimpse

and that was it and i'm like what this is just

a train wreck already like i can't wait to see

this movie now so it was uh it was an interesting

theater experience i did get the skeletor head

popcorn bucket they were sold out of the power

sword and the castle gray skull thing and i know

amc was doing like a like some sort of like tin

poster type thing i think they had sold out of

that or whatever so it wasn't that big a deal

but the skeletor head was fine that was enough

for me to like make up for it a little bit in

my wife got a like we were debating on whether

we were going to have the popcorn in it or not

yeah and she was very excited about eating out

of the skeletor head so she did that which worked

out though because then we dumped the whole bucket

and we were able to layer and like the butter

and the salt and whatever into the skeletor head

and then we just took the bucket back up and

got a refill on it and i had the bucket and she

had the skeletor head so i guess that worked

out but um So yeah, it was quite the experience.

Before we get into any thoughts on the movie,

was yours a little bit more smooth sailing? It

was, but it's funny that that happened to you,

because that didn't happen to me, but I had a

similar experience when I went to see Mandalorian

Grogu with my old son. We went the Friday it

opened, and it was a theater where instead of

Regal, and for some reason, I bought my tickets

ahead of time, and You go up and actually, like,

you get them scanned at the concessions. I think

it's probably just to, like, so that way you're

there and you'll want to buy concessions while

you're there, which, of course, we're going to

do. So we do that, get our concessions. And a

similar issue where it's, like, he's having difficulty,

like, he's, like, you know, scanning it. It's,

like, having trouble. He's, like, I don't know.

This thing doesn't scan all the time. And eventually,

you know, whatever. He's, like, I don't know.

I'll just put it in manually. And, like, he asks

me what I'm seeing. I'm, like, I'm seeing, you

know, Man of Lorraine Grogu. Theater one or whatever.

And he's like, okay. And he prints it out and

goes. So, go in. And it's, like, it's not a super

busy theater. But anyway, we walk over, go in.

And it's, like, a 7 o 'clock showing. And we

walk in at 7. Because I usually try to walk in

later with the kids. Because it's usually, like,

30 minutes of previews. Plus trailers. So, like,

7 is really 7 .30. So, I try to, like, get in

when it's, like. you know like when it's like

maybe get 15 minutes of previews um but it's

like no one's there nothing started yet like

none of the pre -show i'm like this is weird

uh so i'm like um all right so and and if we're

walking into what my son's like like the little

post on the outside he's like why is it show

i get what movie i'm like i don't know it's probably

i think that's just the advertisement and i walk

back out and And the guy's like, I'm like, is

this showing Mandalorian Grogu? He's like, no,

this is, the theater's actually broken. I'm like,

my ticket says theater one, though. He's like,

I don't know why that is. I'm like. It's like

you gotta talk to our manager. So I'm like, all

right. So I go to our manager and show her the

tickets. And she's like, Oh, this is for a different

theater. I'm like, I bought it for a different,

a different regal by accident. So I, and it was

weird. Cause like I usually, I wouldn't get,

I always get from that one. But for some reason,

when I went into the app that time, like it defaulted

to a different one other than my local one. I

didn't know. Yeah, so I was like, I'm stupid.

But luckily it was easy to fix. He just refunded

it. And similar issue, there was still tickets

available to the showing that was like, my son

was really worried. He's like, oh no, there's

not going to be tickets. But there was a showing

that was like 15 minutes. So it worked out fine.

But I was like, oh wow. In other words, we're

both old and we don't know how to use technology.

There was definitely a moment of miniature panic

in me that was like, we've already dropped off

our daughter at the grandparents house to babysit

like i'm going to check and there's going to

be no movie showing for the rest of the night

or not until like six or something like that

and it's going to be like a disaster but it was

you don't really get her to get like no so uh

then this theater i guess the entire back row

exists and then the next row only goes like halfway

so there's like we were in the second row that

was just like a half of a row. And I guess it

was next to like, I'm assuming some handicap

spaces and things of that nature. So we did have

people behind us, but it was fine. It was as

good as it could be. It was better than like

having to sit front row. Cause that would have

driven me bananas. So I'm not a front row sitter

at the movie theaters for sure. And I don't think,

I don't think Amanda can, I think that would

make her sick. um from like a motion standpoint

or something like that so it all worked out in

the end we got to see the film it was just 15

minutes uh later and then like i said i i don't

know i have my timing wrong because i just assumed

that because it was only 15 minutes till the

show time that it was uh good to go into the

theater it's weird though like like because that

is usually like 15 minutes it's still showing

the other one that that is cutting it really

close because usually you know like that's usually

when you go in you know so that's strange that

what's that like that their show times are so

truncated like that that's the other strange

thing about this theater was that there was nothing

on the outside like it just has a little thing

at the top of the door that says one and then

two and three and four there was no uh like thing

with like the digital words like the marquee

type thing there was no pictures there was no

there was no sign of what any of because at first

when i was like oh there's just a 415 one we'll

just walk and sit into that one yeah but i had

no way to figure out what auditorium it was playing

and so i was like i don't we can't just walk

into all of them there's like 16 theaters here

so that's what made me had to go back to the

ticket person and be like i was like at first

i was just like what auditorium is it we'll just

go into that one he's like no that doesn't work

i'm like well you make a good point so yeah nonetheless

yeah my Strip to Masters universe was a lot smoother.

We went to we did go to MC as well. I also did

get a buckethead You know, we didn't we did put

popcorn in it. Did you get the Skeletor one?

I did it was only one they had Did your does

yours the lights on the eyes work? They do Okay,

ours did not come on. So we got to look into

it I don't know if the batteries weren't working

or what but like I didn't like turn on Yeah,

I didn't even know that was a thing until, like,

my son figured it out. I'm like, I didn't know

those were lighting up, so that's cool. Yeah,

she was like, on the picture it says that there

shows lights, and she's like, it literally says

above it that it's a lighted head, and I'm like,

yeah, you have to pull its, like, jaw out, and

so we pulled it out and pulled the tab for the

battery and turned it on, and then, like, nothing

happened. Did you click the nose? You gotta click

the nose and it turns on. Oh, that's what it

is, then. She'll be happy when I figure that

out. Or when you figure it out for me. No, I

didn't figure it out. My oldest son did. Again,

I'm not going to tell you. That's what it takes.

We're too old, Dan. You need an 11 -year -old.

Too old for this. I went with both my kids. Because

I wasn't sure. So my 11 -year -old and my 6 -year

-old. Actually, now 7. So 11 and 7 both went

with me. We actually went to the IMAX. It's not

real IMAX. It's a FOMAX. Because it wasn't really

like I had to see it in IMAX. It was more so

that it was the showing. Because it was the earliest

showing. of the day so it's like we kind of worked

out and but yeah she did my daughter did watch

an episode of the uh filmation series he -man

the night before and she actually laughed and

she enjoyed it but i was pretty convinced that

this would scare her so i was like yeah i was

i was worried about my my my youngest because

like we've gone seen some things but nothing

like to this extent he's never watched any he

-man before like neither of them have so it was

going we they saw the trailers that was that

was it gotcha well if they if they liked it uh

you can i would suggest going to the 2002 series

next for them it's probably uh more their speed

or the or the netflix kevin smith one would both

be probably decent and then kevin smith one's

a little bit more mature the 2002 one's definitely

more mature than the filmation one but it's still

kid friendly so yeah it was the netflix one right

the kevin smith one Yeah, there's two of them.

There's one that Kevin Smith did, and then there's

one that's a lot more geared towards younger

audiences that I have not really seen much of.

They both kind of came out simultaneously. Well,

so the question is, with this being your most

anticipated, you went through all the rigmarole.

You saw the ending before the beginning. What

did you actually think of the movie? so it was

it was one of those interesting obviously like

i said i've been waiting decades for it it was

my most anticipated film uh of the year but i

also went in without very high expectations right

like it was one that like i know what the cartoon

is i know what the 1987 film was and it didn't

get good reviews obviously in 1987 i mean i still

think there's some stuff i really enjoy about

it and it just kind of can't be fun and whatever

it's like perfect 80s like sci -fi fantasy film

for me but i i definitely went in with like not

thinking this was going to be the end all be

all but i also went in like i guess cautiously

optimistic like travis knight's attached i've

been bumblebee is probably my favorite of the

modern transformer movies and obviously I really

liked his work with the animation of you know

like Kubo and the two strings and things that

he's done so I was like cautiously optimistic

about it I watched the trailer originally but

other than that I've basically stayed away like

I I knew a lot of people were going to be seeing

it first a lot of people in my like algorithms

from Facebook and Twitter and things like that

come up because it's kind of I've done a lot

of stuff in this universe and kind of in that

geek world. So like a lot of people were getting

like, obviously pixel Dan got to go to the premiere

in Hollywood and he was on set at one point.

And so I'm kind of living vicariously through

all those folks. But I, once it was like the

movie started and I knew all the embargoes were

lifted, I had stayed away. I was like, I'm not

going to see anything. I want to go in with his

open mind and nothing spoiled and whatnot. So

I will say that my general, like overall thought

coming out of the film. And this is very fresh.

Like usually I have more time to digest the films,

but I literally, this film ended like three hours

ago. So my first reaction was that I'm generally

positive on the film. There was a lot that I

liked, but it's not perfect. Like not that anything

would be perfect, but there was definitely some

things that I felt like weren't necessary or

some things that I kind of wish they hadn't done.

that didn't take away from just being able to

like sit back, enjoy a lot of the things that

I originally fell in love with the franchise

from when I was, you know, five to 10 years old

playing with the toys and watching the cartoon.

And I saw the 1987 film in theater. I think it

was the first, it might've been the second film

that I ever saw in theaters, but it was one of

the first few. So general positive. A lot of

nostalgia things, a lot of nods to the Filmation

series, a lot of nods to the live -action film.

There's even a couple nods to the 2002 series

and the Kevin Smith series, and a lot of things

where I appreciated what they were going for,

and I think Travis Knight overall handled it

well. I think there's a few things that I would

change to make it even a little bit better, but

I'm... I would definitely be up for more of these.

It doesn't seem like it's doing super well in

the box office. So I don't know if we'll get

that chance, but I also think that unlike some

films, the success of this and the ability to

possibly have sequels does not depend a hundred

percent on the box office. Like it's bringing

in a lot of other merchandise. It's bringing

in toy sales and stuff like that. So it really

depends on how the whole picture does like the

whole kit and caboodle versus just the film.

I worry because there's a bunch of heavy hitters

about to hit the theaters here in the next couple

weeks. So I don't think it's going to be able

to have as much legs. But generally, I've heard

mostly positive stuff from everybody I kind of

am associated with or that would come across

my feed. And I kind of agree with most of that.

So general positive thoughts. I can get into

more details in a little bit. But what was kind

of your first reaction? Yeah, so I'm going into

this, like I said. I missed Seaman growing up.

I didn't have any toys. I never really watched

the cartoon. And even the newer stuff. So I was

kind of going in not knowing much. I don't think

I... I don't know if I watched the original live

action. If I have, I don't remember much of it.

But I was interested because I thought the trailers

actually looked promising. And also because of

Travis Knight. I did like one movie, like you

mentioned. Really loved Kubo and the Two Strings.

It seemed like a good choice for this. And the

cast, honestly, the only person I knew from the

cast going in was Idris Elba. I didn't really

know anyone else. But I thought it was really

entertaining. My kids both really enjoyed it.

It did scare my youngest a little bit at times.

Especially in the little beginning, the opening

action sequence. I was like, oh, I don't know

if I'm going to be able to make this do. Because

he was covering his eyes and he was like... But

he kind of settled in. He was fine. So we were

able to make it through all the way. But it was

able to kind of blend. It did feel like a live

-action cartoon, but not necessarily in a bad

way, where it is self -aware without being a

self -parody. I can think some people would watch

this and feel like there's the Marvel. realization

of it in a bit where there's a lot of comedy

within the action there is that but i do think

it's more so understanding that like the ridiculous

nature of all this you know it kind of make you

know the way it introduces the names of the characters

for example i was curious like how it would do

that like and you don't realize at first what

it does and we'll get into that in spoilers because

i don't i think that's part of the fun with it

all i thought the casting Not knowing, like I

said, the main star of this, Nicholas, I don't

know how to pronounce his last name. I kind of

think his performance here, to me, is akin to

Chris Hemsworth in Thor, where he's trying to

work with a concept that is a bit ludicrous,

but he has both the comedic ability as well as

the ability to sell the action, which is not...

Easy to do. He's very charismatic. He has the

comedic timing. And he has a little bit of the

romance there as well, even though that's played

very light. So I thought he held his own, which

was not an easy part to play. And great villain.

One of the Skeletor, to me, steals the show.

I don't know how much of it is Jared Leto, how

much of it is the... visual effects and sound

effects, but man, you walk away from this thinking,

man, Skeletor is a great villain. And then the

surrounding cast is pretty good. Idris Elba gets

his time to shine and some of the other actors

as well. It's fun and it's enjoyable. Special

effects, I think... makes sense sometimes they're

i think purposely bad if you know and not like

in the idea of like being kind of like cheesy

80s in a way it sounds amazing the score is great

like the synth 80 score it leans into that in

a lot of ways and it's sad that it's not getting

like a like better uh overall box office and

i think it perhaps a reason for that i think

a fundamental mistake with this is that it could

have i think done better if it leaned into maybe

even being like a family film a bit more in the

sense of like i like obviously didn't have an

issue taking my kids to it but i know there's

people who if it's pg -13 they're not taking

a kid that's under 13 and uh and i think if anything

like this you know it's a it's a movie based

upon an 80s cartoon And I don't know why it was

PG -13, but my guess is probably because there

is some strong language. Not to sound like a

narc or anything, but I think you could remove

it and you don't lose anything and it doesn't

really add anything. And I think it's simply

there because I think the PG rating. studios

are scared by because they're like well teenagers

won't go but i don't think teenagers care about

he -man anyways so i don't know i think that's

the same i don't know if the same rules exist

as back in the back in the day there was a lot

of kids movies or kind of similar stuff to this

that would throw in a cuss word or a swear word

you know to get the pg rating because they didn't

want the g rating because before there was restraints

put on your film as far as when it could be shown

and you know what time of day and all that kind

of stuff if you were g compared to if you were

pg so they would do that to get like the better

rating i don't know if that's a thing anymore

and that's why they do that still or what but

i do agree because i think and i was thinking

about this a lot on the way home from the theater

was why certain films do well and why certain

films don't and like i don't think it's a statement

about he -man or a statement about that fandom

or anything like that it's more so like animated

films work because they're they work for the

whole family right yeah and because when you're

looking for something to take your kids to there's

usually only one choice at the theater at a time

occasionally too like there's usually not like

a plethora but when you get it where you're you're

more of a pg -13 or more of a you know a wider

audience now you have now you're competing against

everything right because it's not just one eight

admitted film and that's your only choice or

one again maybe two options like you have six

eight options at the movies at any time and in

order to be successful you still have to somewhat

like reach all the different audiences and you're

never going to do that you're usually never not

going to do that with something like this Because

it's not something that the female audience is

going to necessarily gravitate towards. And like

you're saying, it's not 100 % what the younger

child, like, you're not going to take your kids

to it, maybe. So I think the one that, like,

bucks the trend, because I was thinking about

that, like, going back, and there's a lot of

cases like this where the film doesn't do as

good for similar reasons. And if you're not appealing

or having kind of that broad appeal to all of

the different demographics, I think you're really...

in trouble except for it seems like for some

reason transformers was able to do that and i

don't you know what i mean like i get like sometimes

it's it's a big production where like the pirates

of the caribbean is able to do that star wars

is able to do that harry potter is able to do

that they have like a much bigger fandom right

like built in and harry potter's fandom does

include a lot of you know of the female audience

as well there's not many just guy -centric nostalgia

-based things like that can work on a wider scale.

I don't know how transformers was able to do

it like they did, but I think that's part of

it where it's not like everybody I know that

grew up with this is going or taking their kids

to it, but that's not enough to get like to the

level that you need to in our day and age to

be like a box office success. You have to have

everybody going and what's going to like bring

everybody out. And it's not going to be this,

I guess is like the lesson. Maybe. I don't know.

I think Transformers also benefited from having

Michael Bay, who at that time was a bankable

name. He did The Rock and Bad Boys, so his name

drew money. I think that certainly helped. And

I think also it's a concept that's an easier

sell, because it's like, oh... these things transform.

Like these are, you know, it's a big action set

piece, like big robots fighting. And it was something

that had never been like, how are they going

to pull this off on the big screen? Like how

are they going to make cars turn into robots?

And it looked, I think it looked a bit more real

world in a way where this clearly looked more

fantastic. Like they're wearing the same costumes

that they do. And, you know, for the, from what

I can, in a lot of ways. So I think that's probably

actually why I did well. Plus, you know, it's,

Whole different, you know, landscape of movies.

And I think, too, Transformers stayed in the...

Like you mentioned, it probably had a fandom

that was a bit larger and stayed within... Had

many more incarnations that were successful compared

to He -Man, where, like you mentioned, some of

the cartoons and things got canceled. It was

really popular, but I don't think it ever had

that apex. that it did before so and the reason

that the toys are still on the shelves is mostly

for the older collectors like it's not necessarily

a toy line that's being that's surviving off

of young people buying them right yeah maybe

maybe this movie line will do okay i don't know

um we'll see there is obviously a lot that i

was surprised because of just the sheer amount

of marketing i don't know if i've seen a film

marketed as intensely as this one in a long time

so i was thinking that like man they really put

the marketing behind this is going to do well

if it gets good word of mouth it is getting good

word of mouth like basically but unfortunately

it doesn't seem like it's uh making quite as

much plus it was expensive as i'll get out to

make so that doesn't i thought it'll probably

do great when it gets on you know it's yeah it's

tough it's it's hard to know why something does

great and something doesn't Apparently the Amazon

studio though, who obviously, you know, Amazon

MGM is, is who put this out and Mattel, uh, they're,

they've already issued a statement that was like,

I basically like, yeah, everybody's downing it

because it's not making a bunch of money, but

they were like, we're actually totally fine with

how it's doing. They're like, this is just part

of bringing this franchise to, you know, the

public and brazen awareness. And it's part of

a longer multifaceted like plan. that involves

more than just the movie. So I guess they're

not necessarily down on it. Not like, you know,

beating down the doors from a box office standpoint.

So maybe there's still hope. I don't know. I

would like to see another one at least. Yeah.

Maybe if they do, you know, the next one will,

I don't know that it hopefully goes direct to

streaming, but maybe there's a, you know, who

knows what their direction is. And maybe they

understand like, this will do this. Well, then

I'll get out. get more play on, you know, Prime,

and then maybe the sequel will do even better.

There's possibilities there. It's hard to tell.

Yeah, what else I could tie into it, yeah. Yeah.

Do you want, but yeah, I think overall, like,

you're a He -Man fan. You went in hoping, you

know, with, hoping it did well, and it generally

meant you're, you know, you had a good time.

I went in not being a fan of He -Man and enjoyed

it a great deal. whilst my kids did. So like,

if like I said, I asked you how the kids, how

the kids liked it. They, they both did my, my

youngest. Certainly. I think it was a bit long

for him. There were certainly times by the end

where he's like, but like once, you know, there

was like when it gets a little bit slow and it

was a bit like, I was like, I think cause it's,

it's, it's long. I think that's my biggest criticism.

I think it, it, it could have cut out a good

amount. Like this movie did not need to be as

long as it is. It, I think there's like a perfect,

like, 90 hour, 45 minute version of this film

where they kind of, kind of focus on some of

the key elements and maybe there's, I think some,

some scenes that could have been slimmed down

or completely removed and you would have been,

you would have been a okay. And again, my idea,

like, I think you would probably done better

too. And then maybe you would have been better

off because you wouldn't have gotten to a theater

where the ending was showing already. But, but

yeah, like I said, it's not like, It's going

to be my favorite movie of the year, but I'm

generally glad I went to enjoy it, and it is

one I could see myself going back. It's like

my kids enjoyed it, liked it, but it's also,

I can always tell how much they like a movie

because I'm like, hey, did you like it? Like,

yeah, we had a good time, we enjoyed it, but

they also aren't talking about it that much compared

to, like, my son when we went to see. and lorian

grogu and he was talking about it the whole time

and then like watching videos about it and stuff

like that hadn't hasn't had that impact on it

but maybe if we watch it again perhaps so yeah

yeah i i think you pointed out a couple things

that are non -spoiler that i can talk about too

like i do agree with you i think the cast is

is well done well put together i think the performances

are i was a little worried about a couple of

them which i'll like i was skeptical of allison

brie as eva lynn And for some reason, I just

didn't know if I liked the look and I didn't

know if it like fit for me. Obviously, Jared

Leto was always a question mark. So he comes

with some baggage and things like that. So but

none of them really bothered me at all. Like,

I think they all they all performed the roles

rather well. And that was a nice surprise that

I didn't get hung up on any of those. I thought

Camila Mendes was phenomenal as Tila. Like, I

thought she was a highlight because Tila has

been a character that hasn't like the cartoon

version of Tila is annoying. yeah like it's not

one of the best cartoon characters and it's always

been one of my least favorite characters in the

franchise and i actually quite enjoyed her character

in this so like that was that was nice i think

the action sequences for the most part were done

really well i think there's you know an opening

big time action pack sequence and then it seemed

like they were fairly well paced throughout there's

you know a couple other ones throughout and then

obviously a few showdowns between a few different

characters that we'll get into but man in arms

is involved with one and he man's involved with

a couple and i thought the action was was done

well there was a few different techniques especially

in that last one that i could see maybe not working

for everybody but i generally enjoyed the action

i am not a soundtrack or a music person when

it comes to my films i i do love music but i'm

not someone that usually like focuses in on it

or really notices it as much in films but i generally

enjoyed the soundtrack and the musical score

and the ways that they were able to to weave

in some of the classic themes and different things

like that it definitely at one point had kind

of like a gardens of the galaxy type moment or

like a star trek the the more modern one where

they you know i think the star trek one uses

what beastie boys and gardens of the galaxy is

a bunch of songs like they had that moment as

well which was fine like i thought the music

was well done so I enjoy that one thing that

is more of a nitpicky thing for me just as someone

that really enjoys the franchise that always

bothers me in films like this is I get it if

you're kind of going back to a franchise or you're

you're rebooting or making something off of a

franchise there are at times where you need more

numbers than what you had so like I don't mind

having like these nameless faceless like foot

soldiers or stormtroopers like that type of thing

like we see in star wars or you know like obviously

teenage mutant turtles just works that in there's

always foot soldiers so you always kind of have

that this didn't really exist in the he -man

world but i don't mind that you need bigger armies

so like that part's fine it always bugs me a

little bit though when you have like an abundance

of characters to choose from like there's always

this need that they feel to like create their

own characters that are like just specific for

this movie. And I don't know why that bothers

me, but it does. And, but they do it in every

franchise for, it seems like all eternity. Like

they did it in the 1987 film. They did it in

the Transformers films. Like that's just something

they do, but it does bother me when you're like,

you had like dozens of characters to choose from

that could have played that role. Like why, why

create a new one? so that's just the nitpicky

fan of me like there's a a female in this film

called uh what was her name diane diane um who's

like a bully to a young adam and then she continues

to like that's a completely made -up character

never existed in any of the franchise ever before

that and i get maybe you needed like another

like quote -unquote human type character but

it's stuff like that where it's like we couldn't

have put somebody else in there or like there's

some different like villains and creatures that

are like who is that supposed to be somebody

i know because it has me guessing that i'm like

this is a character i'm supposed to know that

just doesn't quite look like the character i'm

used to or is this a completely made -up character

and there's a few of those i mean they do do

a good job of sprinkling in a lot of like more

obscure characters from the cartoon and from

the fan and franchise like there's goat man and

there's pig boy and there's like some of these

characters that had really super minor parts

that they're get some time to shine here so like

that's cool but there's some of the other ones

where i'm just like i wish i could have seen

more of the characters that i knew versus like

a completely made up one but those are just like

minor non -spoiler nitpicks i have is there anything

else from a non -spoiler standpoint that you

either liked or didn't like i kind of think We're

going it's funny because as I was watching this

this is how much I didn't know is where I'm like

I was waiting for the thing to be revealed that

Camila Mendes's character was She -Ra I'm like,

oh she gonna become She -Ra. Is that like her

character? I didn't really I didn't know if Tila

I didn't know Tila was an actual character because

I didn't know I didn't actually watch the show

cuz I'm like there's a There's a female in He

-Man and that's She -Ra but apparently there's

more so I had no idea No, I mean trying to think

of an epic like Like I said, I do think, like

I mentioned, I think generally, if anything,

I think it could be cut down a bit. There are

a lot of characters, but I never feel like, you

know, it is generally, I mean, it is He -Man's

story. So it never feels like it gets away from

that too much. And I do think it kind of can

have its cake and eat it too a bit. Like I mentioned,

there are times where the special effects are

a bit shaky. I'm like, is that the point here?

Because it's, you know, it's kind of echoing

the 80s series, so it works. But I also, it is

weird sometimes with, I mentioned how it's, like,

self -aware but not a self -parody. When it does

that at first, like, it's a bit weird because,

like, you're in this tense action sequence and

then it kind of, like, has a joke. I think that

the first time that it happens is, I think, from

what I can remember, is in the opening action

sequence where, Have all this tense battles.

It's all going on. And then Skeletor is, like,

doing his, like, laughing. And, like, he makes

a joke. And it kind of comes out of nowhere in

a bit. Like, he's, like, basically making a joke

about, like, him laughing all the time. I can't

remember exact context. But it becomes very,

like, comedic for a moment. And that was, like,

weird at first. So, like, some of those things,

I think, could throw some people off. Because

the tonal shifts do happen. yeah pretty pretty

pretty rapidly and sometimes i think maybe it

could go a bit too far with it but generally

i thought it was a good way of being able to

like recognize like this is a bit ridiculous

but also right not but also still kind of keeping

it straight in a way it's i don't know it was

it was a very tight rope that was able to walk

and it maybe didn't always you know land it but

more often than not it did yeah that was something

that I was very curious going into it because

obviously it's trying to show reverence to a

lot of different stuff that came before it I

guess is the best way to put it like it's trying

to homage or be referential to some of the stuff

and and the thing is with all of those series

they all have a lot of different tones right

like the Kevin Smith series is very serious like

it's it's more for adults like the 1987 film

was much more no nonsense and less comedic whereas

the series that it was based off of the filmation

cartoon the original one was very campy right

it was like very cheesy very campy like skeletor

is oftentimes calling his minions names and and

laughing and there's you know a lot of that aspect

there's a character that's not really too present

in this film that that brings a lot of comedic

relief to the original one so it was i was curious

like how they were going to balance all the different

series and all the different tones of that and

i knew that they were going to do a lot that

was more so based on the original filmmation

series but then it was like well how do you do

that and if you do that do you just make like

the straight comedy in in some respects or do

you blend it with like the serious tones and

some of the dramatic and the action and stuff

so i was curious how they were going to handle

all those tonal shifts i don't mind i could see

it jarring for for some especially those not

used to the the world i didn't find it jarring

to me as far as the fact that they were interjecting

the comedy and then going back to action and

then having serious moments all kind of intermixed

the only part i found jarring was how far they

went with some of it yeah i i know we're talking

about kind of like walking that tightrope and

i think for the most part they did but there

was a few things where i felt like okay like

you can be self -aware but like you're saying

like let's not parody it to to a certain point

like i feel like with the naming like the way

they do that at first i get and some of the stuff

especially towards the end there's a like some

name reveals at the end that like i totally get

and i i think that's a clever way to do it because

the naming of these characters is silly, right?

Like the name of these toys and these characters

from the original series is a lot of them are

kind of ridiculous. So I like that they kind

of make mention of that, but there was two characters

and one specifically that they probably beat

into the ground a little bit too much. So that

part was like, okay, like you've made the joke.

I don't need the joke six times. Yeah. And then

the other thing that my wife kept looking at

me was like, I don't know. I get you're trying

to like, and maybe this is just the old man in

me and I'm not in tune with like a younger audience

and maybe that's geared towards them. But the

number of sexual innuendo jokes in here. Oh,

there was a lot. Yeah. Was like every time it

happened, she looked at me and she was like,

why? Like, what are they doing? Like, why did

they do that? Or why did they say that? Like.

this is something that we're supposed to be feeling

good taking our kids to, right? Like, you know,

dads that grew up with this are wanting to take

their sons to it. And like, I don't want to have

to explain any of those jokes to any kids, you

know what I mean? Like, or, or attempt that joke.

So I was like the sexual innuendos I could have

done without. And I, maybe that makes me like

a square or whatever phrase that people call

people that are like, uh, not willing to kind

of go that route. But I just, I guess in a He

-Man movie, I don't need. talking about things

that are hanging between muscular thighs and

um you know some of the other word choices that

they use yeah that one that was that one was

like i'm like okay you're just that was pretty

explicit uh right there so i was like okay um

yeah that one was a little bit surprising but

i think it was perhaps because it was such a

chaotic sequence that they thought that they

could kind of get away with it i guess I don't

know. I mean, the transformers did it too. Like

I get it. Like they had some, you know, parts

hanging from parts that I, I, yeah. And I would

say at least there was, uh, it wasn't, somehow

it wasn't as blatant as transformers, but it

was getting close. So, yeah. And the other thing

that I was worried going into this, and this

is not really spoiler territory, but I always

worry about the earth versus the, in this case,

Eternia. Like, yeah, I, especially when it comes

to this because the 1987 film spent the majority

of their time on Earth and it was one of the

biggest things that people kind of were upset

about and felt like it wasn't really a He -Man

movie because it spent so much time on Earth.

Transformers has done that. They've had a lot

of critiques that they spend so much time on

Earth versus Cybertron and things of that nature.

So I was worried because obviously you see in

the trailers that there is going to be an Earth

factor. I'm not, I wasn't up in arms of it because

I did know that, you know, the, the queen, her

storyline in the original cartoon is that she

is from earth. Like, so there is a connection

there that's not just completely made up, but

I was kind of curious how much time they're going

to spend on earth and things of that nature.

I thought they did that. Well, I thought they,

you know, they go there, they do what they need

to do. And then they basically immediately spend

a majority of the film in Eternia. That being

said, when you're talking about kind of shrinking

down the film a little bit or cutting some minutes

off. like maybe it's too easy but there is even

though they don't spend a whole lot of time on

earth there was some of that that i didn't need

like you can remove his roommate from the film

it doesn't affect anything like in my mind like

that character could disappear and and no nothing

is going to be either better or worse for it

like i get some of the hr angle and his job on

earth i think maybe at times they might have

gone a little bit too far with that when he's

always trying to have like talking points with

all the the people on Eternia to like get them

from an HR standpoint to like back up what he's

doing yeah some of that I could have done without

so I feel like there were some easy like minutes

here and there that could have been shaved on

that time but overall I did appreciate like the

ratio of Eternia to Earth myself yeah I never

I was a little worried about that too like when

you get to Earth It's like, oh, no. Is he going

to be a kid at Earth? A family finds him. It's

like, how long is it going to be until he gets

to Earth? And I was also worried, like, how long?

I was like, oh, is he not going to be He -Man

until the last battle? That was also a concern

of mine as well. Luckily, that's not the case.

So I thought, you know, we got enough He -Man

in the He -Man movie as well. Yes. So, Dan, should

we get into some more? Yeah, let's get into spoilers,

sir. All right, so that's your warning. If you

haven't seen the movie, you should probably stop

the record now and come back and listen after

you've seen it. So we are going to get into some

spoilers. So where should we start, Dan? So you

mentioned the character that they brought in

that's not from the movie. Is that like the monster

that goes to Earth? Is that the one you're talking

about? No, most of them exist. Like most of the

ones that get main parts are characters from

the series. So you get like... beast man is the

one that comes to earth like that's straight

out of the cartoon trap jaw who has the main

fight with man at arms is straight from the movie

you get a little bit of triclops you don't get

a lot of like time with him and i don't know

if he hardly he's might have a few lines but

he's the one with the eyes that change like that's

from the movie spike or is like a little bit

less of a known not less known but he's less

centered in the cartoon but he gets quite a bit

of time in this one with all the different purple

spikes that he keeps getting stuck on and then

we have goat man and pig boy who are very obscure

characters that they they kind of got in here

uh one of those has like the red with the the

horns coming out that he -man tears off at one

point and and pig boy is kind of uh the one that

wakes up skeletor so those guys get some minor

roles obviously evil lynn is main as well it's

more so like the ones especially from the master

standpoint where they are multiple times where

they're in like for example when they're in snake

mountain and in the the jail dungeon and everybody's

captured adam's been thrown in there you know

we have man -at -arms and teela in there the

queen's in there and then you have like a variety

of characters that he's like trying to motivate

to have this moment and i would say 80 of them

are just like nonsense made up like random characters

which i get you're gonna have some of that but

i was like oh there was a chance to kind of throw

some easter eggs in and have like a few characters

that we they didn't need to talk they didn't

need to be named but like have some of those

in the background so to speak and then that that

royal guard the female that was like along with

tila and adam when they were young like that

was obviously completely made up character for

this film so it was just more of those kind of

moments like there's times where he's like you

know and whatever that is when he points to the

alien being or whatever which is from the trailer

like they could have made that a real a real

character like i guess is kind of where i was

at with some of that it wasn't a major like nothing

major it was just like a minor like oh i feel

like we missed a chance to like have a few people

in the background that like we would have been

like oh i know who that is even though maybe

nobody else does so just like some easter eggs

i guess that i was like oh we missed an opportunity

there but otherwise for the most part the ones

that they actually give time to The ones that

speak, the ones that get like main action sequences

are all there and all existed in the original

one. And one of them was from the 1987 film,

which I thought was cool because it was one of

the characters that was strictly created for

that film that was not from the original cartoon.

And that was one of the main bad guys at the

end that has like kind of has like an old looking

face and he has a hook on his hand. um that character

was from the 1987 film so i did think it was

cool that they they kind of made a nod to that

as well i wonder if like the reason they didn't

include like characters in the background was

just maybe because like they don't want to you

know waste them in that way that's true that's

true he did say that you know if there was a

sequel that he already knows which characters

he would want and like this that and the others

so like i guess there is that like we got to

save some for potential extra movies yeah maybe

Or even like a rights thing, because I know there

was... Obviously, She -Ra does... I guess this

question, you saw the end credit scenes. Did

you stay to watch them when you actually watched

the movie? There's three, quote -unquote, there's

a pre -credits, mid -credits, and end -credits

sequence here. And the only one that I saw before

the movie started was the final, final one, the

end -credits sequence, where Skeletor's... skull

is being picked up by Eva Lynn so all I saw was

the skull sitting on the ground and then I was

able to close my eyes and ears and I didn't see

the rest of that it's a fairly short sequence

that's somewhat inconsequential it's the classic

you know the bad guy's not done and he's gonna

like return which is exactly what happened in

the 1987 film he gets I can't remember what happened

it's been a while since I saw that he's somewhere

and he he's able to like stick his hand up kind

of like shredder and be like you know i'm he

hasn't seen the last of me type stuff so that

was fine i i knew nothing about the other two

though so those two were complete surprises for

me and i know one thing that a lot of folks were

going into the film wondering was will cringer

slash battle cat talk that was one of the big

things that people were debating going into the

film or will cringer turn into battle cat will

orco show up because he wasn't present in any

of the trailers and will there be any references

to shira slash adora a he -man's twin sister

so those are things that were like all the questions

going into this and obviously we see some of

it during the movie because we do see cringer

talk immediately that happens almost immediately

i think in the first sequence or second sequence

and then we do get to see him turn into battle

cat and all of that so you do get that and then

obviously like for me the last i don't know 15

minutes plus the end credit sequences is just

pure nostalgia and like nods to fans so like

it made a lot of the other things that i was

like oh i didn't really like that part like kind

of disappear for that last 15 minutes was just

like pure like joy um so obviously we get we

get orca with the psa at the in the pre -credits

which is perfect because all the he -man cartoons

always had the psa at the end So it was fun seeing

him and seeing that and being able to like, oh,

they did pull off having him because he was one

of the big complaints from the 1987 film was

Orko didn't exist because I don't know if they

just couldn't figure out how to do it. There's

a lot of things that get blamed on technology

for the 1987 film, even though Star Wars had

already happened. So it's like a lot of this

can happen. Maybe it was a cost of it happening.

So Orko doesn't appear because they didn't know

how to pull it off in 1987. So they created like

a. a completely different character to be in

place of orco because orco bring brought a lot

of the comedy to the original cartoon so there's

a character named guildor in the 87 film that

kind of substitutes as that comedic relief so

it was nice to see that they kind of had that

little nod to orco and then the mid -credit scene

is obviously like one that like you know all

fanboys probably marked out for or whatever when

you get to see like the sequence with man -at

-arms and and the queen talking about you know

that she had lost hope we've never seen them

both and you know obviously man -at -arms says

you know there's still hope for her and then

we get cut to a sequence of the the transition

of force captain adora into shira standing there

and and right in front of a picturesque perfect

fright zone which is where hordak lives so like

that was all awesome which is why we need a sequel

but we'll see Because if they do She -Ra and

Hordak in a sequel, that's everything that fans

have wanted. Because She -Ra's never been on

the big screen. I know it's something we didn't

talk about when we were not talking about spoilers,

but I did like the fact that it was also trying

to say something about masculinity, what it means,

and seeing this guy trying to basically, what

does it mean to be a hero, and where does that

come from? basic idea, but again, it's a basic

idea that it's clearly self -aware of, and it

does sound like a lesson you would get from an

80s cartoon, and I think that makes sense. Again,

I think it's a way of telling that story within

the context of a movie like this that works.

What did you think of the Dolph Lundgren cameo?

I appreciated that. I mean... Dolph Lundgren's

an interesting cat right like he was obviously

He -Man in the original film and during the time

he did not say a whole lot of nice things about

He -Man and being in that he felt like it was

uh in interviews it came across as if he felt

like He -Man was beneath him and he didn't necessarily

love doing the film and this that and the other

but I think over time he's changed his tune on

that and like come to appreciate like what role

he had in that kind of cult classic and fan favorite

fandom or whatever so i i did like that he he

showed up but i don't know like i don't know

if his advice was like that earth shattering

or whatnot like it was good like obviously they

make a call back later to it and he's dolph lundgren

so he does dolph lundgren things but like i enjoyed

seeing him seeing him either way so so it was

fun um what about you were you prepared for that

i i wasn't expecting it to be such like to be

so blatant and be actually kind of like go on

for as long as it did. Yeah. In the sense, you

know, because we've seen Cammy. Yeah. Where it's

like, you know, it's and it's and it's so direct,

obviously, because it's like, you know, for the

new guy. And it reminded me of it's not it's

not exact the same way. But when. George Lazenby

became James Bond. His opening sequence, he makes

a reference like, oh, this never happened to

the other guy. Kind of like breaking the fourth

wall of it. It's kind of what happened here.

I would have preferred if Adam was just trying

to bench press or something. Maybe he was struggling

with a set and somebody comes over and spots

him for a second and it's just Dolph Lundgren

and then they don't even say anything. yeah or

he's just like you know hey let me help you with

that and like or we've all been there or something

like that yeah gone and gone about his way but

it was interesting you bring up kind of like

the some of the more thematic elements of you

know what he man is representing and obviously

they talk a little bit about you know how all

the champions of greyskull prior to this were

ruled by brute strength and physicality and like

how this individual you know adam was different

and he brought more you know empathy and and

all of those other elements to it and was why

he was chosen so i think that was good and i

think they do like do a decent job of ref they

don't necessarily reference the episodes but

they show him learning some of the things that

he did straight out of episodes from the original

filmation cartoon like there's a one of the episodes

that's i believe it's titled problem with power

or something of that nature is basically adam

learning that this power that he wields now he

can't just use haphazardly right like there's

consequences for using power with no respect

for what can happen and the repercussions of

of that right like you can't just throw a tree

at something without seeing like that it's hitting

a house and that there's kids inside or you know

what i mean like just something simple like that

like like there's an episode that kind of goes

into that and and it kind of shows that and and

he you know obviously has to learn that lesson

a little bit uh i guess dramatically they don't

spend a lot of time really like dwelling on it

but it is his action of fighting with almost

no restraint that leads in a way to his father's

death like yeah he has to learn that lesson kind

of on the fly right here that's like oh i can't

just be like crazy with it and you know he he

has the power to use might and muscle when necessary

but i like that they show that he's not someone

that wants to resort to that first like yes if

my back's against the wall and i have to do what

i have to do i'm going to do it but if not i'm

going to try to like diplomatically come to a

solution or reason out with people and that may

come across silly a couple times in the film

but I do like that they showed a couple different

layers to him versus just like this masculine

man's man or whatever and they did it in a way

that I don't think is a lot of people had problems

with the Kevin Smith series because they felt

like he the way that they kind of did the same

thing was maybe extreme and that they they just

really went pro tila across the board and made

adam into someone that like barely ever turned

into he -man and kind of lost some of his power

i didn't agree with that take but that was something

that the that series got kind of railed on for

so i thought they did it a little bit more carefully

here and and with a little bit more thought i

guess interesting what did you think of the you

know the the final sequence obviously with skeletor

and work you know i guess it gets a bit weird

like we get a lot of we get we get like middle

management skeletor you know we get him like

all those different i felt like at times there

were like scenes where i'm like i feel like they're

just doing this for the gifs and like the memes

because like uh you know just like this because

this will look funny but what did you what did

you think of that sequence where you know we

it's a little bit like in the head of Adam or

He -Man or whatever you want to call him. I think

on one side, that's probably another opportunity

for them to have shaved some time off. I felt

like some of it went a little bit long with the

number of different elements. They have Skeletor

as the roommate and they have him as the date

at the restaurant and they have him as his boss.

I don't know if we needed every one of them.

At the same time, did i laugh at skeletor being

in a hooded sweatshirt and like talking to you

know whatever and then being like the corporate

guy like all of those sequences i guess were

funny to see skeletor like that but there was

that entire sequence i felt like ran a little

long and it was also brought on by like a weird

choice of having he -man get stabbed with a sword

in a way that's like i don't know you come back

from that like he's i get that it's all mythical

fantasy and and how they explain it away but

part of me was like well that's something we've

never seen before so like it was an odd setup

to that moment and then at the same time i'm

watching all of those little montage things i'm

like what are they doing to get out of this so

i don't know like that whole sequence wasn't

my favorite sequence, but like a couple of the,

I did laugh at a couple of the skeletal moments

for sure. Yeah. It, you know, I guess I appreciate

it at least like, okay, let's try to do something

that's not just him punching. So, yeah, I, so

I appreciated that, but I do agree. Maybe went

on for a bit, like I'm like, okay, we can maybe

speed this up a bit, but I wanted to ask you

about the action since we're kind of talking

about, which leads to an action sequence, right,

right after that, because one thing that, my

wife and i were talking about on our trip to

pick my daughter up was it's another one of those

things like where are they going to balance the

tone and like the the violence right like are

they going to go full on and have people die

and show blood and have he -man kill somebody

or different things like that because obviously

that never happened anywhere um or are they going

to make it all more cartoon violence and things

of that nature and i think at times they they

did different things right like There was a lot

of cool action sequences that don't necessarily

end up with any blood or death or anything like

that. But then there's a couple other moments

where you get to, you do see that, like there's

a few appearances of blood. You do get He -Man

stabbed in the, you know, impaled in the, in

the stomach or whatever you want to call it.

You do have a character that gets, you know,

Mossman that gets completely annihilated by,

by Skeletor and killed. You do have King Randor

killed. And then some of the action was also

treated differently. Like you have that. sequence

with Man -at -Arms and Trap Jaw which is a pretty

intense I thought well shot and executed choreographed

action sequence you do have a similar one with

He -Man and Trap Jaw on kind of that bridge type

situation and then you have obviously a couple

with He -Man and Skeletor and they did something

different with the last one the final one between

He -Man and Skeletor because they do all of these

like slow motion almost like comic book frame

style where it's like the slow -mo punch and

then skeletor's jaw going different ways and

like it was a completely different style that

they used to shoot that last action sequence

i'm not saying good better indifferent i'm just

saying it was different um what did you think

of the way they handled the different action

sequences and how they treated like what level

of violence we're going to show or not show at

different times about date I didn't have any

issues with the violence. I thought it was, you

know, it never felt gratuitous or to the point

where it was uncomfortable, even with, like,

my kids there. Like, it felt like it was fine.

Like, perhaps the mosque gets killed, but I think

sometimes that's okay. You know, it's okay to

have death in movies and to showcase that within

this. As the movie says, if the guy has a skulls

ahead, he's probably the bad guy. It demonstrated

that. I thought the action, like you said, the

style did vary. I thought it was always easy

to tell what was happening. It was entertaining

and fast -moving for the most part. You had the

fun sequence where you have He -Man literally

picking up a guy and hitting him. hitting him

with other guys so that was keeping it varied

and like that's kind of the hard thing too when

you have a lot of people that generally have

like a lot of powers that are very i'm not similar

but like you have ran man generally he just rams

and then as the movie points out fisto he fits

things so how do you i think they pointed that

out yeah that was that joke they did run into

the ground a a bunch uh so but i thought the

action was overall done well it wasn't like jaw

-dropping amazing or anything like that but i

thought it was effective and well lit and i think

that's also helps because it was like it wasn't

overly dark you know or so nice to see you know

like or grayed out or anything like that it was

bright and uh very uh clear which is not always

the case with blockbusters today yeah for sure

they like to go super dark i i appreciate it

i thought that like i think you brought up a

couple points like the lighting's good and i

think it's easy to follow you know what's happening

even in the massive group fights like i don't

think you completely lose track of what's happening

or kind of what direction you're going and whatnot

and i thought those worked out fairly well um

yeah and you know you get you get a the sequence

with them flying those different ships and things

like that so you know i think again if anything

i do think it could have some of them did go

on for a bit like long like the the flying sequence

with as they're trying to escape i'm like okay

like this like i felt like eventually and there's

also felt like there are elements that they're

gonna pay off that never really they it never

really did like him being a bad driver. Like,

is that like a, is that a callback to the cartoon

or something like that? Cause like he, you know,

we, we see him driving for some reason he's bad

driving and then they bring that up again. And

then that never comes up again. So I thought

that was going to come back, but it never did.

But I didn't know if that was a reference to

like, no, not that I can remember. I do like

that in that one sequence, I agree. It probably

went on too long, but I do like that once they

are kind of, crash landed and they're kind of

camping out for that one point that there's a

moment where he man lifts up the ship or whatever

for tila to grab something that's stuck under

it or whatever i do appreciate that they reference

and have he man reference that hey this is heavy

like yeah like can you grab whatever you're trying

to grab because i think oftentimes in the cartoon

it came across as if everything was like light

as a feather for him and i get that he's like

the strongest person on you know in the universe

and this that and the other and he can do all

this stuff and i think they did a good job of

showing that strength without making it seem

like everything was weightless so like and and

having him still struggle to do some of the stuff

even though he can do it like obviously he grabs

like the one ship with his bare hands like the

the cutty the the roton which cuts up everything

on the on the circle like that's kind of a cool

moment they show his strength there They show

his strength with a lot of the fights he's in,

but I do appreciate that he made that comment

that's like, hey, this is kind of heavy. Can

you please get that? I appreciated that. Yeah,

and I thought, too, it was a good progression

of, like I mentioned, I was worried that he was

like, oh, man, he's not going to be He -Man to

the very end. Like, you know, when he first finds

the sword and he does the... yeah i had the power

and like my first worry too was like oh no you're

talking about them being on earth too much like

the thing is going to be like that's actually

a replica stored and the real sword is someplace

else and like something like that but that sequence

on earth too with with beast man kind of coming

towards him that probably could have been shaved

by a few minutes as well yeah it does go on a

bit like those sequences are just like okay like

we got the point like let's move to the next

let's get from a to b Also, I do feel like it

does, like, everyone has to be, has, like, comedic

lines. Like, the cops that come pick him up,

like, they're, like, you know, making jokes,

and, like, the one female cop is bad at it for

some reason. I don't know. It's just one of those

things. He's like, yeah, you're, like, Highlander.

It's like, okay. I don't know. It was just one

of those things. It's like, I don't know why

they just, they have to have personalities, too,

but whatever, I guess. You know, you need a joke

here for something. But what I was going to say,

I thought I did like the progression of him learning

how to become He -Man. It doesn't happen too

slowly, but at least there is a bit of him figuring

it out. And you can see him learning how to utilize

the power. Even within that sequence, I thought

it went too long. Eventually, he's like, you

know what? I'm just going to... i'm just gonna

use my hands and pick this up and throw it because

that's that's easier uh or like when he you know

i one of my favorite lines was like i ripped

the guy's arm off and like and shot people his

friends with it or something like that like that's

like that's that is the kind of the marvel thing

of like often just like describing what you did

but in that sequence i thought it did well it

was definitely a few moments where it went farther

than you're used to in the cartoon where he rips

crab jaws hands off where he rips the uh goat

man's like horns off before he stabs him and

punches him off of the entire yeah that's probably

a part of where they got that pg3 chain rating

as well so yeah for sure but there's definitely

some stuff where he's actually tearing limbs

off and things of that nature where i'm like

oh okay we're going there and that's fine he

is he is human for sure but right what did you

think of cringer slash battle cat uh i don't

know like i don't think we got enough of him

like i didn't really understand like he he definitely

disappears for a long time and then he comes

back And then it seems like he's scared. This

is his thing. But he also isn't. It's hard to

get a beat. I felt like there wasn't enough to

really have an opinion because he doesn't really

have much interaction with He -Man per se. And

then you're told, you're kind of given this idea

that they have this relationship, but you don't

really see much of it. and then I don't feel

like we ever really get a sense of what that

character's personality is. You mentioned wanting

armor and stuff like that, or not wanting to

fight, so you get a bit of that, but then he

does anyways. Right. In the cartoon, especially

the Filmation cartoon, Cringer, the name is appropriate,

right? He is the biggest scaredy cat in the world.

He never wants to be involved, and he knows whenever

Adam's going to transform into He -Man that he's

going to transform. cringer into battle cat and

he's always trying to hide from it and like get

out of it or be like oh you don't need to do

that so like that's kind of the background of

it but i feel like they didn't quite know how

to like balance that because they we do see him

as battle cat with the armor later but we never

get a we never get like a distinct separation

between his two personalities so it was kind

of weird how they were trying to like balance

that and like there was times where he came across

scared but then he's still doing the fighting

but they didn't like there was no distinguishing

like no you're like a new character now which

is i guess there's not a huge amount of distinction

between adam and he -man and this i mean obviously

he becomes stronger in different uniform and

and gear and all that kind of stuff but you don't

get like that they're two different people as

much yeah you know what i mean Yeah, I do think

it's funny how they try to have to hide his physique

by putting him in a pink shirt that's a little

baggy. So you're like, oh yeah, he's clearly

a weakling. He's clearly very fit and well put

together, but whatever. That was a nod, too,

to the film agent, Adam, because he's always

in a pink shirt. Yeah, that one I did pick up.

That one I knew at least I'm not about. But I

thought at least they handled the sense of...

they were able to use the same person for both.

Yeah. And they did feel like they did look like

different people. Like I was kind of making a

joke, but like legitimately it did look like

he got like a bigger, you know, he became more

muscular. So I don't know. Like he got the Farrah

Fawcett hair, hair treatment when he becomes.

Yeah. Yeah. What it wasn't as a drastic as like,

you know, Chris Evans, of course, like becoming

captain America, but it was, it was, it was a

decent transformation, but no, anything else

you had, you want to talk about? Just from a

fanboy standpoint, I'll point out a couple things

to look for if you're going back to try to see

the movie a second time or whatever. There's

a cool little brief moment that I missed on the

first watch until I pulled up and watched the

end credit sequences again. But the first pre

-credit sequence with Orko, one of my favorite

villains who is not in the movie at all, appears

in the background. So Merman is standing in the

background for some reason. So I was like, oh,

Merman made it into the movie. So that was cool,

even though. you know you'd really have to look

carefully to uh to see him so i did enjoy that

i really enjoyed the moment where skeletor projects

himself into the clouds and kind of talks that's

straight from the 1987 film as well skeletor

and and that film does something very similar

so i kind of enjoyed that and kind of how he's

like telling adam you know that you need to come

to snake mountain and bring the sword or your

parents are gonna be killed and you know do we

believe them or not are the parents alive are

the parents not alive there's a in the 1987 film

evil lynn actually tricks teela into no not teela

she tricks courtney cox's character who was just

a human into believing that her mom is still

alive which is not the case so they is not that

it was a nod to that but it was like an interesting

where you're like oh i've seen this before in

the franchise where they trick somebody into

thinking their parents are alive so like it was

it led to an interesting sequence too where he's

kind of incorrectly deciding to just go to snake

mountain and not talk about it like this is what

i gotta do and obviously tila's telling him that's

probably a mistake but he's gonna do it anyways

which leads to a kind of an interesting moment

you know he gets to learn a bit a little bit

about like still recognizing that he has to think

things through and not just rely on his brute

strength but it was also a cool moment because

even though tila was disagreeing with him he's

she's still like you know i got your back every

step of the way like want to go with you just

because um so i thought that was kind of a cool

moment i wasn't from a set standpoint i wasn't

always sold on all of the the big statues around

that one part because i don't remember those

ever existing so i did appreciate the fact that

they all get busted by the end so i was like

all right now it sets it up more like how i'm

used to uh seeing it and i did appreciate um

like i liked evil lynn better than i thought

i was going to i like you know i think jared

leto did good The sorceress was another one that

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about and

how they were going to be able to do her bird

form versus her sorceress form. I thought they

handled that well for the most part also. And

there was also a cool moment in the end where

He -Man is going off with Battle Cat to help

somebody else that's in danger. They named the

planet, or not the planet, they named the people

that he's going to help. And they say there was

a problem on Avion or whatever. That's a real

place that existed in Filmation. That's where

Stratos is from. So it was a cool nod to Stratos,

who was not in the film, which was kind of a

bummer because he was one of the main masters

that didn't get an appearance. So I did appreciate

that. I think the only other main person that

I didn't get to see that I would have wanted

to see was Manny Faces. um who was a good character

that was able to change his face from a beast

to a robot to a person um they didn't they i

know they can't do everything in the first movie

so like maybe that would be somebody we could

get to see but at least they mentioned stratos's

like species so i guess that was like a little

cool moment for me and i do even though i didn't

enjoy everything with the names with fisto and

ram man because i thought that got overplayed

i didn't mind the he -man part at the end because

he hasn't been called He -Man until the last

little bit. And then they're coming up with all

the different names that he was calling everybody.

And they're like, well, you had a name for yourself

and He -Man. And they laugh. I know some people

had a problem with the fact that they're all

laughing at his name when he's like the main

character that the whole film is based off of.

But I actually felt like that made sense because

that was like the appropriate way to laugh at

some of these silly names. Whereas I think the

Fisto and the Ram Man kind of went too much with

it. like it was funny at first and then they

like beat it in the ground whereas he man we

just got the one so i kind of appreciated that

a little bit more and the the warrior princess

or i forget what it was was that actually whatever

the name was was it was that actually tina's

name too or is that tila no like i don't he i

think he just made that up i don't like i don't

know like it was like xena warrior princess or

something that he was trying to call her like

whatever i i don't know if that was him like

being bashful in a moment and not using like

the real name or that was it was not a nod to

anything that i know of okay okay i was just

curious oh the other another cool part was uh

something that sorry i know i'm rambling like

a fanboy but like uh roboto i i was somewhat

bummed in the trailers that roboto did not look

like roboto yeah i was like i was like well how

hard would it have been to make that look like

the character or the toy or whatever like it

doesn't seem that much difference but they do

address that because when man -at -arms or whoever

rebuilds roboto at the end rubato comes out looking

exactly like that character did in the cartoon

and in the toy so i was like okay i just wasn't

patient enough to wait for the see -through version

because that's how it's supposed to look in my

head so i'm happy with that uh it's funny because

in the ending when they're like laughing like

like they are laughing like with their hands

on the side my son was like that was straight

out of it's like why are they laughing like that

i was like it was like i gotta tell you later

because it's like it's like they're clearly doing

even like i realized like they're clearly making

it because i i've not seen he -man but i've seen

plenty of 80s cartoons and that's how you laughed

in 80s cartoons stock that was a stock animation

cell so they could just reuse over and over again

yeah so but but yeah so again that was to me

a good example of like it being self -aware like

almost a self -pair like almost like something

you would see a naked gun It was on the brink.

Yeah, for sure. All right. I think we covered

just about everything we can cover. I'm sure

if I saw it a second time, I'd pick out a few

more things here and there, but I think it's

worth watching, right? It's worth if you just

want to have some fun, especially if you know

anything about the franchise. It's good, but

I don't think you have to know it in order to

enjoy it. I think it can be just a fun... It's

nice to get... to a point where some of the summer

blockbusters are worth watching they can be like

not like the end all be all but it seemed like

there was a lot of summers recently where the

blockbusters were also like just poorly put together

and like i don't want to turn off my brain because

turning on my brain would hurt like there's a

difference between just having an escape moment

and having fun with something and having to like

legit turn off your brain because otherwise you're

gonna have trouble watching it like i think there's

a difference between the two and sometimes you

get summer blockbusters that are just like they're

just more painful than anything and and i enjoy

that like it seems like this year and uh recent

blockbusters i've watched like i've been somewhat

refreshing so i think this is kind of in that

camp like you can go just have fun with this

and it you know it doesn't have to be yeah like

i said Yeah, like we said, it definitely does

at least try to say something, you know, do a

little bit with the property. And I do think,

like, if we're ever to, like, if we were to do

movie awards, like Movie Villains of the Year

or something like that, which is an award I used

to do, like, you know, Skeletor is up. I can't

think of a better villain, like a straight movie

villain this year that I thought was more fun

and entertaining and, like, the best part of

the film. more so than Skeletor this year. From

the look, the execution of it on the special

effects side, it was great. Last fanboy moment,

which is Skeletor, since you bring him up, a

lot of people were really hoping that he would

call somebody a boob in this film because he

did that all the time in the Filmation series.

He did it towards the end. He called one of his

villains a boob or something like that. I was

like, oh, that'll please a lot of fanboys. Nice.

all right so i think that does it for this edition

of a current movie review we've done two of them

now dan that's two in the same year project tail

mary and now he -man we'll see how many more

we can get to we will be getting back into our

western retrospective though with our next episode

so make sure you stay tuned for that where we're

going to be covering mccabe and mrs miller and

you can keep in touch with us or anything else

we're doing by following our various social medias

so you can search out dan at the comic concierge

you can search me out at optimus solo or the

show at cinema geeks or cinema geek cast and

you can always go to geekcastradio .com the website

that hosts all of our content as well as some

written articles and things of that nature that

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