Insurgent Review

Hey, this is Greg Berger, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Today on Weekend

at the Movies, we discuss a change in the guard

amongst the actresses in the X -Men franchise,

who may be cast as the main villain in the next

Star Trek film, a few trailers that caught our

attention this week, and our main review of the

Divergent series, Insurgent. All that and more

coming up on Weekend at the Movies. That's right.

It's another episode of Weekend at the Movies.

I am one of your hosts, Optimus Solo, and joining

me today back from the grave is Matt Fridley

-Sent. Hello. Hello. And also joining us is the

movie repolt, Dan. Hello, Dan. Hey, how's it

going? Not too bad. And just to get things started,

Dan, how has your week been? Uh, it's going,

going well. The weather is nice. It's uh, it's

kind of weird. We had 70 degrees one day and

then snow the next. So I don't know what's going

on. I think what mother nature might be drunk,

but you know, spring is starting slowly, but

surely. How about you, Matt? Um, we also had

that, but, um, I don't know, man, like I started

off my week. I was still, uh, sick. I had some

sort of stomach bug. And I still had it by like

Monday, Tuesday, so everyone at work was like,

you need to go to the doctor, you're gonna die.

It's been like five days, like stomach bugs don't

last that long. So I survived not going to the

doctor for what I think is just a mild, well,

mild thing that started off really bad for like

two days. So that's how my week's been. We're

glad you're feeling better and you avoided the

deathbed that people were threatening you with.

My week's been interesting. Let's see, things

that happened in the last week. Well, I've been

having an ongoing foot issue, which I found out

was plantar fasciitis, which I thought only athletes

got, but apparently that's not the case and I'm

not an athlete. So yeah, I got fitted for some

custom shoe inserts where I had to put my foot

in a box of foam. Molds to my foot because apparently

I have a super high arch that no other shoes

really give me the necessary support So that

was part of my week And then like you guys were

mentioning since we talked about the weather

it usually takes me 20 minutes to get to work

and The other day it took me an hour and 20 minutes

Wow, so you could have walked there quicker The

worst part about it was well, there's two I guess

there's two bad things about it The the first

worst thing about it was that there was a school

bus two cars in front of me So I had absolutely

no idea what was going on, what was causing the

standstill, or when it would like end. The second

worst part about it is I was three stoplights

from my place of work. So I literally probably

was five... to eight minutes walking distance

from my job. And I stayed stopped on one of the

main roads for probably 40 minutes, not moving.

I don't know what happened. I don't know if it

was because we had winter and then we had 70

degrees weather and now we had snow again and

people forgot what they had previously known

two weeks prior and how to drive in the weather

or if there was an accident. Like I said, the

school bus was blocking my view. I never saw

or heard sirens. So I don't know what happened,

but that was a fun time at work. So hopefully

that's the last time that happens for at least

another year. Cause that was frustrating to say

the least. And I was also supposed to be training

somebody that day and I was 45 minutes late to

start the training. So it was, it was an enjoyable

experience for sure. So other than that. pretty

basic week. I saw a lot of movies, so we'll get

into that. And we start every week by taking

a quick look at the box office. And Dan, we were

right, obviously, last week with our prediction.

Not that that is a badge of honor or anything,

because I think anybody could have predicted

that. But coming in number one at the box office

this past weekend is, of course, the Divergent

series Insurgent, which, like we all have said,

that's just a weird title. So it comes in first

with 52 million just over 52 million Cinderella

went from one to two with 35 million roughly

and then a humongous drop -off between the top

two and the rest run all night stayed at five

million beating the Newcomer the gunman by just

a few thousand dollars and then rounding up the

top five was Kingsman the Secret Service with

just under five million with the other new one

i will mention do you believe because we mentioned

last week that was coming out actually came in

six which is i think somewhat of a surprise that

that got that much money but dan any surprises

at all or thoughts on the box office from this

past week no no huge surprises it's pretty interesting

that kingsman still staying in the top five even

though it's been out for six weeks so thing is

just kind of chugging along yeah it's had a it's

it hasn't had like this ridiculous Like weekend

or week or the set but it's had it's just been

steady enough that it's uh, it's done pretty

well the box of it's now at about 115 million.

So i'm happy with that because I enjoyed that

film and I think it deserved that much. So i'm

happy with that. Um matt, what about you any

thoughts from this week at the box office? Well,

uh Focus is gonna make its budget back. So it's

gonna stop hurting me in the pffl And run all

night is going to also still keep me in the hat

super negative Is anyone surprised that I'm in

last place? Because I'm not. I would have been,

but Jupiter Ascending made a move this last week

and it jumped from 25 % rotten to 26%. So it's

no longer in the bottom quarter, which saved

me some points. Thank you Julianne Moore. No,

Julianne Moore was in Seventh Son. I don't remember

who I had in Jupiter sending that to cost me

so much. Sean Bean maybe? Yes, Sean Bean. That

was darn it, Sean Bean. It's okay, Hugh Jackman's

killing me with Chappie, so there you go. That's

not making its budget back. It's 30 million about

and needs to make 19 more million dollars. Don't

see it happening. Right, and we'll talk about

it a little bit later with the gunmen, but right

when I was starting to climb up the rankings,

Idris Elba appeared in the gunmen and that...

would take a miracle probably if it made its

small budget. So I'm just going to take another

hit. I did not apparently take into account the

Rotten Tomatoes and the budgets when I was picking

my team. I am learning lots of lessons, I guess.

But looking ahead at next week, guys, with what's

coming out, there's not a bunch of new releases,

but there is probably the two main ones would

be the animated film Home and the Will Ferrell

Kevin Hart film Get Hard. Which I think again

is a weird name for a movie title, but does either

one of them have a chance of? dethroning the

top two then Kevin Hart like he does bring in

money so a possibility and You know, but sometimes

you see a huge drop -off. So I I think it's there's

a shot, but I think it'll still Maybe it's getting

killed reviews. So maybe it'll come in third

and Cinderella and divergence day one and two

Yeah, I mean a lot of times a film will drop

about 50 % in that first week. You can see that

from Cinderella this last week it dropped 48

.5 and if Divergent drops 50 % that's going to

put it you know right in the 26 -27 million mark

so it's not unthinkable that one of those would

beat that but it would take a healthy weekend

from those types of films but like you said sometimes

animated films and there hasn't been a whole

lot yet this year so maybe there will be an audience

for Home and like you said Kevin Hart has some

some secret box office power so You never know.

Matt, what's your prediction? What's number one

next week? Uh, it's probably gonna still be Insurgent.

I don't know, man. That movie, it's not Hunger

Games, but it does well. Yeah, it's definitely

not on the same level as Hunger Games, but it

seems to do decently well. I mean, it's halfway

to its budget after one week, so that's not too

shabby. Getting into some of our news stories

then, who wants to start it off? Matt, you took

the week off. Why don't you start with your first

news story for today? All right. So I'm going

to start off light with the trailer I brought

in. I brought in the trailer for Maggie. It's

funny because while we were here when I was here

two weeks ago, we talked about Liam Neeson getting

out of action movies and how that might be a

good idea at old age. Maggie is a... I don't

know, drama -y movie starring Schwarzenegger.

The idea is, it looks like semi -post -apocalyptic.

They're dealing with the zombie apocalypse, but

order has still maintained. And then he's like

a sheriff or other official, and his daughter

gets the zombie virus, and I guess he uses this

pole to pull her out of quarantine and out of

the hospitals. Which is believable, honestly.

I don't know man, this trailer looks crazy. I

don't like super intense movies like this, but

I really want to see this one. I couldn't decide

while watching that trailer what genre this film

is. Yeah. I didn't know if it was like the typical,

like if it's a zombie movie, if it's more of

like a break. You know, like the disease type

spreading where we're just trying to contain

it. If it's a horror film, if it's a drama action

film, I didn't really get what that was going

for. But apparently, according to the trailer,

Arnold Schwarzenegger is superb. So I saw that

quote from somebody that I couldn't recognize.

Might have been a Twitter user. You never know

that. I love when they throw those into previews

here and there. intriguing i mean it's definitely

torturing you're doing something different for

him he's got a killer beard so that's always

a that's a good a good sign it kind of looks

like the beard nicolas gage had in joe from last

year uh yeah But yeah, it's I mean, we've had

a lot of zombie things But like this almost doesn't

even seem to follow any of the zombie norms for

the most part except it's a post -apocalyptic

thing So it could be good. I'm looking forward

to it I need nothing about this and I would say

just based off the premise I wouldn't really

be that into it, but the trailer looked interesting

and I am intrigued for sure I I just don't know

how much I trust Schwarzenegger as a dramatic

actor. That's my only question And if you would

have given me the plot synopsis, just read me

what the movie was and then told me who starred

in it, I probably would have laughed and said

that seems like a silly thing. But yeah, the

trailer makes it a little more intriguing than

you think. And the daughter is played by Abigail

Breslin for people who know that that is. So

it's her and Arnie trying to ward off everyone

that's trying to contain them, I guess. So I

didn't see a date. for that um the the release

i thought that it's going to come out before

his next edition genesis like a month before

genesis roughly so that's fairly recent here

coming up so yeah it was some uh... film festivals

according to the intro which also seems weird

to me yeah they have genre film festivals too

though it could have it could have gone to one

of those so True, so we'll have to see as we

get more on Maggie and that should be coming

up real soon So I'll have to see if it pays off

with that trailer my first one. I was we almost

all went with a trailer I was real tempted to

do a trailer as well, but I'm going to Leave

that off So I'm going to be talking about a new

story in which we have gotten our first rumors

about a villain in Star Trek Three and it's not

just because he's on my PFFL team And I'm hoping

for some extra casting points But the rumor the

name being thrown around is that Idris Elba could

be playing the villain in the next Star Trek

film and then Specifically going into that that

a lot of people are speculating that it could

be some type of Klingon Matt what do you what

do you feel about? Star Trek 3 villain being

a Klingon and if so being played by Idris Elba

I'll give you my thoughts right after that. Well,

um, I don't know if I've seen Agisela play a

villain. Like, maybe nebulous characters. I don't

know. I'm not the best at citing these guys.

Um, but I had, like, my biggest problem was not,

like, in Triple Blood or whatever in Star Trek

2, whatever the whiny internet people say. My

big problem was, uh... The Klingons having head

ridges. They're not supposed to have head ridges

in that period in history. That was a big thing

that became a weird thing in the 60s. and it's

upsetting to me that they had them especially

when they had masks that gave them fake head

ridges which could have been a total honor thing

hey we're part of the disease it doesn't have

the head ridges so we're wearing these fake ones

to try to regain our honor in combat whatever

they could have done that they didn't they really

dropped the ball so i'm upset at that but i think

you know he could he's got a deep voice he could

be a badass Klingon yeah i mean i could see that

and the other thing it makes me think of is back

uh in the original star trek the different famous

people that ended up playing clans you know even

if you look in the at the movies uh... the guy

from wise men my mind went like that from back

to the future the doc who's going on in crystal

yes chris i a m the movie is thank you uh...

because we're going to play that a clean on in

one of the original star trek film and Yeah,

and there's also, if you kind of go back through

both the original Star Trek and Star Trek The

Next Generation, there's a lot of people that,

you know, if you're into the world of acting

or movies or even voice acting, there's a lot

of people that played Klingons that have some

name recognition that you would never know. So

I'm kind of intrigued at the idea of someone,

you know, pretty famous being made up to be a

Klingon and to a point where he's probably going

to be maybe not unrecognizable, but obviously

it's not going to look like people are expecting

or used to. So I'm kind of intrigued by that.

I think it would be a cool look and he does have

kind of the presence and the stature and the

voice to kind of fit that I think. So I'm all

for that and more so I'm all for Klingons being

part of the, you know, the storyline. I always

enjoyed Klingon stories, so just from a Star

Trek fan point, I enjoy the idea of that being

a possibility that that would be the direction

they go. Dan, any thoughts about him being involved

in Star Trek? Yeah, I'm for it. I have seen him

play some villain types, like in The Wire, he

played Tringer Bell, which was, I guess, not

necessarily a villain villain, but I know he's

pretty menacing in Luther, though he's supposedly

a good guy and... He had that other movie last

year where he was like the house invasion film

that I don't think I saw I forget the name of

it But it looked kind of dumb. Oh, yeah, I didn't

see that either. Uh, but yeah, i'm always easier

self than anything i'm I don't know nearly as

much about Star Trek as you guys do. I know who

the Klingons are and I just watch the movies,

but it makes sense. Though I personally think

instead of Idris Elba it should probably be Fassbender

or whoever else I have on my team, maybe Hugh

Jackman. But you know, that's maybe a personal

bias. They should just keep casting Benedict

Cumberbatch as different villains. Exactly, exactly.

He'll just motion capture like everyone. There

we go. Alright, so we'll have to... Keep on the

lookout for more rumors involving Star Trek 3

and some type of confirmation, and that's actually

going to be a thing, but I would be all for it.

Dan, what's your first news item today? Well,

to keep with our tradition of talking about comic

book movies, I'm talking about a recent comic

book movie news story that one of the most infamous

or popular actresses is leaving the X -Men franchise

after X -Men Apocalypse, and news that Jennifer

Lawrence will be leaving after the next X -Men

film to kind of go on to greener pastures or

what have you. It seems like the next one will

be her last one. We do know with that when new

characters are coming in. I mean, the Jubilee

is being added because I guess they need more

useless characters. I don't know why they would

bring Jubilee in, but exactly, exactly. But,

you know, but honestly, I'm not. I'm not all

that against that because I like the maybe the

thing they're doing where they're doing like

a trilogy per group of people and maybe after

apocalypse they can focus on a brand new cast

of people or something like that or maybe the

on young storm and young cyclops or something

so I'm not I'm not all against it and you could

easily put someone else in that role and I don't

necessarily I like Jennifer Lawrence but I don't

think her as mystique has been something that

I've really felt was a great part of those movies?

I don't think they really utilized her to her

full potential at this point. Yeah, I would somewhat

agree with that. And so that's why I don't think

it would be, it's not something that's going

to kill the franchise or anything like that.

I think it's something that's easily, your attention

could be diverted to another character or to

somebody else. I read one story that I found

somewhat interesting that was obviously just

internet rumor and talking out of whatever. They

were talking about the fact that it was a possibility

that she would be having that as her last movie

in that contract and then that would free her

up from that franchise and you know the contract

and stipulations to that and allow her then to

possibly be game for a different franchise that

might also be getting into the point where it's

going to recycle into a new team and talking

about obviously the Avengers. and how that they

would be somewhat going away from the core group

that we've seen up to this point after a few

more things. And there could be a possibility

for some type of future Marvel role in more on

that side of things instead of with the X -Men.

Do you think, Dan, that she would go right from

one kind of connection to one franchise that

takes a ton of her time into another one? Or

do you think she's more likely to go into more

critically acclaimed You know award -worthy type

of roles. I don't know She seems to like to do

both because she has Hunger Games 2 and that's

ending so My guess would be they're talking about

Miss Marvel Maybe would be the only because that's

the only other one that they've really hinted

towards doing so That's my guess is they're putting

her towards that role. I don't know I Don't know

what she seems to like to do both. So maybe but

To me seems like a leap a little bit. I don't

I don't see it personally her fitting that role,

but she No, she could What about you Matt? What

do you think about her leaving the X -Men? What

does it mean for that franchise? And what would

you like to see her go? What direction for her

to go next? Well, or your other thoughts on Jubilee

and I know ever else they're bringing in for

X -Men. Well, okay So I'll start off with the

I don't know what I feel like is obvious is that

we all had this story as one of our potential

stories which just shows that it's like important

to us in some respect which I thought was interesting.

I really like Jennifer Lawrence and want her

in the most amount of movies and I think franchises

is the way to do that so I kind of hope she doesn't

go straight away from franchises entirely although

since I didn't watch The Hunger Games I hope

she leans towards ones I want to see. I can't

think of a Marvel character That she would be

good as then again if you had said mystique before

she was mystique. I wouldn't have been Jumping

at that either, so I don't know she's definitely

not ms. Marvel Captain Marvel material Yeah,

maybe maybe the female hot guy she has the she

has the bow experience, so you know Yeah, and

that way that's more believable. I guess um I

can see you're going for DC. She could be like

a decent Harley Quinn probably And a handful

of other characters I could think maybe spoiler

But not at Marvel. I don't I don't think of anyone

Maybe squirrel girl, but not really Let's see,

what was the other questions? What do you think

about Jubilee or whoever else they bring in for

female actresses in the X -Men franchise? Yeah

Jubilee's I don't know. Maybe it's because of

the 90s cartoon. I always feel like Jubilee's

not that useful She might have been relevant

at some point in some comic that I haven't read,

but she doesn't do it for me. But that said,

I kind of want them to bring in a lot of mutants

without without getting, you know, off the rails

on this. But like the more characters I get to

see, the better, right? So I don't know. Hopefully

they bring in some interesting new talent to

keep it going, because that was what really made

First Class. so good was all the new talent,

or new to the franchise talent. I agree with

that. What's your second news story, Matt? My

second news story is about Furious 7 and how

Paul Walker died. I'm sorry. Spoiler alert. I

don't know about you guys, I had no idea, because

I wasn't following this franchise at all, where

they were in the making of it when he died. As

far as I was concerned, I didn't hear this movie

was even in production until after I had heard

he was dead. So, you know, it's all like, what

are they doing? And if you look at the trailer,

you know, this house explodes and then everyone's

like sad and Paul Walker's not in that scene

where everyone's sad. So it's like, oh, they're

just going to blow him up. Okay. But apparently,

that's still not good enough and they need more

scenes with Paul Walker. So what they did was

they got his brother. Brother? Believe to act

out the scenes and then digitally impose this

face onto him Which is a weird thing but also

very interesting I like I got mixed feelings

on this is the same thing they do for stunt doubles

and stuff nowadays And I liked the idea of with

the older movies if you're watching you're paying

attention you can pick out the stunt double and

pick out the stunt double's face in some scenes

if the camera's not too quick or whatever. And

I kind of miss that quality to movies. But it's

amazing what we can do with technology nowadays.

Yeah, that's for sure. And we'll have to see

how that translates and how well it looks or

doesn't look. I'll have to rely on you guys to

report back to me on that. I've seen like two

of the Fast and the Furious movies. I will say...

You only need to see five and above. So I don't

have to see the first four? No. The continuity

of Fast and Furious does not really matter. Let's

just say a character that dies in the third one

is in up to the sixth one. Oh no. Cuz they all

take place before that I guess yeah, it's I mean

technically maybe I hated the fast and I hate

is the strong word I didn't like the fast and

furious movies much until the fifth one and I

like the fifth one in six one So as kids once

I stopped being street race movies, I started

actually liking them. Oh, okay So maybe I should

tune into five and six and see yeah, I would

say I saw the trailer for five and you know they

have like Dodge Chargers and they pull out a

bank vault out of a wall like out of a bank with

Dodge Chargers but you know my parents worked

for Chrysler on an assembly line for like 35

years and I want to be like yeah we could do

that we can't do that okay um and I saw that

trailer and I was just like this is the dumbest

movie ever and I don't know why I wasn't like

this is so dumb I need to see this this looks

like a lot of fun because it looks like a lot

of fun at that point it is it's so it's super

ridiculous it's like the way I look at it is

like complaining about the plot line and like

reality of a Fast and the Furious movie is like

going to the strip club and complaining about

the choreography it's like not what you're there

for so But regarding the article, as we're looking

at the image that's in the article, it does look

pretty good and it's being done by Weta, who

are, you know, they're phenomenal, they're the

people behind the Planet of the Apes films and

they've done a great job. So it doesn't, it's

hard to see just in the one image it looks really

good. The only thing that I keep thinking about

though is like Tron Legacy or Tron, the second

Tron film with young Jeff Bridges and how...

awful that ended up looking. I just hope it doesn't

look like that because if it does I could take

you out of it. I had heard that the Tron one

was supposed to look bad because it was like

him stuck in a computer so it was supposed to

look computery but I haven't seen that movie

so I can't comment either way. So I guess the

question should be is will this eliminate Paul

Walker's chance to win an Academy Award since

they're digitally... That's a good question.

Let's just say I don't think it's going to impact

it one way or another. Well, I guess this gives

us a way to talk to one of the other articles

I spoke of and still count this as Matt's story.

Speaking of Academy Awards, has Vin Diesel lost

his freaking mind or is he just trying to be

funny? Neither. Story from this week of Vin Diesel.

Here's the quote Universal is going to have the

biggest movie in history with this movie It will

probably win best picture at the Oscars unless

the Oscars don't want to be relevant ever And

then speaking and then continuous quote this

will win best picture there is nothing that will

ever come close to the power of this thing He's

just joking right sounds like he's talking he's

talking like I was talking about Hercules man.

This is the best ever No one's going to ever

agree with me. I Don't know if that's just a

publicity stunt or if he's just talking to me.

I don't know what that's about but Maybe the

movie is eligible, but Paul Walker will not be

I don't I don't know how that will work out It's

good. It's gonna win all the Oscars. Let's be

honest Yeah, I hope he's not serious, but I feel

like sometimes Vin Diesel is He like one thing

Vin Diesel knows how to do is he's actually really

good with publicizing himself and getting things

like he owns the Riddick franchise now because

of uh you know basically appearing in one Fast

and the Furious movie so he might be smarter

than we realize but who knows yeah I guess we'll

have to wait and see when we do our Oscar prediction

uh show a year from now or a little less than

a year from now uh... my second story uh... i

also wanted to make sure because i i thought

that we didn't have any uh... star wars news

stories this week so that's why i wanted to make

one of mine start tracking the other one comic

books just so that people didn't get upset or

think we've gone off the rails so my other one

is all about uh... the future of the avengers

and the new story obviously was about the russo

brothers officially signing on to direct both

parts of avengers infinity war so They are carrying

on the torch from Joss Whedon, who will be apparently

leaving the Marvel franchise after this next

one. So the Captain America guys, who obviously

most people know did the Winter Soldier, and

they are about to begin on Captain America Civil

War, will now be doing both of the next Avenger

films. And for people that didn't know that,

Civil War will lead directly into Infinity War,

which is going to be broken up into two films.

And that will be... coming to cinemas in May

of 2018 and May of 2019. So yeah, the Infinity

War films, you can look forward to that in three

years from now and in four years from now. Dan,

what do you think? I know you're a fan of the

Captain America of the films. Do you think that's

a good choice for them to carry on after Joss

Whedon? 100%. Yeah, if Whedon is going to leave,

I think it's good to stay within the family,

as they say. And I love Winter Soldier and I

love the Russo Brothers episode of Community,

the infamous paintball episode. So I pretty much

like everything they've done. So I think it's

a good choice. And I have a lot of faith that

they'll keep it going. What about you, Matt?

Do you think that... I don't know how much you

like the Captain America films compared to some

of the other films from Marvel, but do you think

it's a good idea to keep somebody that's already

kind of had experience in this Marvel universe

to carry on with the big Avengers titles? Absolutely.

I think once we see Civil War, we're going to

know just how good they're going to be for this,

because that should be very Avenger -y. And if

not, then I don't know what Marvel's doing. But,

uh, you know I liked Captain America. It was

the only movie I saw in theaters twice last year.

Nice. It was Captain America 2. Not Hercules.

No. Uh, more people were interested in seeing

the Captain America. Both in my circle of friends

as well as worldwide. So... That's what happened

there. Um, I don't know, man. I, uh, I'm gonna,

uh, the whole, like... Dance mentioned two things,

and said he's seen nearly everything they've

done, so it still sounds like they're not as

out there as Joss Whedon has been. So we'll see.

Yeah, I think they did do You Mean to Pre, I

think, too. So to be fair, to be fair, I'm talking

more like action movie. At least I can't be wrong.

I think they directed or wrote that, I forget.

But I'm just saying there's two things they did

that I really liked. I guess I should preface

that. All right. Well Dan, what's your what's

your final news story for today? Well, my final

news story is actually about a trailer that hit

and I was gonna try to avoid it but I couldn't

because it was actually played before in Insurgent

when I saw it and then I was gonna watch it anyways

I wasn't I'm not gonna lie to myself and that

is the trailer for Mission Impossible 5 That

came out and I all I love Mission Impossible

Guest Protocol. I thought it was a great time.

It's one of the to me giving some Giving a hint

to what's coming up one of the best action films

of the decade so far in my book But and I think

I'm a little worried because Brad Bird was leaving

but this is looking quite good and I gotta say

like Tom Cruise is I don't know if he's crazy

or he's just really dedicated to his craft But

that dude loves hanging off of stuff last year

was the tallest building in the world now. It's

a plane. I don't know Worried about where they're

gonna do with the next movie because maybe in

space. I don't know satellite Yeah, but I don't

know I I thought it looks I'm really looking

forward to Mission Impossible 5. I think it looks

really good Yeah, I think the trailer looked

pretty entertaining. I like Simon Pegg being

in I have the right person, right? Yep Yeah,

I like I like him being involved. I like the

kind of the humor that he brings to it and I'm

back on Even though Tom Cruise is absolutely

batshit insane as a person, I'm back on board

after last year with Live Die Repeat and other

titles that we call that film. I don't even know

what the official title is of that film, but

I'm back on board after that. So, you know, he's

believable in an action role. I love a lot of

his earlier work. So I'm back on board. So I'll

take a shot of this. I need to rewatch all the

other Mission Impossible films, though, because,

well, maybe not all of them, but at least the

last couple just to get it. back in my memory.

It's funny, it's similar to, I think, The Fast

and the Furious. The first one was okay. Second

one, I was a little bit too much Ang Lee going

a little bit too crazy. Third one, it got a little

bit better, directed by J .J. Abrams. It's also

a great performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

And then fourth one, it even got better. So it's

like weird with those two franchises that they've

gotten better the longer they stayed around,

which is usually the opposite. But somehow they've

made it work. Yeah, I'm definitely gonna have

to revisit those like I said and then get them

get them fresh in my mind as I go in to see this

one because I want to be as excited as everybody

else is but I definitely think it looks intriguing

and The trailer made me more interested than

I was prior to that. Matt, what's your opinion

on the Mission Impossible franchise? I think

I need to really, really re -watch the third

one. Because when that came out, I don't know,

I was like 12 or something. And I remember everyone

talking like, it's got the amazing choreographed

fight scenes, and Dan had nice things to say.

And all I remember is being unimpressed. And

I don't know if I was just... I don't know a

douchebag little kid or something but I just

remember not liking it for some reason and it's

like one of the three or four films from my childhood

that I'm like I should have liked this but I

didn't along with like was it the third Jurassic

Park or whatever. There's nothing wrong with

not liking that film. Yeah that one was bad.

All right so a couple other news items that we'll

have linked to on our website on the episode

post a news article about a Robotech movie. Becoming

a reality an article about the project Leviathan

that got all kinds of people's attention including

Simon Kinsberg and Neil Blomkamp and We also

have our links to our trailers the other trailers

that will be listed there Outside of Maggie and

the mission impossible trailer. We will also

have trailers for the new transporter film good

kill Boy choir starring Dustin Hoffman dope The

one that almost was my news story, which is the

first trailer for a film called slow West Starring

Michael Fassbender. So Dan, I know you're interested

in that one because I need you to be good. I

I was really impressed by that trailer So I'm

on board still with that one even probably more

excited than before So that also has been Mendelsohn

and Cody Smith McPhee in there So you can watch

all those trailers at the website and give you

our give us your thoughts on which ones you're

most interested in We're going to take a quick

break and then we'll be back to talk about what

movies we've seen in the last week and give you

our main attraction review of Divergent Insurgent,

because that's what I'm going to call it from

now on. So we'll be right back after the break.

Talking in circles. Because the world needs another

podcast, we are here as Geekcast Radio's newest

edition. And as the title says, each week we

get lost in conversation about a wide range of

topics, including movies, comics, games, art,

TV, and even occasionally sports. We play games

and discuss pivotal topics like who would win

in a fight, the Kool -Aid Man or Tony the Tiger,

and examine the hot button issues of the world

of Geekdom. We keep things fresh by taking timeless

topics in new directions. We are simply three

friends having a fun time talking about life's

most fascinating foibles. Stay connected with

us every Tuesday on iTunes or at GeekCastRadio

.com All right, thanks for sticking with us.

And as we said, we're going to start off talking

about what films we've seen in the last week.

So, Dan, I'll let you go first. What's a film

you saw this last week that you'd like to bring

up? Well, I'll start first with a 2015 film that

I saw called Buzzard. I don't know if you guys

heard about this. I've seen, I read the description

of it and I watched a trailer on it when I was

going through the On Demand's menu to try to

see what I wanted to watch. And I was very confused

by that trailer. I could see that because it's

it almost feels in the vein of something like

Clark's in a way where there's not much plot

by any means. It's really just this character

Marty that is kind of a loop. He's you know,

he doesn't really fit in our society at all.

He and he's kind of him going through life in

a lot of ways. it's no no real through narrative

but it's actually i ended up liking it quite

a bit and um he's just he's just a guy that is

just finds every type of loophole and he's in

a lot of ways kind of a despicable person but

what i liked about it how is they don't they

don't try to make him sympathetic or anything

like that he's just kind of interesting in the

ways he is able to get through life in very uh

immoral means and like how those how his Attempts

to you know make money become more and more dangerous

as the movie goes on and there's just some funny

scenes and in a lot of ways like I said, it's

like clerks in the vein of In the way that like

these characters are kind of like losers, you

know He is a temp currently and uh, he at one

time has to start living in his friend's basement

That's not even his friend's house. It's his

dad's house and they spend a lot of time like

playing A game that involves them like eating

bugles off the top off the bottom of a treadmill,

you know Seeing how many they can stick in their

mouth and there's all these like little scenes

that are just kind of put together So it really

fits my sensibilities because I tend to like

movies like that that are Really not interested

in a huge narrative. They're just kind of letting

you focus on these characters, you know character

study as they say But it's also very clearly

an independent film it like you could have told

me this movie was made like 1984 and I would

believe you just because it It has a very uh,

uh, economical look to it. I would say, you know,

they're Clearly on it like a shoe string budget,

but I know I ended up liking it. It's amazing

I don't know Kevin if you would like it a great

deal just because it can linger on a lot of scenes

and there's not really I would say much to it

in a lot of ways, but uh, I don't know I just

like the characters. I just like the different

stories in I Ended up enjoying it a lot I'll

tell you what almost got me to click on it. It's

what did get me to click on it to watch the trailer.

The description on On Demand, I'm going to read

it for you. But it went like this when his latest

ruse goes awry mounting paranoia forces him from

his lousy small -town temp job to the desolate

streets of Detroit with nothing more than a pocketful

of bogus checks a dangerously altered nintendo

power glove and a bad temper It's funny because

like I say like it's a movie out of time because

it's you know They have like current day movie

posters, but they're playing nintendo And their

clothes almost look like out of like a like a

90s like skateboarder in some ways And he does

have a cool Power Globe, which he makes into

like Freddy Krueger fingers, so it's It's really

I don't know it's it's odd, but I don't know

it's my type of odd so it has a Not for everyone,

but I think for I think it's gonna I think it'll

be one of those movies that really gains an audience

in years to come Gotcha. It has a 69 % audience

score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 88 % as far as

the critics go. On our scale, what kind of score

would you give Buzzard? I gave it a 3 .5 out

of 5. Like I said, not amazing. It's probably

one of the better things I've seen this year,

but I've also seen like eight movies, so not

really much to go off of. All right. I will go

ahead and go next then with a film that I saw

this last week just to continue the... routine

here that I started last week. Last week I saw

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. So this

week obviously I saw Harry Potter and the Chamber

of Secrets. Again, I'm kind of picking up a little

bit of what you were saying last week, Dan, where

obviously Chris Columbus is the director of these

two films. And it kind of has a different feel

because you're dealing with the actors at a much

younger age than what we get later on in the

series. And it does come across as maybe... I'll

have to see. I'll have to see as I watch them

more. Films if I see more of a transition, but

I can see what you're kind of saying there with

the kid friendliness of these two films Honestly,

though when I look at the Chamber of Secrets

and something I mentioned last week was that

my I've only seen all these films once this is

my second time seeing each one of these films

and I saw them each the original time I believe

either when they were in theater or very shortly

afterwards So, you know, I did have time pass

in between them and it was something that was

hard for me to kind of decipher Which one was

which? And in watching Chamber of Secrets, it

seems like most of the memories I have of watching

these films for the first time all happened in

this film. So I don't know why that is, but I

just kind of got that feeling that most of the

big moments that I remember all came apparently

from this film. And I enjoyed it on a second

watch. I enjoy kind of the different things they're

setting up here. I enjoy getting... some backstory

from a bunch of different characters. We see

backstory for Voldemort. We see backstory for

Hagrid and even Dumbledore a little bit. Like

I said, I do like the actor that's playing Dumbledore

in these two films. I thoroughly enjoyed it the

second time around too. I have nothing bad to

say to this one. There was no moments like I

said with the last film where it caught me off

guard or where I didn't quite buy into. So I

really didn't have too many negatives to come

away with this one. I'd probably give this one

a 4 out of 5, which I guess would translate 8

out of 10 for those, like 10 scales. But yeah,

I was sitting at 4 out of 5. I don't know, Dan,

what your opinion of this one was versus the

first one or if you remember them all. I think

I enjoyed it more than the first one, but it's

been such a long time since I've seen it. Right.

That's one with the snake, right? That's one

where he starts kind of talking to the snake

and then it's the one where they discover the

character of Tom Riddle through the diary. Oh,

okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like you said,

some of them run together. I think, yeah, I like

that one too, but I think it was an improvement

for me, but I still think I preferred the later

ones more. Okay. Matt, what about you? What's

a film you saw this week? One thing I want to...

For your continuing Harry Potter watching yeah,

let me know if Like I remember the third one

has like is chopped up to the point where a lot

of like things happen out of order And it doesn't

make sense like I don't think you've read the

books right no, but Amanda has so I'll be watching

them with her so I can kind of ask her some questions

I know absolutely it doesn't follow the book

at all like I mean other than certain events

from the book happened in the movie, but in the

wrong order. But I want to know from someone

who hasn't read the books, like, does it follow

a logical sense in a movie form? Because I remember

being really upset. I will take notes and I'll

report back to you. So other than the one that

we both watched, the only movie that I saw since

the last time was Gundam 00 movie. I've watched

a lot of, you know, I've seen almost every Gundam.

Everything has been translated into English I've

watched. that's dubbed. Like, my friends don't

like watching subtitles, um, and I, you know,

I get that for like a 60 episode anime, not wanting

to watch subtitles, especially since we watch

four to six hours at a time. Um, that could get

tiring. Uh, so I've seen all the Gundam stuff.

Um, this was the first time I've seen this. We

rewatched the entire 00 series before watching

it, because it's a sequel movie to the two season

anime. Um... And I absolutely can't recommend

it unless you've seen the whole thing even though

it starts off with a What you call it or it goes

over previously on or like the yeah, but it's

not like Dragon Ball Z was like last time This

one's like it's literally one of the characters

is in a movie theater watching a movie Recreation

of what he just went through and he's like that's

not what it was like at all And it's like, you

know, if you've seen it, it's hilarious. Um,

cause it's like, that's not what any of those

characters are like. Everyone's super flamboyant.

They change one character to be a girl. And I

think they, like, I want to say, you know, cause

it's like, they're kind of multicultural. There's

like an Irish guy and a middle Eastern guy who's

a little, little too white skinned. Um, and then

another white guy and then another white guy.

Um and they change it to be like one black guy

one girl and I think they add like a cat Into

one of the cockpits with them. It's just like

it's it's great because it parodies so many things

and it's so fun But yeah, like that doesn't really

let you know what's happened I mean you can totally

follow it but it's really for the people that

like the thing And I enjoyed it though Like the

last Gundam thing I watched that was new to me.

It wasn't there like the other previous things

It's the first ever Gundam series that have aliens

in it though Which it was entirely new territory

But kind of the premise of the entire TV show

you find out at the end. It's like yeah We were

just preparing humanity for aliens shows over

And aliens don't show up, and then they bring

the aliens in in the movie, so yeah I guess that's,

I want to say that's spoilers, but it really

isn't. It happens like 30 minutes in. So yeah,

that's the only one I really watched. What score

would you give it out of five? Two. Like I hate

to be that low on Gundam because I love Gundam

so much, but the aliens were weird. They like,

here's the thing. It's a space action. like high

action space opera with a little bit of drama

and stuff and the aliens are like a weird form

of alien that like has to connect mentally with

you they don't really have a physical form it

was like why don't we just make these aliens

in spaceships so that they like fight and then

realize that they have differences and like do

that rather than making it some sort of weird

nebulous thing that was awkward and it's like

this would be this may work in its own sci -fi

movie but not in this universe for me um that

was my biggest issue with a ny low rating okay

dan what's uh what's another film you saw that

you didn't want to talk about uh well the other

one i talked about uh i saw that besides insurgent

was the one that you signed me last week uh the

animated film the book of life all right and

for those that don't know it it's about it's

kind of hard to explain what it's about but it's

about uh it centers on these three kids two boys

and a young lady that grew up with one another

and is it uh two lords of the underworld place

a bet over which boy is going to actually marry

the the girl and it's kind of in the ideas like

if one gets it then the other person is going

to be in charge of the the good underworld the

Place where people are remembered and if the

other one gets it They'll be the play under the

forgotten and doing a horrible job explaining

it But it's I think it's based upon a classic

mexican story of a mexican fable and it's produced

by Guillermo del Toro and it it stars shanam

teenum zoe de chanel and a few others ron perlman

shows up because Del Toro is attached so he's

required to uh, but I gotta say I did really

I ended up liking the film The first thing that

kind of caught my eye is with a lot of animated

films. There's often like the same type of They

look a lot of like you get yeah aesthetically

there. They're very similar Yeah, the aesthetics

very often sometimes you'll get something like

Lego movie, but or how to train your dragon But

like there's not huge differences, but the thing

that caught my eye with this is it is very different

The main story, the characters are being represented

through wooden dolls. So they all have that kind

of look to them. That will stop motion in a way.

Especially when it gets into the land of the

dead, basically. It gets really crazy. and the

thing I absolutely love there is a bullfighting

centerpiece and Especially the main one near

the end. I love the look of the bulls It's really

abstract kind of that's abstract in a way, but

I don't know I found I love that I thought their

design was really creative and and really cool

and I just overall the The art design was what

I really appreciated Some of the casting I didn't

really most of it made sense the only one like

Chatham Tatum played one of the Major characters

and I thought his performance was fine It just

seemed out of place like it just seemed like

a miscasting Considering this is the movie like

so steeped in culture that you would have someone

being played by Chatham Tatum That seemed kind

of odd to me The other one that kind of threw

me off was Ice Cube. Yes, and Ice Cube as well.

And then having a reference to Friday, which,

you know, I guess you have to. That's a requirement.

And there is also use of pop music, which I didn't

get the purpose of that either. I don't know

if it was needed, especially when the first time

it does it, it does the song Creep. It comes

out of nowhere for me and I just, I don't know

if it was needed. It seems like you have this

movie that's celebrating, you know, history,

this story that's very about, you know, this

culture and this land. The bring in like American

pop music, I don't know, like it didn't... it

didn't flow, it took me out at times. The performances

themselves were fine, but I tended to enjoy the

other original songs that were created for it.

I mean, they're not hugely there, but they're

there, but I just thought it was a lot of fun.

When I saw the trailer, I felt like I was really

turned off by the trailer. This story just seemed

really frenetic and out of place, but within

itself, it actually ended up working really well.

A lot of creative characters, and it's definitely...

one I think you know has an all -audience feel

and I think it would work for that and uh yeah

it's it's a good I ended up really liking it

I gave it about a 3 .5 out of 5 and uh I don't

know if it'll make how high it would be I don't

think it'll make my top 10 but glad I saw it

and I think it just makes it even more evident

that last year was such a great year for animated

movies because that's another good one to add

to the list for me Yeah, and that's a film that

I had no interest in originally kind of like

you I saw the trailer even with del Toro's name

attached I was somewhat turned off by it all

and It was something that we just randomly ended

up getting Red Vox. I don't know if that was

one of the times where they were out of Big Hero

6, so we're just like, okay, we'll just get Book

of Life. And we ended up watching it, and I kind

of had a very similar reaction to you. I was

glad I watched it. I was entertained the whole

time. You know, it was something I went in with

no expectations, and it definitely surpassed

that. So it was a pleasant surprise. I agree

with you that some of the casting is a little

bit weird, and the music as well. especially

for something like you said that's kind of steeped

in so much culture and history. But the main

thing that I appreciated outside of the story

being unique was that, like you said, the animation

and the design and the artistic value of it was

something that wasn't just your cookie cutter

DreamWorks film or something like that. It was

something that was different and unique and enjoyable

the whole time. So I'm kind of like right on

the same page with you with that one. Yeah, very

cool. Yeah, I'm glad I saw it for sure. Alright,

so so far I haven't I haven't given you anything

that was torturous so far So I'll have to try

to keep that string going but we can talk about

Well, I'll get into one one of my unique and

then Dan or Matt and I can talk about one of

your homework assignments from earlier So before

that I did see big hero 6. I'm not going to talk

about it though Just to be safe and I don't know

if it'll end up on my list in a a couple months

or not that we do, but I want to save my thoughts

on that until we get into that discussion. I

did see Green Lantern, which I had never seen

before. Wow. Yeah, I'd never seen Green Lantern.

We actually got Green Hornet and Green Lantern

the same day. Not that those are similar films,

but they both have the word green in them. And

we got them from the used DVD store, but I'd

never seen Green Lantern. And I actually had

heard all kinds of bad things about that film.

and again went in with no expectations, but I

thought that was a decently enjoyable superhero

film. Not that I haven't been spoiled by maybe

better stuff in the last few years, but I got

enough enjoyment out of that film where I don't

necessarily think it's the worst superhero film

I've ever seen. Think the comic book people that

really panned it because it like they tried to

cram in three really major Storylines from the

comic books into one short movie Which was a

terrible idea like it's a terrible idea both

as a movie standpoint as well as a comic standpoint

to kind of ruin all These storylines immediately

and did not give even any of them enough time

let alone all of them So did you guys both dislike

it as well didn't see yeah? I it's been a long

time actually funny story. I saw that on my wedding

day It was I got married on a Saturday. We got

married and it was later in the day So we had

time to kill so we went to see that and yeah,

it's I wasn't a huge fan of it I liked everything

that was not on earth. I liked all the space

stuff like the training sequences, but everything

on earth I was not a fan of I guess I guess this

is the way I view it if I'm viewing that and

I don't remember what year it came out 2011 I

have to remember Yes, thank you Okay, it does

not feel like a superhero film from 2011 it if

you See because I had seen this and I had no

idea when it came out So I guess I wasn't in

the right mind frame I almost viewed it as something

that came out like if you viewed it as like a

superhero film from the 90s Or early 2000s, then

it doesn't seem so bad. Yeah if you compare it

to like spawn If you're comparing it to that

type of stuff, it's like, oh, that's a decent

superhero film. If you're comparing it to the

model stuff and the Dark Knight and those types

of things, yeah, it definitely doesn't hold up

to those. As you're just looking for something

light and somewhat fun and you've seen all the

other superhero films Maybe you could watch it

and get some enjoyment out of it I can kind of

see what you're saying Matt even not knowing

all the comic book storylines that it does seem

like they're cramming in a lot into what they're

doing And they're also setting up something that

never happens because we never get another movie.

So that's always a mistake I guess you make sometimes

but I don't know I like I guess I didn't think

it was as bad as I had heard but I definitely

wouldn't I'm talking about it now because it's

Still not going to make my list coming up in

a little while, which we'll get to later. But

let's get into the one, Matt, that we had to

watch for homework from Dan, because I know you

said you saw it, and we weren't able to talk

about it last week due to you being out. So let's

start with you, Matt. What was your opinion of

Secret of Kells? Well, you could have talked

about it without me. I didn't want to leave you

out. My first thought within the first, I don't

know, two minutes, I pulled out my phone and

I was like, were the people attached to Samurai

Jack doing this? Because it has like a very similar

style to me at least. I love Gendi's stuff, you

know, I try to watch it and this did not have

him or anyone else from that, so that was upsetting,

but I guess not. I don't know. Guess as a quick

overview like it's a movie were like Very like

I feel like little happens in that movie. I Don't

know It's hard to talk about like It's like very

slow and it feels like Nothing happens the really

latch on to but at the same time from the beginning

to the end. There's like 20 30 years Yeah, I

kind of get what you're saying there too from

a from a pacing standpoint and maybe from a Energy

level standpoint I don't I mean I don't need

my films to be like hopped up on you know five

-hour energy drinks or anything where I have

to feel like I'm you know being entertained and

spun around and everything like that I'm not

trying to say that at all, but I think too there

is a I could see a lot of people having an issue

with the Not just the pacing, but I don't know

how else to say it besides energy level where

Maybe I needed to rewatch this when I was more

energetic myself because I was kind of watching

it late at night and It kind of put like a little

spell on me. I didn't fall asleep, but I was

real I mean I was just like it put me in like

a zone nowhere I was not ready to do anything

active for sure because it kind of lulled me

to not lulled me to sleep, but for lack of a

better term. And I can kind of see what you're

saying where you might say that even though it's

covering a long span as far as time goes in that

story, I can somewhat see what you're saying

and agree to the point where even though it's

covering a long time, there doesn't seem to be

a lot of stuff happening in between. But it's

one that's hard for me to kind of... come to

terms with as far as how I felt about it or or

like where I would rate it or what kind of level

of enjoyment I got out of it or even to kind

of break it down and say what's good and bad

about it because I Don't know maybe I didn't

latch on to as much as I was hoping to and It

obviously is a different like we were just talking

about with book of life It's a definitely a very

different aesthetic feel to it and I can see

a lot of people being turned off by that Unlike

you Matt. I'm not a big fan of What's his name?

Yeah, I don't really like his style, but I try

not to judge any film based on the style as much

as I can, whether it be black and white or with

subtitles. I know some people will write off

stuff because it's stop motion or that type of

thing, and I try not to do that, but I can see

some people that are used to the... traditional

you know 3d animation or animation over the years

that they might have find this as something hard

to hard to take. I don't know. Dan, I'm interested

if you're willing to share any of your thoughts

on this one, what your reaction to this film

was. I can guess if you're comparing it to like

the pace of the Lego movie, yeah, it's definitely

a lot slower, I would say. But I don't know,

like I when you say there's not a lot happens,

I guess I would. Most complaints I saw was kind

of the opposite where you have a like a lot of

plot almost compared to combined into like an

89 minute film. But I. I don't know to me it

felt like an old like fable and I love yeah,

I agree with that and I love the extra it felt

like a Biblical in that way like where it was

very much like, you know a kid You know that

classic story of kid doing what he doesn't what

he's not supposed to and I don't know I like

how it was the main conflict of it or the main

you know, the like the relationships you have

with him and his uncle and his other uncle who

is trying to Get him to write and I don't know

like I thought it was very simple and maybe I

tend to be a rather More patient than the modern

audience when it comes to things like I know

a lot of things I like people say it's really

slow and I don't know I didn't think it was slow.

It didn't really bother me in that end And I

just for me like anytime I never got bored mostly

because I think the animation always won me over

like I was just interested in the world that

was creating and uh, yeah, I mean, I guess if

you're looking at like There is a storyline big

is it like have that epic feel you would think

from a fantasy you would say no It's really like

isolated. It's really the story's rather small,

but I don't know I like it not man manor I kind

of appreciate the things that you're saying about

it though like I appreciated the fact that it

felt like Different to me and I appreciated the

I think you nailed it on the head -to -head almost

like a fable slash biblical Kind of feel to it

and and I liked that about it like it didn't

bore me ever I wasn't necessarily bored with

the story. I guess I was just hoping, and like

I said, I don't need something to be fast -paced

like the Lego movie or like that. I guess I was

hoping for just maybe a tiny bit, I don't know,

maybe like I said, maybe I'll have to re -watch

it at an earlier time in the day. I would say

it doesn't necessarily do a... great job of establishing

like stakes per se like establishing what exactly

like it there's a lot of mystery behind like

what's going on and like it's almost like you're

just don't go there because bad things are gonna

happen and it maybe it relies a little too heavily

on his allegorical references and that's where

you can kind of lose you because it's not you

know it's you know it could be kind of it does

feel like a cartoon made for it's out of time

like it's something that's almost out of place

and in that way where it doesn't feel really

designed for modern audiences like it and where

it's just it feels like it's being told the same

way it was told when it actually happened i guess

and maybe because of that like some of the things

can get lost in translation because it's referencing

things we may not be aware of or like cultural

or uh elements that like we're not familiar with

so some of that like it Maybe out of context

for us. So maybe that's where we're not really

seeing the having that that Relationship with

it that maybe the movie wants us to Yeah, that

makes sense Go ahead man. I want I feel like

if it were a trilogy or not Three movies not

like a trilogy like I feel like I wanted more

filled out Like I wanted to know more about the

the forest spirit character. Yeah like we get

like two or three scenes and nothing like really

explains anything about her and then like a little

bit more about the boogeyman or whatever he was

like i feel like if they fleshed out those characters

a little bit more like maybe in a second movie

maybe in making this movie 20 minutes longer

i don't know I think I would have enjoyed it

a lot more but I think yeah when you're talking

about you don't know that they're like the stakes

other than the very propaganda feel of the Vikings

like Vikings are always bad watch out for them

like Like I wanted more from all of those little

stories I guess to make it feel like one big

complete story that I could understand Yeah,

and I guess that's what I was saying where I

felt like it If my one complaint would be like

it touches a little bit on a lot like it kind

of steps its toes and little different elements

here and there where it could you can get that

where maybe not everything's completely flushed

out, but I guess the overarching relationships

with like the the kid and his family and the

message it was going with kind of Hit with me.

And like I said, I think the biggest thing I

really liked about it was just the animation

style I know if that's like like samurai Jack.

I love that style too. That's kind of why it

Disappeal to me like I can like Stick with an

animated film if it's not great if I really like

the animation So and that was kind of the case

with I still I don't think it's a bad movie.

I do like it I don't think I'll make my top ten

decades so far, but uh, I think Any of those

issues that I would normally have on like a live

-action film I can easily forgive when I'm kind

of digging the animation Is it just because I'm

an old man that I don't like that animation style

as much maybe I feel like it's because of what

I grew up with. I don't know. What are you like

five years older than me? Yeah, I'm just saying

like you grow up with different things in your

childhood and I don't know if that kind of helps

shape what you What you like and what you don't

like I don't know like it reminds me a lot of

like I don't know even like the Madeline type

of style where it's not everything some of the

The motions aren't really finite. I don't know.

To me, it reminds me of a lot of childhood stuff.

That's why I tend to enjoy it. Right. What kind

of overall score would you give this one, Dan?

I think I gave it similar to Book of Life. I

liked it more than the Book of Life, but I gave

it pretty much the bad thing about score if you're

limited. But I gave it a 3 .5 out of 5. Okay.

Matt, what about you? Like I don't want to give

it a good like a very good rating because of

the things I said but like those seem Half of

them at least are personal or it's like I wasn't

super excited about it But I could see like all

of Dan's points are also relevant. I think I'm

gonna give it a three three out of five Okay,

and this one to me. It's just a hard one to judge.

It's I don't necessarily I think there was like

really bad things about it. So I don't want to

score it like a bad score, but it wasn't something

that I think was like the greatest thing I've

ever seen or anything like that. So I don't want

to give it like a great score. So I'm probably

somewhere real close to the middle. I guess I'd

probably fall in the two and a half range maybe,

a real high two and a half, if that makes sense.

So that's kind of where I'm at with that one.

Were there any other films that we missed out

of either one of you guys before I get into the

other one that I had for homework today? Actually,

I watched Thor 2 again, I forgot to mention.

It's still Thor 2. Dan, what about you? Anything

else for you? No, the only other stuff I had

was for our list, so I'm holding on talking about

it for now. Okay. The other piece of homework

I got from Dan for this week, since Secret of

Kells was actually last week's homework, was

a startup starring Jack O 'Connell from 2014,

which was, Dan, your number one film of the year,

correct? Yeah, it was at the time. I don't know

if it would be now, but it's still gonna be up

there. Like I said, though, I feel like it's

a movie that, there's movies that just hit me

in the right spot, and that was one, so. And

I can definitely see why. This film is all kinds

of intense and I will say that I think I've heard

this when a couple other people reviewed it and

I will agree with them that it's probably a film

that you should turn subtitles on immediately

at the beginning if you have that option. For

a couple different reasons. Number one because

of the accent and number two just because the

dialogue that's being used is obviously not something

that a lot of Americans would be used to. different

words are used more freely than what we're used

to and other words are used in place of words

that we would use instead so I think it's something

that subtitles are necessary for and it doesn't

take away from anything I know a lot of people

hate watching movies with subtitles I don't think

it takes away anything from the film but obviously

for those of you that don't know and I'm very

late to the party since this is a big film for

last year but start up is the term for when a

minor in this culture is being basically transitioned

into an adult prison so instead you know our

version of instead of being like in juvenile

detention where you're actually in you know an

adult prison system and Jack O 'Connell of course

plays the the young kid that's in this system

and it just kind of goes through his his life

adjusting to that system and kind of the different

interactions he has with with the other inmates

and with the staff there etc and I don't want

to give too much away just in case there's people

that haven't seen it because I know fellow it

did somewhat fly under the radar for some and

especially those that aren't doing movie podcasts

or listening to movie podcasts you might not

be familiar with it and it's available on Amazon

Prime for free and I definitely think it's worth

a watch I really like the I know this is kind

of a cheap word to use to describe but I like

the realness Of this we kind of talked about

that a little bit when we talked about August

Osage County last week I just like the the real

human element of this film and It doesn't pull

any punches dan you'd agree with that. Yeah for

sure. It's it If It feels like you're you know,

you could be watching it It doesn't feel glorified

or it's not like a hollywood hollywood ice in

any way like the the prison It's a depiction

of prison life. It feels like it is true to form.

And the guy who wrote it, he has background as

someone who worked in the prison system. And

I feel like that comes true. There is one character

that I feel is a little bit cartoonish and out

of place, like the one warden that I had an issue

with. But overall, though, like the relationships,

especially the counseling scenes, which were

some of my favorite of last year. I just it felt

like it was coming from a place of honesty and

a place of where someone who was been in those

situations and knows what they're really like

because it's it's it was interesting in how like

how intense they were and like how just the one

wrong word could could really just set everyone

off and just it was like I think you said intense

like that it has that near nearly throughout

the entire movie and uh and I and I love Ben

Mendelsohn in it too like the dude is like five

foot he makes Tom Cruise look tall but in that

like he just carries around with him this like

sense of all -mightiness that he'll do whatever

he wants and he can get away with it and you

buy it completely. At least I did. I thought

him and Jack O 'Connell, they really made the

movie for me. Well, I think outside of maybe,

like you said, some of the actual prison staff,

like the warden, for example, and maybe a couple

other of the actual staff, outside of that, the

acting in this film from top to bottom is absolutely

ridiculous. They are right on. Not just Jack

O 'Connell and Ben Mendelson, but the other inmates

are phenomenal. Especially those that were in

that counseling session with Jack O 'Connell.

I thought they were fantastic. And I agree, those

are some of the best parts of the movie. If you're

someone that shies away from movies that touch

too closely upon real issues and real human life

and kind of the... Not so pretty nature of some

things then this is definitely not a film for

you But I'm someone that usually is attracted

to those types of films because I like seeing

a level of realness in certain films and I definitely

got that from this film I don't think I would

say that it's my favorite film of 2014 but I

have a sneaky suspicion if I redid my list now

with everything I've seen that technically I

saw after the end of the year that this would

probably have a real good shot of sneaking in

my at least my top ten. I'd probably probably

sit somewhere in the forward Four and a half

out of five probably real close to four and a

half out of five on this one. I really enjoyed

it I thought there's some even some funny scenes

in this and some some humor that you don't expect

And I don't mean like funny like you would see

in any type of comedy movie But just some of

the lines that you hear and some of the things

that happen are just like so insane Yeah, funny

is absolutely the wrong word for me to use next

Well, there's a there's an innocent there's a

moment with a cell phone where it's just done.

So not shallotly It's just you don't even if

you don't even pay attention you might not realize

what exactly is happening in that scene and then

you're like oh that's where that came from. Right

and there's definitely a lot of moments that

some people may turn away from the TV and not

want to see so that's something to be aware of

when you're watching it but yeah like I said

I definitely like this one I would probably give

it a four and a half out of five so so definitely

appreciate that recommendation and finally forcing

me to watch that film which I had for no apparent

reason was putting off like subconsciously I

guess. And the last movie that we'll talk about

before we get into next week's assignment and

our main attraction of Insurgent, just because

I did see two films in the theater this week

and I want to give some opinions on this one

since everybody else was avoiding it, and that

would be Sean Penn's The Gunmen. We saw that

Monday night and... This is my first thought

and my first overall kind of synopsis of that

film would be that it was two -thirds of a fantastic

film And then one -third of a ridiculously Absolutely

terrible film So I was watching that film and

through two -thirds of it the first two -thirds.

I was completely sold I was completely connected

to Sean Penn's character and some of the other

characters and I was buying into everything that

was going on and I was almost getting like a

classic feel, classic from our generation I guess,

almost like I'm trying to think of something

else I can compare it to and I can't really think

of an appropriate film and it has nothing to

do with like the plot and it has no similarities

to a film like Heat or to a film like some of

those types of action films from that period

that Boondock Saints or anything like that. I

don't think it's a similar film to those, but

I almost got a similar feel to it for the first

two thirds. And I was all about what was going

on. And then the last third of the film completely

ruined everything that happened prior to that.

It gets almost comical, the things that they

decide to do and the contrivances that they take

to wrap this film up, that it just ruins the

entire film. and I thought it was super unfortunate.

I'm looking forward to hearing what other people

say on it, because I think other people may have

problems with the whole film, but I really actually

bought into the first two thirds. And it's basically

telling the story of Sean Penn, who was involved

with some undergoings at the beginning of the

movie and the life, I don't know how old he was

at that point, but in the first instances that

we see from his character, where he's in, you

know, a foreign country and he's posing as a

person that's doing humanitarian work and that

type of thing. And he's a part of an assassination

plot of a person of that culture who was high

up. I don't remember exactly what his title was.

Something of leader of the mining. I don't remember

what the title was, but he's involved in an assassination

plot on this individual and then it kind of fast

forwards Six or eight years. I forget the number

I think it's like eight years into the future

where he now on his own is doing his own humanitarian

work legit He's not posing as anybody. He's not

got any type of secret special ops CIA slash

whatever, you know Interpol nothing like that.

He's just legitimately doing some of his own

humanitarian work And basically there is an attempt

on his life, directly connected to the moment

that we had seen eight years prior. So the story

kind of sets up as Sean Penn then trying to figure

out who knows about that event, who's possibly

out to try to kill him, and what is the situation

about that. So he's reaching out to his former

comrades and the only people he knows that knew

about that. that assassination attempt and basically

trying to find out who's after him before it's

too late. I know a lot of people, myself included,

kind of thought this was like Sean Penn's version

of Taken. It has nothing to do with that. It's

far from that. I don't think there's really any

correlation to Taken or any of those other movies

that have been similar to that. And I just found

it interesting through that first kind of...

Section of the film to try to see how he was

going to trace back And who that we had previously

been exposed to was good and who maybe wasn't

good Who was alive still who wasn't alive and

that type of thing and the kind of the connections

he makes there is a romantic angle involved because

he was a he was seeing somebody and kind of developing

a relationship with somebody in the in the first

occurrence the eight -year prior occurrence that

he had to abruptly end because of of what happened

and he had to basically leave the continent so

he never got to kind of tie that ends up and

it just kind of goes through the rest of the

story and the big problem is with the climax

when he finally gets kind of face to face with

the person that is trying to hunt him down and

everything that happens from that point out is

kind of joke a joke unfortunately the movie is

portrayed and advertised as starring Idris Elba

that is false Idris Elba is not really in this

movie And nor is that you just trying to like

say that so he doesn't get points taken away

I feel wronged that I'm gonna lose points because

Idris Elba's name is attached to this film as

a star and Legitimately saying that there was

no need for him in this film. He is on screen

for less than 10 minutes He has probably less

if you take one scene out he has less than 10

lines And it could have been played by anybody

like absolutely anybody So that is false advertising

and I am pissed off about that but it also has

Javier Bardem in it and His scenes are probably

the best scenes of the entire movie so if you

do watch this film at all watch it for Javier

Bardem's performance and Watch it for the first

two -thirds and then as soon as it gets going

shut it off and and just make up your own ending

so I'll probably give this one a two out of five.

So two out of five for the gunman. But if it

was just the first two thirds of the movie, I'd

probably be at like a three and a half to four

out of five. So all right. Dan, any homework

for us this week? Yeah, I was gonna actually

split it up this week and. For you Kevin, I was

thinking of talking about movies in 2014 that

a lot of people are talking about and be curious

to hear your thoughts I think it's still streaming

on Netflix and that is blue ruin Okay, it's you

know crime film was getting a lot of praise last

year came out around this time last year and

Yeah, I definitely wanted to see that so I like

that and Matt I think actually I talked to you

about this movie previously. I think you might

like it I don't know I could be completely wrong,

but that's the movie grabbers, which is on Netflix

currently Yeah It uh, it's it's a sci -fi comedy

kind of in the vein of Shaun of the Dead or just

it's kind of wacky and like Yeah, I don't know.

I like it. I thought it was a fun movie. Hopefully

I'm not wrong. I could be I tend to be We'll

see nonsense. All right, Dan for you hmm thinking

about A couple different things. I'm thinking

about some of the lists that we're doing later

on and hopefully trying to find something that

you could watch that maybe not will make your

list but something that would at least be in

the discussion. I gave you an animated film last

week so I won't do that this week. We were talking

about comedies a little bit ago and trying to

decide what qualified as comedy since it seems

to be one of the weaker genres in recent years.

Have you, and I know you have seen some of the

other films by these individuals, but have you

seen the film Date Night? No. or not. Okay let's

go with Steve Carell in Date Night and I'd like

to get your opinion on that. Okay. So all right

so that leads us into our main attraction of

this week and that would be the Divergent series

Insurgent because yes unlike other podcasts we

are not afraid to both watch it and review it.

I'm just kidding, guys, from In Session, etc.

But Dan, I'll let you start first. What are your

initial thoughts on both? I shouldn't back up

a second. I did also watch Divergent this week

in anticipation for Insurgent. But going into

this film, Dan, what was your thoughts on the

Divergent series in general? My feelings were

that I didn't really have strong feelings either

way, to be honest with you. I saw the movie last

year. I'm seeing it in theaters. way after it

came out. And it was, I don't know, it was fine.

Like I didn't hate it. It just kind of, to me

it was just kind of existed. It was nothing really

stood out to me. I liked shaking like Woodley.

There was things I liked about it. There were

other things I felt were just, you know, they

were just, the word that always kind of sticks

in my head is like vanilla. Like their head and

shoulders above like Twilight, but. The thing

about Twilight, though, is that it's just so

bad that it's rememberable, which isn't how awful

it is. But with Insurgent, it's just kind of

mediocre, I would say. I just, I don't know.

I just didn't really appeal to me a great deal.

So I wasn't super excited for the Insurgent series

or the Insurgent reboot. Like, the main reason

I went to come see it, my wife's a fan of the

book. She actually likes... In the movies too,

so I I don't know and I guess I like this one

more than the last one Did you want me to talk

about the second one too? Or just the first one?

Well, we can get into that in one second I'm

kind of in somewhat of the same boat as you like

I wasn't necessarily like wowed by anything on

the first one I enjoyed it as far as an entertaining

movie that I could just escape in and see what

the world is that they're creating. Something

that I always enjoy out of a first film of any

type of franchise building type of venture is

discovering the world, whether I enjoy it or

not, but just discovering what they're setting

up, what the scenario is, who the characters

are, what the backstory and the backdrop of the

world are. I got that. I enjoyed that part of

the first one. I agree that they're much better

than the Twilight films. I guess my biggest thing,

and we'll get into this when we get into the

talk about the actual Insurgent film, was I do

understand on a certain level why people like

The Hunger Games so much, but me personally,

I just don't see that vast of a difference between

all of these different types of films. Whether

it be Hunger Games, the Divergent series, or

any of the... I mean, I know some of the other

YA films based on books or whatever have been

terrible, but outside of those terrible ones,

I don't see the big, vast difference between

them all. They're basically a very similar story.

Just take specifically Hunger Games and Divergent.

They're a very similar story. They're a similar

discussion on... Clut the class system and and

you know different forms of government type thing

and and then on also, you know ulterior and not

ulterior but alternate storylines on you know

from an individual standpoint and kind of the

strengths and weaknesses of the individual people

and kind of their journey which is a totally

different story, but I just I Don't necessarily

get like it. I'm not convinced that if diversion

had come out first that we wouldn't be flip -flopped

on singing the praises of Divergent and pooping

on The Hunger Games. I know I'm in the minority.

I guess for me, when it comes... First, I'm not

a huge lover of The Hunger Games films. I didn't

really like the last one all that much. The first

one was... It was okay, and I did like the second

one with Catching Fire. I forget the name of

it, but... For me, I think the thing I like about

the Hunger Games more, there are two major things.

One, I find it has more interesting characters.

Like there aren't any really characters I find

all that appealing in Divergent. They all seem

to, there's nothing, there's no one that stands

out, but even like the side characters, but in...

Hunger Games, I find there are characters I enjoy.

I like Woody Harrelson's character, mostly just

because it's just Woody Harrelson. Stanley Tucci's

a little fun. Elizabeth Banks' character's kind

of wacky. To me, there's more colorful characters

that kind of go along with it that keep me at

least interested, where the Divergent series

doesn't necessarily have that. There's no one

that really stands out to me that's all that

interesting. I 100 % agree with you on that standpoint

from a standpoint of like the adult characters

and from a standpoint of the side characters.

Like all the people you mentioned are phenomenally

colorful characters and I think you're right

that it does add a nice level to the Hunger Games

that the Divergent series is sorely missing because

the Divergent series gives us no, whether it

be in the form of the adult characters or supporting

characters, you know, if you take out the main

Whatever three four or five kids that are involved

like outside of that. There's nobody that they

even give us to That's interesting or to look

at maybe outside of Kate Winslet's character

So I get what you're saying with that my problem

more so is with the actual main focus of of each

film being the kids like if you're if you're

judging it on like the peripheral and and the

side characters i agree hunger games has way

more to offer yeah but my problem is the relationships

between the actual main characters in the hunger

games i just don't buy i hate the performances

by josh hutcherson in almost every single film

so far yeah i don't disagree with that i guess

the the relationships i feel Work or at least

with I find Katniss is a more interesting character

than Chainley Wendley's character. I think both

are good I think they're both great actresses

but for me Katniss has like her emotional core

to me makes more sense because it's just like

she's just trying to Really help her like help

her family and I think there's it For the first

time at least that like it's a relatable. It's

simple it it even with all this like like random

like why this they would even put kids in this

in this island to kill each other like like all

these issues that i find with it i feel at least

like she has an emotional center like even the

relationship she gets with that real character

i felt there's at least something there i never

get that with like anything in the the divergent

series like even the family dynamic i feel is

it doesn't really hit me as nearly as much with

that one and i agree yeah pita and um jennifer

lawrence's like cat and it's their relationship

is it Like that was my hugest issue with the

third the last movie was that I never cared about

that relationship and when it was That became

like the factor that movie was centered on I

just like I didn't like another it never mattered

to me So why should it matter now? the thing

I liked about it in the first movie and somewhat

in the second was like what they did with it

like the like how it was almost They played on

the fact that they had no chemistry was like

almost like a it was like a political gain or

like a strategy they were using so It almost

felt like that was purposeful but so much so

that when you got to that third movie and now

we're supposed to actually buy the fact that

they actually care about one another and that

Katniss and PETA are supposed to be this tight

-knit group or whatever it never never really

had any impact, but I guess I Just found what

they did with it in the other movies a little

bit more interesting where you have the relationship

and divergent And I don't get that. I just I

just feel like it's just a simple love story.

And it's it's, you know, a young adult novel

meant for teenage girls. So I find it. But, you

know, as a 30 year old guy, it's not all that

appealing. Right and and to me it's kind of like

what I was saying I don't you put all these films

None of them are are four out of five or five

out of five for me and none of them are You know

one or two like they're all like two and a half

to three and a half like they're all in the same

boat I can't get excited about any of them, and

I don't hate any of them. Yeah, I would I would

agree like it's You know, it's big reason we

go I go see them It's because it's at least something

I can get a little bit of enjoyment out of and

so can my wife So it's like, you know, it's a

good it's a good compromise movie for me Okay,

so then getting into when you saw insurgent you

said that you had thought that it was better

than the first one So what made you like insurgent,

uh, even if it was mildly better What made you

think it was better than divergent? I guess because

there is less focus on the world a little bit

because I find the the world of divergent just

The logic of it bothers me the more I think about

it. And especially even at the end of the second

movie, I just, I'm like, I don't get the point

of all of this. That's like my biggest question.

I just felt it was faster paced and the first

film felt like an introduction. It felt like

an origin story, a lot of training montages.

I like that there is this movie actually. you

know there was it didn't do that it felt like

the you kind of got more into the world a little

bit a little bit um i still wasn't a huge huge

fan of it mostly because i guess i said like

the world doesn't make sense to me and within

that i don't understand the motivations to nearly

anyone and and what they do what why they do

it besides shane lean woodley's character like

myles teller his character it feels like it just

uh glorified plot contrivance where he just does

what the story needs him to do at that moment

and even with like your brother this the same

way i just i don't know like i feel like things

just happen and i mean you can you can say that

maybe the hungry games is guilty as that as well

but i just for me i at least I felt more was

happening this movie, but I didn't understand

nearly why near anything was happening the way

it was. I don't know. I just I felt like and

now I know why how people feel when they watch

comic book movies and they're like, I don't get

who any of these people are. That's kind of how

I felt often in this film. I can I can see that,

too. And I do agree that it seemed like there

was more to latch onto in this film. I thought

it was an improvement on the first one as well.

I was curious for you. because one of the big

themes throughout this film and maybe to its

fault maybe more of a theme than it should have

been but one of the big themes is reality versus

what's going on in your mind or what's going

on in these simulations like this virtual reality

world and What was your take on? Because I think

there's there's part of it. That's good There's

part of an entertaining aspect of as an audience

and as a viewer trying to figure out what's real

and what's not and and trying to Kind of go along

that thing that that journey with the character

and kind of putting yourself within somewhat

in the character's viewpoint But then I also

think that it's there's a danger when you use

it as much as this film does Were you? Turned

off by how often we have to kind of balance between

the line of reality and virtual reality or did

you think they did that? Well, I don't know I

I never necessarily bothered me per se it I Don't

know if I say they handle it. Well, I just maybe

it wasn't Something that happened a great deal

I I guess like the ending it and there's never

a moment in which I was ever unclear When we

are in reality and when we are in the the simulation,

even though they try to play with that It's kind

of it to me. It felt obvious when it happened

um, I don't know it it feels like a conceit and

In that way where it's like its biggest like

these great act like all this action or all these

all this like great it's just It makes me ask

a lot of questions regarding like, you know,

they're trying to unlock this glorified time

capsule and because she's going through the simulation,

but it's based upon her own self. But then it

makes me ask questions like, why would they?

How would they even design this based up? You

know, like it's just like for for this person

Like why would they like what if she was just

a normal human being and didn't have these issues?

Right. Yeah, so it just it seems like a cheap

way to get to some of the conflicts without having

to have any of the ramifications of what happens

when you address those complex so I that that

to me seems it and it just it comes out as nothing

but an excuse to get these kind of crazy like

matrix style type of action sequences and i don't

know necessarily if you need that like it i don't

know they were you know they're pretty to look

at some special effects were done decently but

i don't know to me it just felt unnecessary The

one effect that wasn't done well, I thought,

was the number of times that we got a 360 shot.

Good God, that was starting to annoy me by the

end of the movie. And I'm not trying to sing

the praises of this film. I think there's a lot

of holes in here. And even some nitpicks that

you could throw out there. I mean, there's one

point where I was going to rename Miles Teller

Miles Teleporter because he's in one room with

Shailene Woodley. Oh, yeah. And then he immediately

is in another room. And I don't know when that

was supposed to happen. Yeah, I noticed that

too. I'm like, did he walk through the glass?

I think the biggest thing for me. And and why

I kind of like was on Twitter why I was bringing

up the hunger game references was because Even

though I like a lot of the side characters I

like the adult characters and I probably like

the world that hunger games is taking place and

better I Did I just don't buy? the relationship,

like you said, between Josh Hutcherson and Katniss.

I don't buy the relationship between Liam Hemsworth

and Jennifer Lawrence, and I just never could

buy those relationships between the main characters.

I do buy Katniss' relationship with a lot of

the other people that she's like in the actual

Hunger Games with throughout the series, but

I couldn't buy her relationship with her and

some of those main characters, whereas, and I

don't know if it's just a factor that they somehow

tried to find every... character that shyling

with these every actor that i would be start

with in a film uh... but i could buy it even

though miles teller character that he said i

do think that characters have a lot of issues

but one of the issues to me was not the believability

between her scenes with him but i bought i bought

the relationship between miles teller and shyling

with the i bought the relationship between the

canceling uh... in court and and shyling with

the and i bought the relationship between phil

james and shyling with the uh... as far as something

that was being acted in a believable fashion

and being portrayed and presented to me in a

believable fashion um... outside of what you

said a couple condrivances with miles tellers

character and and maybe one with her brother

torque you know towards the second half that

i i definitely had an issue with but that's just

something and maybe i'm just not a josh hutcherson

and fan but i don't think it's limited to him

in the hunger games but yeah i i think the issue

about The Hunger Games is that they're trying

to play both sides where it's like she doesn't

it's only for the games But maybe it isn't but

uh, I don't know. I I see I do like to like the

conflict between Myles Taylor and Channing Woodley.

There is some amusement there though Like the

the one line he throws out in the beginning of

the film just to me seems I don't know like again

It's one of those like he's just there to push

things forward at times Theo James like the the

actor I find he just feels like just one of those

guys like a Sam Worthington or even Jai Courtney

who was in this too or like it's just one of

those place filler guys who just you know he

has that look and he to me has no personality

I can't even think of a like a trait that I would

use to describe him so I don't know that I didn't

really their relationship to me was on the same

level as the relationship between Katniss and

Hensworth in the other film. You get more of

it, but I still don't get the reasoning behind

it or feel there's anything really there. They're

telling me there is, but I don't feel like that

chemistry is nearly as strong as the film needs

it to be. To me, those are all the... I agree

with you that the brother relationship makes

more sense, and Miles Taylor and her have at

least, if anything, they probably have the most

interesting relationship in the entire movie,

but besides that, again, the connection between

the characters is just not there for me. Do you

think there was, lastly, before we move on here

and give our scores and whatnot, the way they

ended this film, were they trying to safeguard

for the possibility of not doing a third film?

No, it is how the book ends. I asked my wife

who's read the books and she says it's it they're

pretty similar to to to the way that It and it

ends the same way. So now but it does almost

and like it could be the end of the story. Yeah

in my shoe I Didn't really touch on this but

my shoe was even a lot of these stories is how

sometimes the mystery gets in the way of motivation

and I don't understand The reasoning behind nearly

anything that's going on because I feel like

everything is being weighed to be told to us

like The whole like the I a lot of this is focused

on this box that's being opened up, but we have

no idea What that box can do like the the range

of it can be anything from just like, you know

An old facebook message to like the world ending

so with have like I don't even know why caitlin's

wintland's character even wants to open it up

if she's just curious because it seems like Right

that is a problem because she seems to think

like this is gonna be like some type of powerful

force that she can use for her benefit And she

has no idea what it's gonna be. Yeah, and it

seems like she has everything she needs because

she's in control She's gone gone away with what

she gotten she's gotten away with but and by

seeking this power She's just putting herself

in more jeopardy and the only thing I can do

is change the status quo exactly what she was

a fan of and I guess my other issue with the

movie is that It's like the I don't want to get

spoilers but again like I waiting again I had

to wait to the third movie because when we find

out what we find out I'm like didn't what's the

point of any of it? Like it's like what is like

if this is what you're going for. It seems like

it I don't know. It just it's I'm just confused.

I guess it just seems like it the logic behind

everything seems It's a long way to go to get

to where they got to if what the message plays

out the way it does. So it just I feel like that's

really cryptic, but I don't want to spoil anything.

So I think the third film will be very or third

or fourth. I don't know if they're splitting

it up into two. God, I hope they don't because

they need to stop doing that. But yeah, I just

that's my biggest issue is that they're waiting

that like reveal what why things are happening

the way they are. But by waiting so much and

having so much that you don't know. nearly everything

just seems to be pointless. Yeah. Overall, what

would you give a grade for it? The Divergent

Series Insurgent. That name's never gonna not

be funny. I gave it a two out of five. Okay.

Probably just a notch above you here. I'd probably

go with a two and a half. But like I said, Think

that's where all the films are like the best

of these two series might give me up to like

a three and a half Yeah, I mean the best one

so far is the Second Hunger Games the first one

and then probably the first Hunger Games and

then probably this one. So yeah, and I'm with

you I didn't like the third Hunger Games at all.

So All right, so that's where we're at on that.

Before we move on too far, let's get a quick

look at what you guys could be looking forward

to in this next week of movies, starting with

some Blu -ray releases that are coming out on

Tuesday. If you're looking for something to buy,

the biggest releases coming out to Blu -ray on

this coming Tuesday, March 31st, would be The

Imitation Game, which obviously had a lot of

Oscar buzz and awards that were handed to it.

Wild starring Reese Witherspoon. The Interstellar

Combo Pack. I missed this one in theaters last

year. Island of Lemurs Madagascar Combo Pack.

And Hayden Christensen and Nicholas Cage. Matt,

I know you're excited for this one coming out

on Blu -ray on Tuesday. Outcast. That was quick.

So anything there worth buying, Dan? No. Fair

enough. And then for those of you wanting to

decide what you should go to the theater this

weekend to see, like I said, the biggest releases

would be Home, the animated film, and Get Hard,

starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Also, even

though it's been on demand, maybe released in

some places. Serena, which I would avoid, like

The Plague. While We're Young, starring Ben Stiller.

And some other smaller that I am looking forward

to it's no a bomb back who who's done a few things

that's put in the well and Francis Hall, so I

am looking forward to that and Something that

we didn't do at the beginning because I forgot

and I'm a terrible person That I said that we

would be doing just to give you a quick look

at the Rotten Tomatoes scores of those films

that are just being released but before that

Not much changed after more reviews came in insurgent

is at a 31 % the gunman is at a twelve percent

uh... do you believe is that a fourteen percent

the the big difference there was that the gunman

actually had a fan response of only thirty five

percent which matches it with unfinished business

and the lasers effect is three of the worst fan

rated movies of the year so far nice so not much

to see in that in the form of that if you're

looking at the movies that are uh... that are

coming this week to try to decide what to watch

Not much getting better as far as Rotten Tomatoes

go. Get Hard is currently at 29%. Home is at

a 40%. Serena is at a 22%. I think you're right

there, Dan. While We're Young is at 82%. But

that's really limited right now. I think it's

like New York and LA. Right. So if you live in

one of those cities, go see that. Otherwise,

I guess you can take your chances if you're a

big time Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart fan, or just

a fan of animated films, but they don't look

like they're getting that great of scores. look

at a actor spotlight when we covered Will Ferrell.

And our question last week was, who else would

you like us to cover? And we did get a couple

of responses. One person named a whole bunch

of people, so that would be hard to get to all

of them. But we did have a few responses from

the website as to people that they thought we

should do a spotlight on, one of them being Tom

Cruise. Which I'm liking that because he does

have a very varied career. So I like that selection.

And that kind of fits the mold of what we're

going for. Someone that has a big enough filmography

that you can kind of find good and bad from.

I'll just go through the names of some of the

other ones even though there are a lot of them.

But Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Hardy, I think those

might be a little bit harder to do. Gary Oldman,

Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Ryan Gosling, Ryan

Reynolds, Leonardo DiCaprio. Jonah Hill, Emma

Stone, Tilda Swinton, Meryl Streep, Julie Roberts,

Sandra Bullock, and then someone added Harrison

Ford to the list. So a lot of names there. So

we'll take that into consideration when we go

to do our next actor spotlights. The issue with

doing Bill Murray is that they're all good. So

it'd be hard to get. Yeah. There wouldn't be

much on the bad end of that. As for a question

for people, this week, Matt, we haven't given

you much of a chance to talk, so I know that

you've been sitting in the background and coming

up with a great question for the folks this week,

right? I was looking at cat gifs. Because of

the cat happenings in the background. We left

you out in the dark too long and you've been

relegated to your own inner pleasures there with

the cat gifts. I do have a question if you don't

have one. Go ahead. We talked about Jennifer

Lawrence and the fact that she might be doing

a new Marvel movie from actual Marvel Studios

and if there's a character that you would like

to see Jennifer Lawrence actually play. Good

one. So, we know it's not... Well, I mean, we

obviously threw out the ones that you guys said

that you might not be able to see her in. So,

what are the other alternatives that she could

play if she was to jump ship and go over to the

Marvel Marvel, which I guess is how you describe

it. Marvel Square. So great question for next

week and next week we will be going back to something

that I think a few of you enjoyed that we started

a few last month which was our top look at the

decade so far and we're going to do another one

of our top ten list from the last five years

and we'll be covering the comic book movies with

next week's episode so we did science fiction

and fantasy last month we're going to be covering

comic book films this next week, so that's something

to look forward to. Dan, do you have anything

else to say before we close out the show? Oh,

I will be on an upcoming episode in Session Film,

which should be released on Monday, so look forward

to that. Excellent, excellent. Matt, what about

you? Anything that you'd like to say about the

week before we close it out? Nate and I, who

some of you out there may remember, are working

on a new project, but that's all I can tease

for now. Alright, so I have to wait and see what

that might entail. So, thanks as always for joining

us here on Weekend at the Movies. Obviously,

you can contact us and get in touch with us in

a bunch of different ways. Best thing would be

to go to GeekCastRadio .com, find the episode

post, and get involved in the conversation that

we have there. We respond to everybody that posts

there, for the most part. You can also visit

the Facebook page by searching GeekCastRadio

Network. The Twitter for the network is at GeekCastRadio.

Mine is at Optimus Solo. Dan, what's your Twitter?

I am at Movie Revolt. And Matt, what's your Twitter?

I am at FridleyScent. Okay, so that does it for

this week, and we will see you next weekend for

another episode of Weekend at the Movie. That's

right, today it is... Oh good lord, no it's not

today. Don't read the same thing you just read.

And I'd like to talk about the rumors about...

Sorry, I was pulling up a new story and then

I came up. That's alright. I will say that it's

a film... Jesus. Everyone okay? Yeah, I think

my cat just tried to commit suicide. Alright.

She's stuck behind these two dressers, and she

just jumped to try to get out, and it didn't

work. And then you left her. I will continue.

All right. But this movie was all kinds of intent.

Now if you're someone that... Jesus. She's up

now, so it's good. I'm gonna take a quick second

and let that damn cat out of here. Hold on. Hehehe.