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158 - Robocop (2014)
139 Plays1 year ago
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."
After an entire month of remakes, we're turning our attention to… [checks notes] …another remake! That's right, in honor of the release of RoboCop: Rogue City, we're talking Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, plant-based cheesesteaks… heck, we're even answering that age-old question: "Who would win in a fight: RoboCop or the Terminator?"
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Transcript
00:00:19
Speaker
I'll say good for you.
Introduction and Podcast Theme
00:00:34
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the disenfranchised podcast where that podcast all about those franchises of one those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I am your host Stephen Foxworthy joining me as always the man who will always buy that for a dollar. It's my co host Brett Wright. Hey, Brett. Hello, Stephen. How are we doing tonight, buddy?
00:00:59
Speaker
Doing all right, man. Recovering from an illness. Yeah, we heard all about that. It made you go a little crazy, didn't it? A little bit. Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit. I don't want to talk about it. As long as you didn't end up like those people in Iowa, then I think we're OK. I prefer to avoid Iowa at all costs.
00:01:22
Speaker
I mean, you and me both, although next year it will be unavoidable.
Introducing Guest Co-Host Tucker and His Travel Tales
00:01:26
Speaker
Anyway, also joining us, it is, well, look, it's the man who can never forget that time that RoboCop shot that dude in the dick. It's our other co-host, Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hey, you know, I was in Pennsylvania and the original crazies takes place in Pennsylvania. Well, yeah, so what's wrong with you?
00:01:53
Speaker
as he stops to hack his lungs out. I was trying not to call. That's what all that was. I just wanted to fill the time and I need to talk so that I could cough and I failed. You did. I failed horribly miserably. The lesson is never try. But I was in Pennsylvania this week, briefly for a few hours layover. Yeah, and it sucked because like
00:02:20
Speaker
I had to get up at five o'clock in the morning, get on a plane at eight o'clock. That's a bitch, man. And then I got to Pennsylvania and it was like nine o'clock and my other flight didn't leave until like one thirty. You can't even get like a cheesesteak at that hour, although if you waited long enough, you probably could have. But yeah. Hey, man.
00:02:40
Speaker
Everything opens up at like 9930. So I was sitting in a bar like 915 having a Stella. Hell, yeah. Because you don't play when he travels. How I'm going to have a cheesesteak, Stephen, explain that to me. Just say I would like a cheesesteak and then they give you a fucking cheesesteak because it's Philadelphia. Oh, dude. No, dude. Unless that airport sucks.
00:03:01
Speaker
No, man, you know, I can't eat a cheese steak because got steak in it. Oh, that's right. I would be ill. You're one of them vegetarians. Look, I was bitten by a vegetarian about a decade ago and I turned. I don't know what to tell you. You're telling me at an airport they wouldn't be able to make you a vegetarian cheesesteak. Yeah, I'm telling you that you would think that there would be more vegetarian.
00:03:24
Speaker
More coughs. Vegetarian options. But there are in fact, coming to Indy, I was at the Boston, the Logan, the Logan Airport in Boston.
00:03:40
Speaker
Right. Been there. Nice. And I wanted to get some food, some lunch, and there were three different places that advertised a plant based burger, which is what I wanted. I didn't really want pizza. I wasn't in the mood for pizza. I thought about it. In fact, I texted Stephen about it. Because there was a Wolfgang Puck place. Yes, that was that was what that was about. OK, yes. And it was the text was if Wolfgang Puck were to make a pizza, would I want to eat it? Yeah.
00:04:08
Speaker
To which I said absolutely. But yeah. So and I wanted to. And surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. I believe it's like it was like mid.
00:04:21
Speaker
for an airport, for how much it costs. And that's always the balance at an airport. And with something like Wolfgang Puck, it's gonna cost way more than it's probably worth. Well, and it was like 15 bucks a slice. But- I'm sorry, for a slice? Yes. I mean, it's a big slice, but- It's A, Wolfgang Puck, B, airport. There you go. The reason I say it's mid is because one of the places I was gonna get a burger
00:04:49
Speaker
wanted twenty five dollars for a damn burger. Mm hmm. So those East Coast elites. I went to this little kiosk place and I put my order in and I crashed the system. And so I tried on the other one and I crashed it again. And then when they finally rebooted, the option just wasn't there. Oh, fuck. So like they didn't really didn't want me to have it. So then finally I sat down at the Sam Adams restaurant. So I was like, oh, cool. The Sam Adams restaurant, they probably got all the shit on tap and they did. And I was going to get a beer and
00:05:18
Speaker
some mozzarella sticks. And the Boston brick red is my favorite beer to get in Boston because it's only available on tap and only in the city of Boston. And I fucking love it. It's a multi red delicious thing. Sorry, they had that. But anyway, so I was giving the guy my order and I was like, let me get that possible border, dude. And he was like, yeah, we're out of that.
00:05:41
Speaker
I was like, oh, well, I guess I just wasted everybody's time, including my own. Got my ass up and found the cheapest slice of pizza there was and got two of them and very grumpily ate them.
00:05:57
Speaker
That's the move. So, you know, plant based options. And I did look at a few places, Brett, to to kind of, you know, sort of I don't want it to seem like I didn't want a cheesecake, cheesecake, cheesesteak. I mean, look, cheesecake, cheesecake. Right. Who doesn't? And and look in in my omnivore times in the before times and a long, long ago.
00:06:23
Speaker
Your boy loved himself a cheesesteak for sure. Would you like, if I were to like marinate some mushrooms and like cut them up and like fry them up and put cheese over them as kind of a pseudo cheesesteak, would that be a decent substitute or would you want something more? You know, that does sound good and I would want to try that, but there also are plant-based steak strip options. Okay. Like vegetarian steakums.
00:06:51
Speaker
Yes, like from some of the the better companies that are known for the accuracy and taste, I've just never gotten them just simply because I don't know what I'd put them in. And like I normally don't have all of the other ingredients that I need for a cheesesteak. Like I'm not regularly buying hoagie buns and provolone cheese. We got it. Yeah, you got to plan ahead for that shit. I'm just I don't know. I've just never put forth the effort. I could do it.
00:07:17
Speaker
Easily, but then like I'd have to buy a pack of six buns and a whole thing of the steak and like who knows how long it would last So I'd have to eat them like all in one week like I do when I make vegetarian chili dogs You gotta eat it all up man. It's like two hot dogs a night for like three nights It's exhausting it's good Yeah, absolutely, but hey, you know what I
00:07:45
Speaker
We're here to talk about something other than plant-based cheese sticks. Are we, though? That's a good point. Yeah, I guess we are. No, we are. No. Oh, we are. I really like this movie. I like it a lot. That's true. So Tucker, what movie are we? We've basically gone from a whole month of remakes and we're closing out our month of remakes to talk about another
RoboCop Remake and Video Game Anticipation
00:08:06
Speaker
remake. Tucker, what remake are we talking about this week? We're talking about 2014's Robo
00:08:13
Speaker
Yes, in anticipation of the release of RoboCop Rogue City, we are talking about Jose Padilhas.
00:08:24
Speaker
Jose, I'm so sorry. Jose Padilla's Robocop from 2014, written by Josh Zetumer, Ed Neumeier, and Michael Miner, and starring Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abby Cornish, Jackie Earl Haley, Michael Kenneth, Williams III, God, I love that man, Jennifer L.,
00:08:48
Speaker
or L.A., L.A., again, sorry, Jennifer, Jay Burichelle, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Garcia, and Zach Grenier. What a cast. Gentlemen, what a picture. Yeah, dude, it's really good.
00:09:04
Speaker
This cast is kind of insane. I had no idea. Yeah, it's it's stacked to the extreme. Now, this is for I mean, this is a this is a fallow period for a couple of these people. But yeah, no, it's a good cast way into it. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well. Look, Robocop, what do we think about Robocop?
00:09:30
Speaker
What are your opinions, gentlemen, about the RoboCop? Brett, what is your history with RoboCop as a movie, a franchise with your history with this film in particular? Lay it on me, man. Tell me about you and the RoboCop.
00:09:45
Speaker
Zero Zilch, not a, um, I did not- For real? This is the first Robocop movie you've ever seen? Oh, no. No, no, don't get twisted. I've seen the original Robocop, but like- Okay, okay. I don't care about it. I don't care. I don't know how many ref reverence for it like other people do. Oh, I breath. I mean, it's fine. Yeah, but you still think it's pretty good though, right? Like you don't hate it. It's all right. I don't know. I don't hate it. It's all right. Like you dig it. That's cool. Yeah, that's fine. You don't have to love it? No, I certainly don't.
00:10:15
Speaker
I mean, if anything, I probably hold the opinion that it's overrated, but like, oh, okay. I mean, I don't know. I just did like it. When's the last time you watched it though? In total fairness, when's the last time you actually watched it?
00:10:31
Speaker
It's like why am I gonna watch the movie that I think is not that great again? I already have trouble rewatching movies. I do like so Sometimes and first of all I get it I do sometimes though if I hear enough people sharing an opinion about a movie that I dislike I'm kind of curious to rewatch it so I can see if maybe I'm wrong Because look I've been wrong before will be wrong again. I
00:10:55
Speaker
But I'm just like, could I have missed something in that first watch? Sure. I'm not usually like that at all. But the reverence for Rubbook Up is just kind of so ubiquitous that I have even less of an incentive to listen to that.
00:11:16
Speaker
You know, everybody says they love it. It's like Nirvana. Um, everybody loves Nirvana says they're the greatest thing that ever happened to music. I mean, look, with the lights out, they do look pretty dangerous. I, I don't like them at all and think they're absolutely overrated. Well, that's pretty stupid and contagious. Probably a lot of people agree with you. Um, sorry. No, I think, I think that your thoughts are valid, Brett.
00:11:46
Speaker
I understand what you mean, but I would I would urge you at some point to rewatch the original because I do think it's something that. Particularly, I would say if you've not seen the director's cut because the director's cut, it's almost a completely different movie. Is it, though?
00:12:04
Speaker
Maybe I haven't seen it enough. I've watched. I've had the Blu-ray of the director's cut for a while, but I've only watched it maybe three times. That's the version. I've seen the theatrical cut a bunch of times. I will stand by the director's cut of RoboCop.
Collecting Physical Media
00:12:18
Speaker
OK. I have the criterion DVD of that. I need to get the arrow Blu-ray, but for the longest time, the criterion DVD was the only way to watch the director's cut of RoboCop. And I think to date, it's it is definitely the version I've seen the most.
00:12:34
Speaker
Yeah, it was released by. Criterion. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The company that made the film was that MGM. It was the one I have is just MGM. It's Steelbook. Oh, OK. It contains the direct. What does it let's you know what?
00:13:02
Speaker
Let's let's go over to Tookie's Blu-ray corner. Let me snatch that real quick. Look, we are we are physical media apologists on the show. We do love us some physical media. And so we are collectors and dare we say connoisseurs of physical media. That is a beautiful looking steelbook, I will say. Tucker's collector's edition collection. Yeah, Tucker's collection edition collectors.
00:13:31
Speaker
Uh, this is, this says directed by Paul Fierhoven, Robocop unrated, directors cut on the back. We have little mister, I can't fuck with stairs. I had two Oh nine. Yeah. Love that guy. Stairs. One of my compute. One of my very best friends had two Oh nine. And then there's just this. So I don't know. I don't know what the special features are. I might, you know what? I might pop it in at some point later.
00:13:59
Speaker
Mm hmm. And then amend the show notes. OK. What's on this? Right. Because I know there's I remember that there's stuff on this. I doubt it's the same. Maybe it's the same as the criteria. I don't know.
00:14:09
Speaker
I don't know. I again, I love my old school criterion discs. I've got a few of them. I've got the original Silence of the Lambs release. I've got the Robocop release. I've got Armageddon, the third man. Like I love collecting old out of print criterions. It's like a thing. But my only out of print one is the man, the man who fell to earth. Oh, yeah. The Nicholas Rode David Boy film.
00:14:37
Speaker
I have the complete thing, too. I have the DVD two disc set. Oh, nice. And it came with the novel. Like it was a box set with the novel from Criterion.
Opinions on Movies and Music
00:14:49
Speaker
The novel, too. I have the complete Mr. Arcadin from Criterion, and it also comes with a novel. That's so rad. Of like Mr. Arcadin short stories credited to Orson Welles, but probably ghostwritten by someone else. It's great. That's literally why I bought that movie. Like I was probably Sam Goody or something.
00:15:07
Speaker
And I was like, wait, what is this movie? And why does it come with the book? Yeah, I just bought it. Yeah, that's what you had to do back in the day. Like you didn't have the Internet. You know, you couldn't like look at movie reviews. You couldn't look shit up like while you're standing there at the store. You couldn't take your phone out of your pocket and look shit up. Right. No, dude. This was like 1997, dude. I get it, man. I remember 1997. I'm old enough that I recall
00:15:35
Speaker
Tucker, what's your history with the Robocop? Well, the Robocops, I always liked the Robocops because I would see it on television, particularly on USA, the USA Network, like extremely, extremely edited. I've heard characters are welcome on the USA Network. They are indeed. You know, they used to show Dawn of the Dead Uncut at midnight. Really? Like once a month.
00:16:03
Speaker
Yeah, something that cable channels do because since cable channels are pay channels, they don't have to abide by FCC regulations at all. Right. None of them do.
00:16:17
Speaker
So a lot of cable channels back in the day at night would show uncensored content really late at night. Like Comedy Central used to show the South Park movie completely uncensored. I remember they did all the time in the 90s, not another teen movie uncensored, except they actually did censor all the new today, which was like half the reason I was watching. So what the hell? Understandable.
00:16:42
Speaker
But yeah, uh, so, but I saw a very neutered version of it, but I still loved it. I was probably early teens. And then finally I was able to see it. I got it from the library. I think a VHS copy. And I thought that was rad. And then I had the DVD for a number of years. And then I bought this steel book. It's something that I'd say I probably watch about three times a decade. Nice.
00:17:11
Speaker
On my own, like if if I'm in proximity of someone who I'm showing things to, like when I live with Jimmy, I show him shit constantly. I don't doubt that even a little bit. And it's great. I love having someone to like show my favorite stuff to. It's like you guys, too. Like I said, that's what my that's what my fifth Thursday is. That's me just like trying to share some really cool stuff with you guys, you know, because that's why that's why we give you the time, man. That's why we give you the time.
00:17:42
Speaker
Yeah, so I watch it probably about three times a decade. And I think that it's a five star film, the original. I agree. I'm I won't. I won't say that it's perfect, but it's damn near close. It's it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. And the more I read about it, the more I like it. Yeah. Which is why when this remake came out, I did not expect anything from it because this was a time 2013
00:18:10
Speaker
For the last decade, it started with horror movies and then TV shows and then everything else followed. The remake train just started rolling forward. This motherfucker came out and I'm like, great. Fucking RoboCop. Perfect. Yeah. The creative bankruptcy of Hollywood on display for all to see. But honestly, to be fair, it has given us a reason to do this podcast. So. So when it came out, when it came out, I was given a digital code
00:18:39
Speaker
for it because my current roommate was working as a manager at Family Video. And so when she would get
00:18:49
Speaker
the Blu-rays and the DVDs, she would give me the digital codes, which is why there's so much random shit on my voodoo. There is a lot of random shit on your voodoo, and I appreciate that about you. So random shit that I don't even like, but one day I'll be drunk enough to watch it and like have a great time. You know, like the Easter dog, I'll be like, it's time. One day, it's going to be really drunk to watch the Easter. Yeah, it's going to happen one day, though. I know I'll be there, man. Might be rock bottom, but I'll watch it.
00:19:17
Speaker
Look, it's going to happen. Look for that episode coming in April. No! Though I would watch it for this pod for sure. I definitely would. We need to get hop out of the way first. Hop is a priority. I have that too. Randomly. Randomly. I was going to say, the one you absolutely need to watch though, because you would fucking love it, is Friends of Eddie Coyle.
00:19:41
Speaker
Dude, I'm going up, man. I'm going to so hard. Like, Tucker, this life is hard, but it's even harder when you're stupid. Look, it's never been. Higher on my priority list, as far as films go, I almost watched it the other night, but then I just got that Blu-ray of out of sight and. Oh, yeah, you did get that out of sight out of sight, dude. That's such a it's just a Michael Keaton reprising his role as Ray Nicolette.
00:20:09
Speaker
I don't know. It's a high stakes movie, but at the same time, it's such it's just such a fun and kind of wholesome movie. Well, I mean, it's Elmore Leonard. You got to love that. You got to appreciate that. I love it. But yeah, so I just I got it and I've got a backlog of stuff that I purchased and I need to watch. And my rule has always been when you buy it, you fucking watch it because why the fuck did you buy it?
00:20:35
Speaker
So I'm trying to watch it when I want to. That's no. You got to make sure that you at least watch it when you get it. I think just to kind of reset the clock on it just to make it worth the purchase. But I've still got the trial following. I haven't watched. Mm hmm. Fucking Lebamba, all criterion releases that I've gotten in like the last two or three months that are just not Lebamba.
00:21:05
Speaker
sitting there in a pile on top of my DVD player. OK. And yeah, I had some time and I watched out of sight and I should have watched Friends of Eddie Coyle. But anyway, I got this just randomly as a digital code and I didn't have any expectations for it. I love the original. And finally, I sat down and watched it one day just out of curiosity.
00:21:33
Speaker
And gosh, you guys, it's it's so darn good. It's so gosh darn fucking good. Yeah, you really like so much. You were praising this one while you were watching it before Brett and I had even gotten a chance to watch it. I think this is the movie up there like with the crazies and to a certain extent, Last House on the Left and Hills Have Eyes, just examples of how you do a remake. Hmm.
00:22:01
Speaker
That's how you do it. If you're not doing it this way, then why are you fucking doing it at all, Gus Van Sant? I'm looking at you, psycho. Like, come on, man. It's on our list. Maybe next October we cover that one. Maybe we'll just do non Romero remakes. I'm looking at you, Dawn of the Dead. I love you, but you're not Dawn of the Dead. Mm. Like, change the name to Dead of Dawn, humans, zombies. I don't know. Dead of Sunrise. Yes.
00:22:30
Speaker
Dead by Dawn. Well, but then that would be a reference. Oh, sure. That's true. And also there, I think there have been a few films called that anyway. Evil Dead 2, I think, is subtitled Dead by Dawn in some in some markets in all the markets, dude. But anyway, yeah, I think this is a really good example of how you do a remake really, really well. And that's my history with the Robocops. I don't like the sequels. It's at Paul Wellers and to the TV show, the cartoon.
00:23:00
Speaker
was cool when I was a kid. The Prime Directive TV show is pretty cool for what it is. Actually, I urge you guys to watch it. But yeah, I love this remake.
RoboCop Video Games Discussion
00:23:09
Speaker
Steven, go with your history. I bought the Criterion DVD at a disc replay in Greenwood, Indiana. And good old disc replay. Yeah, man, I would I would scour this. I would spend upwards of half an hour, 45 minutes in disc replay, just scouring for any criterions I could find because you usually get them really fucking cheap there.
00:23:37
Speaker
And I found the criterion of Robocop and I was like, Oh my God, this is on my list. So I grabbed it and I bought it and I took it home and and watched it pretty pretty immediately and really enjoyed it. And I have rarely revisited it since maybe once or twice since.
00:23:55
Speaker
I was going to watch it this week in advance, but I got distracted by life things. So I did not get a chance to rewatch it for this episode, but I think I want to watch the rest of the RoboCop franchise sometime between now and the end of November. You got to watch that TV show, man. I mean, it's late 90s syndicated.
00:24:23
Speaker
action television but for what it is it's kind of impressive it's not great television but like i say for what it is it's worth looking at a few of them and they're all movies basically they're all hour and a half episodes so there's like three of them in a season kind of like sherlock okay i can date um but yeah check a couple of them out maybe look to see which are the highest rated and check a couple out because it's definitely worth looking at oh gosh is it
00:24:52
Speaker
That's my question. Oh, it might be on YouTube even. Let's see if it's streaming anywhere like legitimately.
00:25:00
Speaker
A robo cop for rhyme and directives. It's on to be. It's on to, of course, it's on to be. God. God bless to be. God bless to be. Can I just say that? Can I say that? I wish you would. You have multiple times. God bless to be. I love to be. And Robocop the series from the 90s. I don't know if you guys remember that. It's akin to The Flash.
00:25:28
Speaker
from the 90s and its production values. I don't remember that at all. I don't remember that at all at all. Yeah, dude, it was airing around the same time the cartoon was like Robocop three was coming out. You know, do you remember the cartoon? Should we cover Robocop three on the on the Patreon this month front end franchise? Call up our buddy Brian Kuiper. Look, I would, but I would want to do like a deep dive on
00:25:55
Speaker
like the whole shit show that was the making of it, including like maybe seeing if we could dip into the comic that was made from Frank Miller's original screenplay. Look, I am all about reading the comic. You know how I love comics. So yeah, Steven's comic book corner. But yeah. Yeah. How many corners does this fucking room have? But yeah, I don't know. I'm just saying I'd be into that. But let's let's ban meeting about that via group chat.
00:26:24
Speaker
Yeah, this is time or the place for that conversation. Thank you for bringing that idea, because now we have the idea. Yeah. And look, as with all Fred Decker movies, we got to get our buddy Brian Kuyperin on that episode. So, yeah. Right on to patrons. Maybe that's coming this month. Who knows? Not me. But yeah, like fucking RoboCop, we're we're talking about a robotic cop like that's
00:26:53
Speaker
That's a pretty cool idea. It's pretty rad. It's pretty rad. You were talking about your history with the film, Steven. You didn't mention your history with the Rebank.
00:27:02
Speaker
Uh, this is the first time I've seen it. I saw it for the first time for this episode. I saw the trailer for it in 2014. Uh, and I was like, Oh, I'm glad that Michael Keaton's getting work. Like I haven't seen him in a while. And then later that year, he was in one of my favorite films of the 20th, 21st century so far. Birdman, Birdman. I, I, I like Birdman. I know a lot of people hate Birdman. I really like Birdman. Show me one person who hates Birdman.
00:27:29
Speaker
People hate Birdman, man. People don't like it. I love Birdman. I thought I saw Birdman in the theater and it blew me away the day it came out on Blu-ray. I bought the fucking Blu-ray like I loves me some blue, some Birdman. Ooh. But yeah, too. Girl, me too. You too. Bert.
00:27:51
Speaker
Have you ever seen birdman? It's really good. Look, you're are you a fan of the 89 Batman? You're a fan of Michael Keaton as Batman in general. Yeah. It's kind of very much a meta commentary on that. Yeah, like a deconstruction of like
00:28:11
Speaker
him as an actor and how a success in something like that has affected him. And it's really, really interesting. And I would recommend it to you. You may not love it, but I think you're at least going to like it. It's Michael Keaton. It's Edward Norton. It's Naomi Watts. Emma Stone.
00:28:29
Speaker
Emma Stone, Andrea Rice Burrow, Zach Galifianakis. It's got everybody's in it. Really fucking solid cast. It's really good. And it's good, man. It's just Michael Keaton is always a win. Name one time where Michael Keaton is not a win outside of white noise. Jack Frost. Multiplicity. I mean, but Jack Frost for the lols, though. Jack Frost, do you know the story of Jack behind Jack Frost?
00:28:56
Speaker
You know who was originally supposed to be Jack Frost? Who was it, Steven? If you look, if you look at a picture of Jack Frost and I tell you this name, you'll absolutely see it because it didn't have Jason Alexander. No, it's fucking George Clooney was supposed to be Jack Frost.
00:29:15
Speaker
And they designed the snowman to look like George Clooney. Does he, though? I don't look at look at look at Jack Frost. Oh, I've looked at Jack Frost. No, look at him. Look at Frost for the lols. So I assure you, I've seen that film multiple times. Look again. But no, they designed it like George Clooney and then Clooney dropped out of the project. I think because it was so close to Batman Forever, he kind of like pulled out of all like
00:29:42
Speaker
family shit and they got Keaton. Keaton spends a good time in like, actor jail, I guess. I can't really think of any other way to put it. No, he's never really down and out. There's always an undercurrent of Keaton. He has his peaks, but he's always there.
00:30:03
Speaker
But like he he has this really like miracle run through the late 80s, early 90s. Like he is he's one of the guys like it's particularly I would say starting with probably Beetlejuice. Like he's on the ascension. Johnny Dangerously, Gung Ho. Yeah, you do like Mr. Mom and stuff like she's having a baby. Mr. Mom. Yeah, he is a leading man before he gets Beetlejuice.
00:30:29
Speaker
But he's I mean, he's largely a comedy guy. He gets Beetlejuice and that kind of takes him to another level. Then he gets Batman and that takes him further up still. He's like on top of the world. And then he gets nuts. And then you want to get nuts.
00:30:45
Speaker
Let's get nuts. He's in Batman Returns in 92. He also is the English voice of Porco Rosso in 92 as well, which I that is one of my favorite jizaki films and maybe my favorite film of 1992. I love Porco Rosso. Porco Rosso rules. That's a huge statement. It is. He's in much ado about nothing in 93.
00:31:09
Speaker
multiplicity in 96 inventing the abbots he's the narrator Jackie Brown in 97 desperate and then desperate measures in 98 feels like he's on the way out he follows that up with out of sight the previously mentioned out of sight yeah
00:31:28
Speaker
One scene. He has one scene. He has one scene playing the same, playing the same. Because he played Jackie Brown. Because here's the deal. Like he's trying to date Jennifer Lopez. And he's not. Who's not trying to date Jennifer Lopez? She's a Texas Ranger and he's a federal agent. And her dad, played by Dennis Farr- Dennis Franz?
00:31:54
Speaker
Uh, no. Farina? Yeah, there you go. I love Dennis Farina. God, that man. Oh, I love Dennis Farina. So it's him and Michael Keaton having an awkward conversation about cop stuff. That's amazing. And it's wonderful that if you've not seen out of sight, I haven't seen your ass. Get thee to a DVD re and watch that movie right now.
00:32:23
Speaker
After out of sight. So the same year he does desperate measures with Andy Garcia out of sight. Oh, yeah. And Jack Frost, all that in the same year. Fucking it. Yeah, it's good. And then and then he kind of disappears. He does a shot at glory in 2000. The only thing he does in 2001 is an episode of The Simpsons. The only thing he does in 2002 is a TV movie called Life from Baghdad and an episode of Frasier.
00:32:50
Speaker
didn't realize that he had been kind of out of it for a while. Like he kind of drops off after after 90 after 97 like that's why I said Jackie Brown is kind of the end of his run. And then he like he kind of disappears and I'm not entirely sure why first daughter in 2004 white noise in 2005.
00:33:14
Speaker
You guys, you see white noise? Show of hands, who's seen white noise? Not me. Just you. Nope. And you know what? That movie will go down in history as being the worst film to ever have an amazing trailer. Boy, I went to the theater to see that because it looks so fucking good. Nathan Fillion's in the sequel, I think. Yeah, he is. Nathan Fillion is in the sequel. Direct to video, and I've heard it's better. Sure.
00:33:43
Speaker
He's also in future episode of this podcast, Herbie, fully loaded in 2005. He's in cars in 2006. Yeah. And then he just kind of like kicks around a little bit. He's the voice of Ken in Toy Story three in 2010. He's the police captain in future episode of this podcast. The other guys. Well, yeah, you guys love that movie.
00:34:08
Speaker
I'm OK with it. I got it. I'm thinking of it. It's all right. I'm thinking of the nice thing. You're thinking of the nice guys. That's a different. I get those mixed up. You're nice guys. I do. Feral Mark Wahlberg. That's the yes. The Adam McKay and Eva Mendez is somehow Will Ferrell's wife. Sure. Somehow. Yeah. Why not? And that's the whole joke of the whole movie. Correct.
00:34:32
Speaker
But like, so he kind of languishes between 98 and 2014 and 2014. He has his comeback. He does Robocop. He does future episode of this podcast need for speed, which I know Brett is kind of itching to cover and he does burden. I've heard it's bad. And then he does the founder and that was really good too. I mean, look, need for speed is a video game movie, but I don't like racing games.
00:34:55
Speaker
I like need for speed. I like hot pursuit. I like playing as the cops. Look, whenever the next Fast and Furious movie comes out, we will either cover need for speed or Hobbs V Shaw. That's what we'll cover. I don't want. Please don't make me do Hobbs V Shaw. Look, at some point speed, please. At some point I don't want to do it. I'm not excited about it. That's all.
00:35:20
Speaker
And after that, he's back like he gets Oscar nominated for Birdman. And so after that, he's got he he does a voice of one of the villains and minions. He's in spotlight, which he also I think it's Oscar nominated for the founder Spider-Man Homecoming like Dumbo. After that, he's back like he's doing shit again. Trial of the Chicago Seven. Like he returns as Batman in the flash future podcast like wait.
00:35:50
Speaker
where like Michael Keaton fully comes back and Birdman is largely the reason. You think that's his comeback? I think so too. I didn't realize when I made my initial statement, I didn't realize that he had kind of dropped off there for a few years. I mean, more than a few years, like it was the better part of a decade.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah, that he was kind of out of the out of the public eye like. And there was a time when I would have considered Michael Keaton one of my favorite actors. In fact, I think he's incredible. I think he should have won the Oscar in 2014.
00:36:22
Speaker
He's really great. He's really good in this too, especially in the scenes when him and Gary Oldman are bouncing off each other. I think those are some of the most electric scenes in the movie. Definitely not when it's him and Joe Kinnaman because Joe Kinnaman. Look, I will say Joe Kinnaman is perfectly cast in this movie.
00:36:42
Speaker
Yeah, because of how robotic and wooden he tends to be. He's just a dude. He's just a fucking dude. And that's why I think it works for this movie. He's just a fucking dude. Like, there's nothing special about him. He definitely works better here than it does in something like the Suicide Squad. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, like, bless his heart for trying. And like, we love him. But like, right.
00:37:06
Speaker
This is more his shit. The stuff he's asked to deliver in the first Suicide Squad movie is just untenable. That dialogue is untenable. The fact that he is saddled with so much exposition and just plays the very boring, regular everyman doesn't do him any favors.
00:37:31
Speaker
his first leading role in a movie, but this was very much at the time when Hollywood is trying to make Joel Kinnaman happy.
00:37:38
Speaker
And he is just one of those very bland everyman actors who kind of looks like every other actor of his generation. Every dude like he has the most like like standard face and pictures and body type. And like I say, I love it. I'd love it for this role. I think it's perfect, especially the way that it's written. The role is written in this movie. He's.
00:38:03
Speaker
Pitch perfect, nobody else would have done it. The platonic ideal of a Hollywood leading man is what Joel Kinnaman is. And it's like him, Charlie Hunnam, Jai Courtney, like all these guys that they try to make leading men in Hollywood and it just, for some reason it just doesn't connect. They can't, they don't always crack the code. No. And, but he is very much one of those guys and he has had so many at bats like leading movies and it,
00:38:32
Speaker
it feels like it almost always falls flat. I think James Gunn kind of helped him a lot in the Suicide Squad. Yeah, I thought he was good in that. It was definitely like kind of a redemption, not only for his character, but for him as an actor. Yeah, agreed 100%. Brett thoughts on Joel Kinnaman.
00:38:56
Speaker
I had no idea who the guy was before now. You just made me realize, oh, he was in the Suicide Squad. That's him. OK, cool. That's him. Yeah. Right on. Neat. That's that guy. But no, he's a Swedish actor and he's in like so I looked at his IMDB profile and he is in a ton of movies there. I don't know if there's I think there might be Swedish films.
00:39:19
Speaker
But he is in a ton of these Johann Falk films that I'm assuming are Swedish made for TV or direct-to-video movies. He is in so many of these movies, just as like one of the guys. His first American film looks like the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the David Fincher film, future episode of this podcast, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
00:39:46
Speaker
But he's also like his big break was in Easy Money, which is a Swedish film. There are a couple of sequels to that. He's in this Johan Falk franchise that I did not even know until now was a franchise. He's in the Swedish show The Killing, which I've heard is amazing. I have not watched it, but I've heard it is very good. But this is his first American like leading role.
00:40:11
Speaker
Leading up to this, he does Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2011, along with The Darkest Hour, also in 2011, and Safe House in 2012. And then after that, it's a lot of Swedish stuff, mostly Johann Falk stuff, and a couple of Easy Money sequels, and then he lands RoboCop. He's also in the Terrence Malick film Night of Cups.
00:40:34
Speaker
And then he's in child 44 and the suicide squad in 2015 and 2016 respectively. And yeah, it feels like he's one of those guys that Hollywood really wanted to try to like push and he just never really connected.
00:40:52
Speaker
never found the right project or never found the right project that found the right audience. Right. Never found the right role that connected him to to kind of a larger thing. But I mean, I don't think he's bad. Like, but he is very the stuff that I've seen him in, which is to say the Suicide Squad films and this.
00:41:10
Speaker
He feels very stilted, very wooden. And so it feels like he's kind of the right guy for something like this, where that definitely assists. That definitely helps him.
00:41:25
Speaker
I think it's perfect. Now, he's I will weller. But no, but I will say he those transitions only work because he makes them work like the transition from when like he's there turning like when he first comes back and he's all disoriented and he finally agrees to do the thing. And then he comes back and he's talking to his partner and he's being real cool and stuff. And they turn down his empathy all the way. And he's like very robotic.
00:41:54
Speaker
And then eventually he gets it back up and he comes back. None of that would have worked without just those subtle changes in his movements, like his, his, the way he talked. I'm just really blown away by him in this movie.
00:42:09
Speaker
I think he's I think he's doing OK. But again, I I can't help but constantly compare him to Peter Weller. And who doesn't fall short when compared to Peter Weller, you know? Well, it's a different it's a different kind of performance because it's a different kind of character. Like this is a perfect remake because it takes the source material and it updates it.
00:42:35
Speaker
obviously visually and with the writing and with the pacing and everything updates it. But not only that, but it puts kind of its own spin on it, which is that the original is a social satire.
00:42:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's Verhoeven. It's fucking satire. And everybody does to me right now. Starship Troopers is a satire. And if you don't know, one does dark satire. You're in quite like quite like Paul Verhoeven. Yes. But this movie is not a satire. It is a straightforward commentary. Yeah.
00:43:13
Speaker
they're not it's not that's that's what makes them so perfect because the original can always be better because it is but this movie is still great because it does something different with that idea and does it really fucking well in my opinion and see i i'm i i go back and forth because there are moments where i thought the commentary seemed to really
00:43:39
Speaker
really, really good. And there are moments a little bit ahead of its time, too. And there are a lot of times where I thought it kind of fell flat. Like, I mean, blue or Black Lives Matter starts the year before this, like it kind of starts rolling in 2013. So like Black Lives Matter is kind of a thing. But the idea of police brutality continues and police overreach continues to be a theme even into the modern day.
00:44:09
Speaker
And you've now got like movements like. Antifa and. Which is not is a movement, not an organization, let's be very clear on that and a cab like all cops are bastards, because of course they are like these movements. Yeah, gotcha. I don't know, even kind of robocop. No, because I was going to say, no, look, look in in this movie, he does.
00:44:39
Speaker
the thing that makes him not a bastard, which is he exposes all of the corruption. That's what makes every cop a bastard. Nobody, no matter how good they are of a cop, they're still part of an extremely corrupt system. And Robocop in this movie exposes that system, starts to tear it down. He does, but I don't think his job is done completely. Like the I know that's why we need a sequel. Give me sequels right now.
00:45:09
Speaker
Brett, you said Robocop's still a bastard. Why do you say that? Well, because, I mean, if we're including all cops, why are we not including Robocop? No. I just told you why. I just told you why, because he's like Serpico. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. He's like Serpico, dude. And you know why we don't have Serpico anymore? Because Serpico. That motherfucker got shot in the face. He did.
00:45:32
Speaker
in the motherfucking face, Brett, just because he was trying to be a good cop and like fight corruption and shit. But no, corruption runs deep in that bitch. That's why nobody says anything now, because you will fucking die. You will literally fucking die. Yes. And that's why Robocop is not a bee, because once he gets his empathy back, he takes care of shit. He solves his own murder. He exposes all the corruption in the Detroit Police Department.
00:46:02
Speaker
How can he be a bee? Except for the police chief. She doesn't get it. He doesn't get her to confess anything. He gets shut down before she confesses anything. Correct. I don't know. I'm just saying based on the the ending, like the news report at the ending, it seems like
00:46:21
Speaker
Well, it seems like we're getting a sequel to this movie and we're definitely not getting a sequel to this movie. That's why we're talking about it. I just want it so bad, though. I know that we're talking about it, but I wish we weren't right now. I understand different. I'm very indifferent to the movie, I think. Like it is good. That's fair. Like now post 2019, you know, post, you know, the.
00:46:47
Speaker
increase of eyes on Black Lives Matter like just all of like the protests and police killings and all that like I feel like the message of this movie is just like it's too gray now half the time I'm like I was like I know I'm supposed to be rooting against
00:47:07
Speaker
like Michael Keaton's character, but he's not giving me a reason to. Because he's Michael Keaton. I mean, until the end. Until, yeah, yeah. He does not giving me a reason to hate him until he gives me a reason to hate him. Yes, exactly. Which doesn't happen to like the last, I don't know, half hour. I don't feel like that's out of the blue, though. It builds up to it because he does some shady fucking shit. Some shady arguments in Congress are pretty sound like his arguments to Congress are like, but I agree with.
00:47:37
Speaker
Look, so even if he's like a super evil dude, because like even when he's making those straight up correct in some people would say arguments in Congress, he still knows that the police department is corrupt. He's got deals with all those people. He knows he's going to say he's he's in on it because he's in on all of that shit. Everything knows how bad it is because he's in on it. Right.
00:48:05
Speaker
So it's not like a heel turn at the end. The whole movie is telling you that this guy's a fucking piece of shit. No matter how right he is, he's a piece of fucking shit. I mean, he's hysterical, stereotypical tech billionaire. He's your Mark Zuckerberg, your Elon Musk, your what have you. I don't think that's very clear, you see, because I didn't know who I was supposed to be. Like, I didn't know who the bad guy was until really till the end when he becomes a full bad guy.
00:48:34
Speaker
And I would I would say that is a weakness of this film. Because even Jackie O'Reilly's character, you're like, OK, he's just kind of a dick. But, you know, after after the training exercise, maybe he respects him a little bit because he beat him in the training exercise. But now he just comes back as a straight up evil guy later. Correct. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
00:48:51
Speaker
Like what? Where did this come from? Well, and this is something that Verhoeven was doing in the original, like the the evil of capitalism, the evil of this idea that machines can supplant humanity. Like that was kind of the whole concept of the original Robocop, right? Even I remember that, but like, but that's nowhere in this movie at all. No, I agree. And another thing that's missing is Verhoeven creates Robocop as American Jesus.
00:49:20
Speaker
Like, there's a reason that Robocop literally walks on water during the final act of that film, and it's because for Paul Verhoeven, who has done, I should mention, very extensive research on the historical Jesus, like the character of the historical Jesus, has wanted for years to make a Jesus movie of his own.
00:49:45
Speaker
like he created Robocop as the American Jesus. That was the whole genesis of the creation of that. He is a cop who has guns and protects the interests of the American
00:50:00
Speaker
the American people, as it were, like that's his idea of what Americans think Jesus is. So that's why you have Robocop fucking walking on water in the final act of that film. And I think this movie does absolutely nothing with that conceit whatsoever, like the idea of someone being killed and resurrected. That's that's a type of Christ, as we would call it, to step into Stephen's Christianity corner here for a second.
00:50:29
Speaker
Let's mosey on over for a second. Just for a second. Not a Robocop episode, no less. I didn't have this on my disenfranchised bingo card. No, it tracks. But no, but this is Verhoeven. Like this is all Verhoeven's thing. Like this is what he this is his conception of Robocop. It was as American Jesus. So like his his whole concept of
00:50:52
Speaker
You know, the character, it's a man who dies and is resurrected. But because it happens in America, he's he's hyper violent. He's a police officer. And he is he's tasked with taking down corruption. The the twist at the end, which gets ignored in the subsequent sequels, is the fact that he retains his humanity, which I think is something this movie
00:51:18
Speaker
I don't think does as well as the original. The idea that he is fully machine who becomes progressively more human over the course of the film. Alex Murphy in this film is more. He's human from the get go, and then they can like.
00:51:39
Speaker
move his humanity with like a dialer knob on the on the on the switchboard like the the far side cartoon where the the tech like moves the band suck meter up now I got it like play with his humanity a little bit by like lowering his dopamine levels and making him more compliant and more machine like
00:51:59
Speaker
I feel like I feel like you're oversimplifying it. And I feel like that's another thing that builds up that that maybe since I've seen it a few more times, maybe I have had a chance to sort of like soak in. But they do it potentially times. It's not just the dopamine thing. Like they do it to him when they install the software that makes him think that he's making all the decisions in his belt, the thing that finally gets him approved.
00:52:25
Speaker
Do you remember when Gary Oldman's like we? Yeah, it's all A.I. Like he's not doing it, but we're like making him think that he's doing it.
00:52:33
Speaker
Right. Basically, it's all part of a software takes over. Yeah, it's all part of a process that gets to that point. I feel like that doesn't circle back. Like we don't revisit that again, which I feel like is a flaw in this movie. Like we don't like that. That feels like a flag that's planted. That's going to come up and be really important later. And then it doesn't. I know I just I disagree because I think that once he takes control back
00:53:04
Speaker
like that's resolved and i understand that it it goes a different way in the original but like i say this is this is not the original like the intentions are not the same and that's
00:53:21
Speaker
I think if they were, it would be boring. Like I said, I don't want to see another, I don't want to see this again. I want to see this, but different and modern. So I feel like, and maybe this is what it is. Cause I've been, even after the movie was over, I was sitting, was it going like, Oh, why do I not like this movie? What is missing? And I couldn't put my finger on it. And I just think it's because it's like, it's, it feels kind of half baked because like when he does wrestle control back. Right.
00:53:51
Speaker
It's such a big deal that they have to fix him and make him less human. And then when he wrestles control back, they just sort of forget about it. Like, why? Why is that suddenly not so important to them anymore? Well, I feel like that they would have to do something completely different, which with the pacing of the film, they do not have time to do because he's already figured out how to dial his empathy back up by himself.
00:54:20
Speaker
And shit, by the end of the movie, he's just ignoring his prime directives. Like, Alex Murphy is strong, man. Like he can overpower this, you know, software and this AI. Like, I guess he's got a strong brain or a strong will or I don't know what they're trying to
00:54:35
Speaker
convey there, but it's no metal. Either it's super subtle, and I just wasn't picking up on it, or that's what we're supposed to read into it, and it wasn't intended. There's no, I don't know. Maybe that's just me. Maybe that's a big problem. I don't know. No, I get it, but I think in this movie, it doesn't
00:55:01
Speaker
matter as much as it does in the original because I think this movie is, is focused on some very different things than the original is. And I think that's why I think it was a good decision that they bring him back human. And then he has to deal with his, you know, robotism, if that's what you want to call it. Um,
00:55:27
Speaker
And then, you know, he gets more robot and less robot and all that. I don't think it's for the same purpose as it was in the original. I think this story is more about, you know, his humanity. And if he spends most of the movie without it, and that's what the movie focuses on, like you're not going to have much to do there. Like I get, I get, I really do get why people
00:55:56
Speaker
are indifferent to this movie or maybe you know dislike it but I don't
00:56:03
Speaker
I don't think it's a bad movie. In fact, I think it's a pretty good movie. It's not as good as the original. Absolutely not. Like, it's at least a star and a half worse than the original spoilers. That's the thing. Like, I don't think it's a bad movie either. I just like it. It definitely does fall into indifferent. Like, I don't think it's bad. I just I don't know. Maybe I'm not articulating about it. I feel like I'm not because I just can't put my finger on what I didn't like about it.
00:56:33
Speaker
I just I can't there's something missing and I can't figure it out. I mean, for me, I feel like it could have done more. It comes at a point, I think, in American filmmaking, where it has an opportunity to say something about the modern state of policing. And it comes right up to the line of saying it without actually saying it.
00:56:58
Speaker
Well, because I think that that's a secondary, a secondary concern of the screenplay. I think the first social commentary, I'm saying the primary social commentary concern of the screenplay is global politics when it comes to policing. Like the whole RoboCop thing is a means to an end and the end is to make it so the whole world is policed.
00:57:25
Speaker
by omni core, like they're losing money just because the United States is not letting them is a primary social commentary of this film, then with that in mind, isn't the primary social concern of this movie like unchecked capitalism?
00:57:40
Speaker
Yes it is but I will also say I don't think that the social commentary is as big of a part of this movie as it was the original. I think like I was saying while you're taking a whiz there Steven that I think that this movie is more concerned with the characters and their relationships which is why I think that Alex Murphy is Alex Murphy most of the time instead of like the original where he's
00:58:04
Speaker
He starts as a robot and gains his humanity back eventually. He's literally only Murphy in the final moments of the film. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. And I think they did this differently in this movie for a reason because they wanted to concentrate more on the humanity of this guy who is just a face in a hand, dude. He's a face in a hand.
00:58:23
Speaker
and a pair of lungs. And some lugs, yeah, dude. Like, can you imagine that the body horror in this movie is like, it's so hard to sit through those scenes. Holy fuck. This is some Cronenberg level body horror in this movie. And it looks amazing. It looks really good. And like what he talks and like, you can see his throat moving and stuff. The thing that got me is as he's like,
00:58:51
Speaker
Coping like as he after he's seen himself and after he's freaked out. Holy Christ. There's nothing left
00:58:58
Speaker
you can hear his lungs expanding and deflating. Like it's this kind of like almost disgustingly wet like kind of noise that he makes and you can hear it in the pauses in his speech. And it happened, and literally they time it with every time he inhales and exhales as an actor, every time the actor inhales and exhales, they time that, that like,
00:59:26
Speaker
sound effect. That's some excellent sound design there. I'll tell you what. It's very disturbing. It is appropriately disturbing. I will say that 100. And then the other scene where like they're working on his brain. He's like talking to him while he's doing it. Right. I taste I taste around his brain. Yes. Like, oh, my God.
00:59:47
Speaker
It's horrifying. Right. I mean, yeah, there is some there is some honestly Cronenberg level body horror in this movie that I really did appreciate that that Verhoeven really leaves out of the original. Really, the one thing from the original that I wanted to see in this movie that I sadly did not do to get shot in the dick. I want someone to get shot in the dick. And I wanted it to be Michael Keaton. I wanted Keaton to get shot in the dick.
01:00:14
Speaker
I thought for a second that's where they were going with it. At the end, like as he's like slowly trying to raise the gun to counteract his programming, I thought he was going to clip Keaton's dick. Like, I thought that was where we were going. I wanted desperately to see Robocop shoot someone in the dick in this movie. No, it was Jackie or Earl Haley for me. That's who I wanted to see him shooting the dick. That's the one. Because he was the biggest dick. He was.
01:00:42
Speaker
And he should have got shot in the dick. I would have wanted that. No, but no, absolutely. Someone should have gotten shot in the dick in this movie. I don't I don't care if it was Haley or Keaton. Someone should have gotten shot in the dick in this movie. Or maybe in other references. I don't know why they could have done that one. Right. Dead or Alive You're Coming With Me is in this movie, which I wouldn't buy that for a dollar.
01:01:05
Speaker
Like I wouldn't buy that for a dollar was semi-forced, but it still worked. Yeah, it was better alive. We're coming with me. Oh, my God. And it was a completely different context from the original. And it worked. It worked. It worked. I think it worked because it was a different context from the original because you're not trying to play off of the original. You're you're using a line, the the iconic line from the original in such a way that it is. It's riffing on.
01:01:35
Speaker
The the original intention of that line. So I think that boys is how you do a remake Look we're an hour into this episode Everybody knows the plot of RoboCop. Let's move on. Okay. All right We don't need to do the plot in 60 for this one and you know what? I'm okay with it. Like we're 158 episodes into this shit and
01:02:01
Speaker
If we're going to skip the if we're going to skip the plot and 60 on one, it should be this one. Go to Wikipedia and read it if you're going. He's a robot cyborg guy. I told you this is going to happen. We're eventually going to stop doing it all together. Mark my words. Oh, no, no, no, absolutely not. I was about to say I don't want to make this a regular thing, but it's fucking RoboCop. Like, come on, he's a robot. He's a cop. You can kind of imagine where it goes. I also want to shout out
01:02:30
Speaker
My man, my boy, my ride or die, the late Michael K. Williams, Michael K. Williams, the third. I fucking love that man. I got so excited when I saw him in this movie and he does next to nothing in it. And I was so pissed off about that. That's that's my half star off on this movie is that Michael K. Williams is just disgustingly underutilized. Like when he's there, he's great. But when is he there?
01:02:59
Speaker
That's it. That's it. Like he's barely there. He's Lewis, too. Like he's he's playing the Nancy Travis role from the original. Or is it Nancy Travis? Am I? No, I'm thinking of someone else. I'm sorry. Who who played even look it up. It's not Nancy. It's a good. It's another Nancy. I don't remember which. So one that used to be married to Brian De Palma. I'm about to look it up.
01:03:23
Speaker
I am. I'm trying to remember it and I'm not going to. So I just think speaking of Nancy Allen, Nancy Allen. So I saw a tiktok the other day that somebody was pointing out that if she doesn't look at that dude's dick, we don't get Robocop. Yeah, I saw that, too. Yeah, I saw that. She glances at the just glances real quick and sets everything into motion. Mm hmm. She sure does. That's the that's the rat in in game, right?
01:03:53
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If he doesn't walk across that control panel, then we don't have a movie. Yeah, we got nothing. We're stuck. Yeah, I actually saw that tick tock as well. I don't know if you sent it to me or if I saw it independently. I feel like you and I run in similar tick tock circles, Brett. But yeah, well, I also know that if you if you're friends with people, their stuff shows up on your for you page and vice versa. Yeah. So sorry about all the cooking videos, man.
01:04:21
Speaker
I love the cooking video. That part of TikTok we're on the same side of. Okay, good. Allow me to apologize for the pro wrestling videos you probably get a lot of. You know, I really do. It's uncanny, but thank you. Now I know why. You're welcome.
01:04:38
Speaker
Thanks, buddy. It's how I keep up with it because I don't watch it regularly. Fair enough, man. Fair enough. Look, I like some of the older ones where they're like recounting the stories from the bygone years. Oh, those are great. Those are my favorite ones to watch. I actually do watch some of those. Yeah. Yeah, pretty good. But yeah. RoboCop man, fucking RoboCop. What if a robot was also a cop? What if we had a cyborg cop? What if that?
01:05:08
Speaker
OK. Half man, half machine. Look, all cop. I didn't want to do this, but I'm going to do that. Not the tag tagline. Half half half robot, half cop, all robo cop. I don't know. Mine was better. Mine was better. Is he the modern man?
01:05:28
Speaker
Secret secret. He's got a secret. I don't want to ask this question, but I'm going to ask this question anyway, because I'm morally bankrupt as a human being. Who wins in a fight, Robocop or the Terminator? It's interesting that you asked that question because I think we're going to move right on over to Brett's video game.
01:05:55
Speaker
I think the game is based on the comic book series If we're gonna move into the corner man, there's so many Robocop games Okay
01:06:16
Speaker
The arcade game, the Genesis game, the new game. So yes, there's a Robocop from 1988 that is in our beat-em-up, run-and-gun beat-em-up arcade game by Data East, which is pretty much just an arcade version of the movie. And then there's Robocop 2 for the Amiga Amstrad GX4000, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Boy, NES, ZX Spectrum.
01:06:47
Speaker
This is ZX Spectrum again. Oh, it is. I'm sorry. Yes. Oh, it's British, right? It's a British machine. You got to say it right. I was going to say, I think you mentioned both that system and that game on this podcast before, Tucker. Maybe every time that Brett says ZX Spectrum, I correct him. I feel I recognize that there's something like. At this point, I'd be really mad if if Brett said it right, because then we wouldn't be able to have our bit for that moment.
01:07:23
Speaker
Oh, hey man, watch out. You dropped something. I sure did. And I caught it before it hit the floor. Hey man, calm down. Take a deep breath. Look, I'm sorry I pronounced it wrong. Jesus. I'm just gonna throw shit for a while. Hang on.
01:07:37
Speaker
noted uh... so robert the republic up to game for all the cut home consoles was the sides for a platformer as they all were back then uh... robocop three came out in nineteen ninety one uh... published by ocean if you know you know uh... features multiple gameplay styles uh... during ninety two ninety three other versions consisting of side scrolling platform gameplay
01:08:08
Speaker
More released for the Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, and NES, Sega Genesis, SNES, and the ZX Spectrum. You son of a bitch. Not in the same episode. Come on, man.
01:08:23
Speaker
You know, you know you're being silly now. Now you're being silly. Sorry, I thought we were supposed to do a thing. The SNES version has what many consider to be extremely difficult gameplay. Yes, Doctor. Brett, it's the ZX Spectrum. Oh, okay. Sorry, I'll remember. You know, Brett, you're in America.
01:08:46
Speaker
That's true. Thank you, Steven. No problem. We're not in Great Britain. I'll pronounce it how I want. Mainstream. With the SNES version, many consider it extremely difficult, largely critically panned. Everybody hated it. Right. Yeah. Really terrible.
01:09:10
Speaker
They, they officially published that one later or the second Mega Drive and the master system. So there are two different versions of Robocop 3. When the master system version was likely just like a stretched out game gear port, which was the style at the time. Cause only a few countries where you've been making new Mega Drive games at that point.
01:09:35
Speaker
Right. Well, so there was the original Master System. Yeah. Every time I said Mega Drive, I meant Master System. Got it. So next chronologically.
01:09:50
Speaker
Um, is Robocop versus Terminator. We'll come back to that because I think that's the focus of this part of the discussion. Um, so we'll skip over that to Robocop in 2001. We'll skip over the focus of this discussion and talk about other things. We'll put it at the end so we can talk about it longer. Was that a PS2 game? X-Box. Uh, no. So this was, so this was a handheld game, um, developed by Titus software for the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance.
01:10:19
Speaker
Wow, this is off my radar. I'm really surprised there's one on your list that I don't at least have like a faint like vague idea about. So the Game Boy Advance version is pretty much identical to the original Robocop game, the arcade game. The Data East one? Yes. Fucking A. The Game Boy Color version was released later that year in May 2002. Titus unveiled more
01:10:48
Speaker
screenshots of the GBA version was expected for release in October 2002. It was ultimately canceled. So that may be why you're not familiar with it. It actually never got released. Well, it's tight. It's like they're doing their best. Bless their hearts. Sweet summer children. The little Fox logo like, come on, man. You look like a bargain basement studio man. Change that logo. Well, so when they came back in 2003 with another game called Simply Just Rubble Cup.
01:11:18
Speaker
Um, for Microsoft, Microsoft windows, PS2 and Xbox. Yes. Um, they released, uh, in 2004, they released a game cube version in Japan. Uh, that's why I never got it shut, which was called the Robocop or it's an R O Kiki, which translate to Robocop new crisis. I like the title though.
01:11:43
Speaker
The player controls Robocop to uncover a sinister plot involving OCP local gangsters dealing a deadly new synthetic drug and a powerful cyborg known only as Mind. As a last hope, Robocop must capture, destroy, or arrest hostile characters in a desperate search for clues and evidence.
01:12:02
Speaker
The Xbox version received unfavorable reviews, according to the review aggregation site medical. Yikes. Word. Word. And in 2004, we get another game simply titled RoboCop. They don't really try to mess with anything there. Another side. Same generation. The side scrolling action platformer. This one is a mobile game. Oh, yeah. I mean, oh.
01:12:31
Speaker
It's based on the original movie. Oh, I mean, oh. Wasn't there a light gun arcade game? At some point, no, I'm thinking of Terminator because there's so fucking many. You are. I'm sorry. Continue. That was Terminator. Salvation had had one and it's kind of amazing.
01:12:53
Speaker
Mmm, but continue. Yeah, I mean the terminator one was a classic. I played that one all the time That was heavy rotation like oh, yeah, and the t2 when they have both the t2 when and the salvation one at tappers They do. Yeah, dude. Yeah, cuz I mean, of course they have all the great arcade games from the 90s So, yes, so that one was the the developers
01:13:22
Speaker
was a digital bridges. They made a deal with MGM to produce video games based on their studios, film franchises. Apparently it's good though. It has a, got an aggregate score of eight and a half out of 10. That's not bad. I mean, that's 2004 though. So keep that in mind. Probably not available. Then we skip head 10 years, 10 years later.
01:13:48
Speaker
um a game once again simply titled rubble cup Where um was released for it's another mobile game, right? Oh, no mobile game first, uh is a free to play shooter game If they tie into the movie that we they were you're talking about today. Oh, sweet I didn't realize that this movie got any video game adaptations. That's pretty rad well, this was around the time where like a lot of
01:14:14
Speaker
Like if you think back to the 90s and a little bit of the early 2000s when they were turning every movie under the sun into a video game.
01:14:23
Speaker
Well, that was part of the marketing at that point. Like you had, that was part of the budgeting for the marketing for sure. So that came back later in the 2000s, 2010s. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. And it was just a bunch of mobile games. You get one. Oh, they weren't developing for consoles anymore. They were just like, we're going to promote our games. You had your, you had your Peter Jackson King Kong sprinkled in there. You did. You did every once in a while. Um, but it seemed the way, cause you know, phone, phone games were,
01:14:51
Speaker
or your Sega Sega developed Iron Man games, which are something there's something that some people enjoy. So they sure are.
01:15:04
Speaker
And unfortunately, though, it looks like the game is it really is just that straight up cookie cutter promotional game, because all it is is just like you're playing as Robocop going through training, fighting holographic enemies and robots in a training simulation. That's lame. I won't be a training simulation. I wish you do in a day. Real hard. Every, every Robocop game should include the option to shoot someone in the deck.
01:15:30
Speaker
if it doesn't it's not worth playing i mean i agree modern game back in the day like that's not as easy of a thing to do sure but if that new game doesn't have a dick shot like i'm not playing then what what are we even doing here why are we here shut it all down boys shut it no dick shot we shut it all down
01:15:53
Speaker
And of course, this probably just probably doesn't goes without saying it was full of microtransactions and oh barf. Oh, really? Yeah, a mobile game full of microtransactions. I can't believe you've done this. Are we going to mention? Are we going to mention both RoboCop and the Terminator and Mortal Kombat X? Yes, I was. Was it 11? Was it X or 11? It was X, right? It was 11. It was 11. You're right. Because you had like Freddy.
01:16:23
Speaker
in nine and then they brought all the other horror characters in X and then they did sci-fi and shit in 11. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's why they got the Xenomorph and you got Terminator and what else? So 10, 10 had Jason leather face, leather face and the alien, right? And I don't remember if he was in 10 were were alien and predator predator in 10 or 11.
01:16:50
Speaker
Brett's gonna look up some stuff. Normally Steven looks up some stuff, but today it's Brett that's looking up stuff. Only because Tucker's telling me to, I wasn't going to otherwise. I gots to know. You men couldn't care less. Look, I'm like the guy in Dirty Harry at the first bank robbery and the first Dirty Harry movie where he's like, did I only fire six shots or only five? And he's like, Mr. I gots to know.
01:17:17
Speaker
That's me. I'm the guy on the ground like one in Clint Eastwood to find out if he has an extra bullet or not. That's me right now. Look, a man's got to know his limitations, Tucker. Mr. I got to know. There wasn't a bullet. The guy's OK. He's fine. Dirty Harry didn't shoot him. You guys spoilers. Not this time. Not this time. No, I killed all his friends, but right. Right. Yeah. I'm eating a hot dog. Look, yeah, I don't like the cop again to the dirty Harry is.
01:17:47
Speaker
But God damn it, if it isn't just like the silliest fun sometimes, he stops that whole bank robbery just eating a chili dog. Like he's, he starts the chili dog when he hears about the bank robbery and he can, he just, he just goes out and shoots them all while he's eating.
01:18:04
Speaker
All right. So this is interesting. Apparently a lot of people were up in arms because the xenomorph was in Mortal Kombat 10. Predator was in Mortal Kombat 11. How dare you? And people were pissed. They're like, why did you not like, sure. Robocop versus Terminator three. But like this is right here. Why didn't you do it? Right. Fucking. And they're both Fox. It's it's both Fox. How do you fuck that up? It's the same company. You're talking to the same guys.
01:18:30
Speaker
No, no, man, maybe that's something maybe that's something to do with the movies coming out at the time. Fucking I don't know. Look, we could have waited for Leatherface. I'm just saying we totally could have. We could have waited. Not that great anyway. He's no Freddie is what I'm saying. True. Very fair. Very fair. And see who are we getting? Who are we getting for Mortal Kombat one? We're getting Omni man. Yo, yeah, dude. Yeah.
01:19:00
Speaker
That's gonna be pretty cool. Yeah, they released they released Omni-Man's fatality. Oh, no. Pretty much all of his fatalities. I don't even want to see them. I'm like very scared. Well, if you saw the if you saw the series, the cartoon, you there, there's three of them that are exactly ripped from the cartoon, including the subway train one.
01:19:24
Speaker
Oh no. Well, I, I would like to say, I would like to have a very hipster moment here right now, Brett, and say that I read the original run as it was being published. Uh, and when the cartoon came out, I was very happy to see that it was faithful. Yeah. Like when it, when it comes to Skybound and Robert Kirkman, I was more of a Walking Dead fan. So now look, I was invincible. I was.
01:19:53
Speaker
Uh, walking dead too, but there's always time for invincible. Sure. But I didn't, I mean, look from the outside, it just looks like another superhero comic. I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't run in the circles to know that it was subversive and really cool. If you don't mind waiting like two years between seasons, you don't need to read the comic because it's fucking exactly the same in the best way. It's kind of perfect.
01:20:24
Speaker
Cool good. Perfect adaptation. Yeah Anyway, speaking about adaptations back to Robocop. Yeah Which does bring us to the reason we're covering this movie Robocop Rogue City Which based on the trailers and the demos To your guys's point. I think you can now shoot someone in the dick intentionally
01:20:48
Speaker
Fuck. Of course. Yes. Well, yeah, because it is a shooter. It's a first person shooter, a very slow one, deliberately slow, which I'm curious to see how that works. Sure. No, I mean, like fighting. Maybe it was just for the trailer, but it does. Maybe the trailers played this up. But I remember. So they make a big deal out of the dickshooting. It's not just something you can do. It's like it's a whole thing. It's a flourish, if you will.
01:21:15
Speaker
Yes. It goes into his visor, and everything's red, and he targets the guy's dick, and he just shoots out. And it says in really big letters, dick shot. And the guy from Halo is like, dick shot. And then that music plays. And then it turns into doom. Yeah. But yeah, so this one is getting a lot of good press. The demo came out. Everybody seemed to really like it.
01:21:44
Speaker
developed by Taeyeon and published by Nacon, which like, publishers nowadays, I don't recognize half of them anymore. Game is scheduled to be released.
01:21:56
Speaker
November 2nd, which is the day before this Yeah, it will have dropped just drops but who has time to play it honestly when Alan Wake 2 exists in this world. That's very true See you see this Sunday's what are we watching for all your Alan Wake needs? Oh All of your remedy verse nerding out boy
01:22:20
Speaker
But yeah, so that comes out on all major consoles yesterday as of this episode dropping. It's based on the original trilogy of films, but also includes an all new adventure about the future of law enforcement.
RoboCop and Exorcist Believer Sequels Speculation
01:22:35
Speaker
How can it be based on the original trilogy when the sequel and the third film are not even based on the original film? Because that's one of the great examples of a sequel completely ignoring the basic premise of the original film. And even things that happened.
01:22:55
Speaker
You have to completely ignore the most important and integral parts of the ending to the original to suspend your disbelief in the second and third ones. Well, maybe. Maybe they're going to use this video game to retcon the story. Please make it a sequel just the first one, please. Figure that out somehow that doesn't like spit in my face and smack me in the dick.
01:23:22
Speaker
Look, David Gordon Green's probably going to figure it out at some point. No, look, you had your time. Halloween 2018 was great. Like it's fine. Go do something else. Go do some more HBO shows.
01:23:34
Speaker
OK, he did. He did. He did. He know what he did. He didn't exist. Believer in Jesus Christ, the movies are hot garbage. I have no I will never see that unless it's for this podcast. I have no desire to see that movie. I was I was talking about that with the pod and pendulum crew the other night and Mike Snooty and basically said, I think it's going to be a long time before we see any sequels to Exorcist Believer, so.
01:23:59
Speaker
Look, look, when I saw that trailer, I instantly turned into Will Smith in the mid 90s and was like, Oh, hell no.
01:24:10
Speaker
just like that. That is something he said a lot in the mid nineties. And then I was all for some reason, I was like, welcome to Earth. Another. Well, he does. He does pronounce the T.H. on Earth, I will say. And then at some point, at some point, I was like, I feel like I'm going to break this damn thing. And but that was it. And then you and then you said, I've got to get me one of these. I guess. And then Jeff Goldblum was there and it was magical.
01:24:39
Speaker
You sang about the wild wild west in front of a giant metal spider Are we talking about that in Wild wild west is on the schedule Tucker
01:25:01
Speaker
Wild Wild West continues to be on the schedule. That is something that our listeners can look forward to in the coming months. In the year in the year of Lord 2024, we will cover Wild Wild West. Kevin, my fucking client, which to be clear, is another movie that Brett has been requesting from the early, early days of this. I don't even care if you hate it, Brett, like this is a high five all over because I'm trying to cover the shit out of this movie.
01:25:29
Speaker
I have a love fate relationship with it because I'm even more interested now. We'll get into it later. But like I watched the original series with my dad because he loved the original series. So I have a lot of reference for it as an adaptation.
Wild Wild West and Star Trek Discussions
01:25:43
Speaker
And, you know, as an adaptation, it's hot fucking garbage. Yeah. Yeah. But as a standalone movie, is this kind of fun? It is. It's amazing. It's not the the ideal remake like this movie is.
01:25:57
Speaker
No. No, not at all.
01:26:01
Speaker
We'll get into that later because I have to mention before we move on to the main topic of discussion here, Peter Weller reprises his role as Robocop. Hell, he also did in the Mortal Kombat and the Mortal Kombat. Yes. So and look, if you want to know how much Tucker loves Peter Weller, check out our episode on the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai across the eighth dimension. So many of my favorite things have Peter Weller Weller in them. You've got Buckaroo Banzai.
01:26:28
Speaker
You've got of unknown origin. Hopefully future. I got to find a way to fit that into the format. I'll figure something out because we have to watch that movie, boys. And then you've got the Star Trek arcade machine where he reprises his role as the like the Federation dude that's like from war. It's coming. Yeah, he's in the second movie. He's in the.
01:26:53
Speaker
He is. Yeah, he's the main main antagonist of Star Trek into darkness. Well, and they put all his best lines in that pinball machine to do like, I mean, 30 percent of that being my favorite pinball machine is just the Peter Weller lines. There is a part of me that has decided that 2024 is going to be the year I watch all of Star Trek.
01:27:15
Speaker
Yeah, you said that you mentioned that I think last week or something or maybe privately this weekend. Right. But like all of that, I'm just going to I'm just going to dig into all of Star Trek. Well, enjoy a Star Trek reboot, part two with Peter Weller and Benedict Cumberbatch.
01:27:34
Speaker
Yeah, I that is my least favorite of all the Star Trek's. I think that's crazy because I kind of like that one. But maybe that is a wild, wild thing. Maybe I maybe I have a feeling that next year there's going to be a what are we watching where you and I debate the merits of Star Trek into darkness. We don't we don't talk about that. We don't talk about it. We don't talk about it.
01:27:55
Speaker
Also also like this movie sort of a perfect That is fucking absurd sir, that's a scorching hot take that is the wildest of possible takes good lord
01:28:12
Speaker
This episode for reasons Quick little tangy because I just I didn't get to talk about it on what are we watching last week? So I what's the Totally killer all watched it now
01:28:29
Speaker
I was going to say, I talked about it on what are we watching last week, but yeah, you didn't because you weren't here. Because I wasn't there. But I was going to say, Tucker, did it make your heart happy in that scene when they're scanning across the, like, you know, her mom as a teenager is obsessed with sci-fi films. And one of them was Buckaroo Banzai.
01:28:51
Speaker
I was like, that's so obscure. And I love that it's here. And Tucker is probably just so happy right now. Yeah, that was probably nerd rizzing his pants right now. That was my favorite obscure reference. My favorite, very obvious reference was that she says mom, mom, mom, asita. Uh huh. Just like dad, dad, dadio. Yeah, dude. I was like, yes, because it's right on the line. Right. Right on the line. It's like, is this.
01:29:19
Speaker
too much of a reference to like make this cringe or is it just perfect to where it floats right by my dad would perfect throughout my childhood refer to himself as dad dad daddy yo in reference to back to the future so yeah that is a thing my father would do oh it's so good season is over but like go watch it anyway i have recommended it to everyone and everyone so far has
01:29:48
Speaker
It definitely gets a recommendation from every member of the disenfranchised podcast. So if you've not seen Totally Killer, get your ass onto Amazon Prime and check it out. Do it. Hell yeah. Anyway, so let's let's look back around to the original topic of discussion, Robocop versus.
RoboCop vs. Terminator Debate
01:30:05
Speaker
The Terminator. Fuck yes. Yes. So this was, the video game was released for several platforms and based on the RoboCop and Terminator franchise, obviously. In the future, human soldiers of John Connor's resistance force against the machines are fighting a losing war against Skynet and its robot forces. Discovering that one of the foundation technologies of Skynet is the cybernetics technology used in the creation of Cyborg Police Officer RoboCop.
01:30:34
Speaker
Flow, a resistance soldier, is sent back in time to destroy Robocop and stop Skynet from being built. However, Skynet learns of the time travel attempts and sends Terminators to stop Flow. In the game, you'll control Robocop who may move across the screen. So you play as Robocop in this. Jump, fire, exchange weapons. Robocop starts with the auto nine, which has unlimited ammo. Beginning of the game is you're on a mission for law enforcement.
01:31:04
Speaker
And Robocop meets with Flow, battles some Terminators, then the forces of OCP. Upon discovering one of the Terminators has infiltrated the OCP building, Robocop plugs himself into a console to reprogram the security, only to fall into a trap and be digitized. After his body is disassembled and used for building Skynet, Robocop watches Skynet come to power.
01:31:29
Speaker
As with all Terminator stories, no matter what, Skynet comes to power. Oh, as it must. Before using his digitized mind to seize control of an abandoned robotics factory, rebuild himself and begin to destroy Skynet in the future. Pretty cool story. Based on the comic book. That's heavy, you guys. Yeah, it is.
01:31:56
Speaker
Based on the comic book by Frank Miller and Walt Simonson, which is everything way a lot more where you come from. That is heavy. Why do you say that? Is that is there a problem with your computational pull? Yes. Great Scott, indeed. Great. The greatest of Scots. There is there being a greater Scott.
01:32:23
Speaker
So I guess with that having been said, who would win between Robocop and the Terminator, Brett Terminator, right? I mean, though I don't know Robocop clever and depends on which Robocop and kind of depends on the context and the setting.
01:32:41
Speaker
There's something I don't remember discussed before. Let's let's do the best of both. Let's do the first film Robocop and the second film Terminator. No, wait. Well, we're thinking this the strongest, though, the most like best in the best in a battle would be the remake Robocop. Obviously, the remake Robocop would kick original Robocop's ass in a fight. Hmm.
01:33:05
Speaker
He's more agile, he's faster, he's lean. I don't know if you've ever discussed this on the podcast before, maybe I've mentioned it in passing, but I hate these discussions. They're the most Rassanine nerdiest shit. Rassanine nerd. Rassanine nerd, myself. I forget who had the interview about it, but they were just like,
01:33:33
Speaker
Like, who cares? First of all, who cares? Second of all, it's about who's writing it at the time. Really? Well, that's what I'm saying. There's a lot of there's a lot to consider. Is there, though? Yeah, no, like I'm agreeing with you, but I'm agreeing with you. Look, sometimes it's not about it's kind of a loaded what the right answer is. It's just more about the the fun of trying to parse it out, right?
01:34:01
Speaker
That's true as well. I suppose. That's just not my thing. It might not be your thing. And that's fine. Like of the WWF Grudge match when I was in high school. So I'm particularly to think about this shit.
01:34:15
Speaker
You're not weighing the speculation. You're kind of the guy who sticks to the cannon, for sure. For sure. Yeah. Because I don't do that. Because, you know, hey, who would win in a fight? Spider-Man or, I don't know, Hootie Fight in Marvel versus DC? I forget. Superboy. Superboy. Yeah. So who would win in that fight? For the Hulk. And he also fought Superman. So. Go read the comic and there's your answer. Just, you know.
01:34:42
Speaker
Well, in that fight, Marvel kind of like stacked their deck like they had two X-Men and Spider-Man. And then he became Spider-Boy in the Amalgam universe with Darkclaw. Oh, you mean the Amalgam? No, dude, Amalgam, dude. No, I know. There was a guy who used to come into my comic book shop and ask for the Amalgam. Yo, man, you got any of that Amalgam?
01:35:06
Speaker
So I've always pronounced it that way just kind of as a way to riff on that guy. I loved the ammo cam It was fun One of my one of my low-key favorite books magneto magneto and the mag and the magnet man. I really liked that comic I also liked the the doc. I like dr. Strange fate. I know that was really clever, too dark claw was fun, but
01:35:34
Speaker
Not the best. I mean, it was I think the best conceptually, but it wasn't the best written of all of those. That makes it. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. The Captain America Superman. Super Soldier. There you go. Super Soldier. Yeah.
Nostalgia for Retro Comics
01:35:54
Speaker
There were some fun books. Lex Luthor, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. There's no director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Wasn't Lex Luthor the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Oh, wait, somebody who was S.H.I.E.L.D. Bruce Wayne was S.H.I.E.L.D. Bruce Wayne. Yes, that's right. Bruce Wayne, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. That's what it was.
01:36:12
Speaker
Good memory, Tucker. That's fun. Thank you. Marvel versus DC. That was that was during my direct edition days, Stephen. I didn't miss an issue. Oh, I I bought all of those and my parents like hid several of them from me because they, you know, comic books are the devil. But I I found them and took them back and I have I think every issue of that. I don't have all the amalgams, sadly, but I do have the entire trade, right?
01:36:42
Speaker
That there has to be there. I know. I don't think it's still in print, but there has to be that. Well, I mean, it's getting it's getting those guys to like come to an agreement on shit. And that's damn near impossible to. Yeah. Well, digitally, sure. Like I don't expect it to be released on the digital platforms, but like they've had the print deals in place for a long time. You know, 30, 40 fucking years.
01:37:11
Speaker
It looks like you can get it for 32 bucks on eBay. Nailed it. There you go. I'm getting it. I know where my next 32 bucks is going, but I don't think it's still in print. Let me I had all the I had all the trading cards. DC versus Marvel. Yeah, it's not in print anymore. It's on Amazon for like eighty six dollars. So it's definitely not in print. Yeah, I don't care about that. I want the amalgam. Oh, yeah. Yeah. See, I don't know if the amalgam is available there.
01:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, but you know who's not in the Amalgam universe? Robo Terminator. Oh, wait, maybe he is. Find the comics. Find the comics, Steven. Are they anywhere to be found on eBay and or Amazon? The Robocop versus Terminator comics. Yeah.
01:38:01
Speaker
Let me let me. He said that was a Frank Miller joint, right? It was. Yeah, absolutely. Well, in Walt Simonson. So I think he drew it, too. Did he at least do some covers? I feel like I've seen some covers in there. He might have done the covers, but Walt Simonson actually did the actual art in the book. I'm just thinking of the Robocop three. The play that he did, because I think he did the art on that for sure.
01:38:25
Speaker
OK, oh, God. Yeah, that is also another thing that is out of print right now. So on Amazon, you can get the hard cover of Robocop versus Terminator for 80 dollars or the trade paperback for two hundred and ninety five. Jesus Christ. Well, for that for that hard cover being 80 bucks, that's not.
01:38:46
Speaker
That's not terrible. It's something that you really like. Like that's a hardcover. So it's going to keep like you're going to have that. It's like buying a good pair of shoes for one hundred dollars versus like a shitty pair of shoes for 20 bucks. Like you can also get it on eBay for close to 50. So that is also another option. There you go. And individual issues range anywhere from five to twelve dollars from what I'm saying. Or you could probably get it from the library. Also true.
01:39:16
Speaker
Yeah, go read it. Check it out. See if it's similar to the storyline of the video game. And I will try to read it before if slash if we try to do Robocop three. Sweet. Sweet. Cool. That's enough for this corner. Right on. What what final thoughts do we have about the Robocops? Look, I feel like all we've talked about is my thoughts on it because I think it's so rad.
01:39:46
Speaker
Yeah, I was gonna say Brett and I kind of didn't care for I thought it was fine Brett I thought maybe a little less so there's Spoiler right in the middle Yeah, and that's I will say that that's fair because I get I
01:40:05
Speaker
the underwhelming response to this movie, I don't get the people on Letterbox that give it half a star or like one star. I'm like, did we watch the same fucking movie and like, do you understand like how remakes work at all? Letterbox isn't any better than any other social media platform, in my opinion. I start reading reviews of movies that I like and it just makes me angry. So I just don't do it anymore. Because look, to me, this this may not be a movie that some people like.
01:40:32
Speaker
but it's not a bad movie. Like, you can't say that this is a bad movie. I would not say it's a bad movie. I would say it's an underwhelming movie, but it's not a bad movie. And I get that. For me, it's not, but I understand your reasons why. And I think that's not because of anything that the film is doing, but I think it's because of the way that we look at films and the way that we look at remakes. Like, I don't expect the same things out of a remake as you do, Steven. Sure, but that means what we've found out this whole month, like talking about these remakes, you know?
01:41:01
Speaker
Well, and I think, again, like if you're going to remake a movie, why pick like a perfect movie to remake? Pick a shitty movie to remake and try to make it better. I will. Look, I will stand with you and say that this did not need a remake. Absolutely completely unnecessary. Never in a million years. I'm not going to say never in a million years because, you know, political climate changes, you know. Sure, sure, sure. Stuff happens in the world and in society. And maybe there would be one day where it would be like, you know what? Maybe we should remake Robocop.
01:41:31
Speaker
But 2014 wasn't exactly a time where we needed a Robocop remake, but we got one, and I think it's kinda great. But like I say, I get where it may not be up your guys' alley.
01:41:45
Speaker
And I mean, Sony was certainly working on a sequel to this movie, but I think the underwhelming box office kind of like shifted their shifted their their priorities a little bit. So I want it so bad. We didn't actually get it. Let's let's take a look at the box office. Just a screenplay. Hey, anybody out there listening, if you have somehow access to any sort of screenplay or treatment to the sequel to this movie,
01:42:15
Speaker
Hook a brother up. I'll see what I can find for you, Tucker. Sometimes you can stumble on those things. And you know, a lot of movies like this, like stuff like Amazing Spider-Man 2, where I like it and nobody else does, like the more I watch it, the more I'm like, oh, that's why nobody likes it. I get that. And now I don't like it.
01:42:35
Speaker
But with the Robocop remake, every time I watch it, I like it more. Like this time that I watched it, I couldn't believe how much I liked it. I was going to say you were kind of quietly raving about it. And I've always every time I've watched it, I've liked it. But I think every time I watch it, I like it more. And but I still do, like I say, understand why other people don't like it. But like when I'm hyper focused on those things that I enjoy, I find like the nuances of it and it makes it even better for me.
01:43:06
Speaker
This is your Popeye. Yeah, it kind of is. It kind of is. I fucking love this movie unabashedly. Love this movie. Right on. Not good for you, man. No, I'm glad you like it. I am. I your love for it makes me wish I liked it more, to be honest. I don't think that it's a good double feature with the original. No, because these are two completely different head spaces.
01:43:33
Speaker
Like, absolutely. They're trying to do two very different. No. Yeah, no. Wow. Yeah, I would not know. Though. I would watch Total Recall and RoboCop as a double feature.
2014 RoboCop Remake Analysis and Conclusion
01:43:50
Speaker
It's a remake. That remake, a total recall. I couldn't even I didn't even sit through that because I saw that in the fucking theater. I am so sorry. Yeah, me too.
01:44:03
Speaker
Robocop, the remake of Robocop, comes into theaters on February 12, 2014. Of course, February, a notoriously great time for movies that the studio thinks are going to perform well. I'm kidding, of course, that is where he released The Dreck.
01:44:21
Speaker
Uh, but, um, in its second weekend, number one at the box office is a little movie called the Lego movie, which, uh, so far has grossed $130 million in just two weeks. Not my thing, but I will say it's really good. I like the Lego movie, the sequel, not so good. Uh, of course, podcast, the Lego Ninjago movie. We will talk about it.
01:44:45
Speaker
It's not for me, but when I watched it, I was like this. I get why people are way into this. Yeah, it's fun. It's a very fun thing. The same goes for the Lego Batman movie. I thought that one was also very that may be my favorite. It's exhausting, Steven. Like I have to I have to pause it after about 20 minutes and just like take a breath.
01:45:08
Speaker
I get it. And like digest everything that's just been thrown at me. Like it's it's a lot. I agree. It's like a machine gun of a movie. And it's like, hold on, let me call. I'd rather watch it on TV. So those commercials so I could like lay down and process it. It does. It does something that no other Batman movie really does well, which is that it it brings in Robin in a way that makes Robin feel necessary and not perfunctory.
01:45:36
Speaker
while still pointing out why every other interpretation of him seems unnecessary and quite frankly irresponsible. Correct. In second place, new this week is about last night, the Kevin Hart film.
01:45:52
Speaker
In third place, we get RoboCop, which opens to a total of twenty six point six million dollars. Again, it opens on a Wednesday. So this is the weekend box office. It grosses twenty one point eight seven million and it's opening weekend and twenty six point six total across the long weekend. In fourth place, the George Clooney film, The Monuments Men. Wait, what's the budget on RoboCop? Did you say the budget?
01:46:22
Speaker
I have not yet the budget is it looks like 120 million dollars it yet across its entire theatrical run in the US it earns fifty eight point six million domestic which is why it does not get the sequel they are planning international I didn't know
01:46:44
Speaker
I didn't mean to make you jump the gun there, Steven. I don't know. You're fine. It's just like when you said it made like 20 million on the early weekend and then like another 20 million on the weekend. I was like, oh, maybe this did well. And I just didn't realize that. And no, it like it earns about over half of its domestic growth in its opening weekend, which is not a good sign. It does, however, internationally earn another hundred and eighty four hundred and eighty four point four million. I mean, but still that's.
01:47:14
Speaker
Yeah, recouping costs. And that's about it. Yeah, I mean, worldwide, you're looking at about 243 million worldwide, which is just not it's not great if you're wanting to make this into a franchise. And again, we run into this shit all the time on this podcast. Like it makes money. It just doesn't make enough money to perpetuate the franchise. Again, that's kind of a recurring theme for us here.
01:47:38
Speaker
And I honestly think with this film, it's a shame it didn't get a sequel because I think everything that most people did not like about it, I think as well as this film is done, it kind of proves that if we had the same team on it, that it would have turned, it would have evolved into a franchise that everybody could get behind. Potentially, yeah.
01:48:05
Speaker
I mean, we didn't talk about the director, Jose Padilla. He's a Brazilian director who is, again, largely known for Brazilian films. I think this is his first American film. Just like Verhoeven. Right. With Robocop. He's directed a lot. Well, Verhoeven had directed one other movie prior to Robocop. What was it? Flesh Post Blood.
01:48:31
Speaker
Was that an American film? It was. OK. Well, then. All right. He directed a number of films in in the Netherlands, but that was his flesh plus blood was his first American film. I assume that I just always thought that RoboCop was kind of like his big break in America. It was it was his big break, but it was not his first American film. Oh, gotcha.
01:48:52
Speaker
Um, but I mean, Jose Padilla, this is I think his first and maybe only American film. He's directed some a couple of episodes of Narcos, which, you know, the Netflix series that a lot of us know people like that show. Yeah. But yeah, I think this is his first and maybe only American film that he's directed. I will say the one thing that
01:49:18
Speaker
does not blow my mind in this film are the action sequences. I don't think they're bad, but they're just fine. Whereas I think the rest of this movie for me really hits it out of the park. The action sequences are just like, oh yeah, this is serviceable. The reliance on CGI for the action sequences takes a lot out of it for me. I don't think the CGI looks bad. I think the CGI is fine. It doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look great. It's not what I want it to be.
01:49:44
Speaker
For me, it's not distracting, is what I'll say. It's not whereas see distracting, which I love deep blue sea. Well, no, what is deep blue sea distracting? But no, I don't I wouldn't say it's that distracting, but Van Helsing. Love that movie to be to see our previous episode on on Van Helsing with our friend Hope Lickner. We might need to revisit that because I love it so much. And look, I would just say we would need to have hope back for that.
01:50:13
Speaker
Absolutely fuck yeah, dude revisit all the way I Look, I just I just love having hope on she's a lot of fun. I'm a movie and I'm willing to do anything about it
01:50:25
Speaker
We can maybe we can do a month sometime in twenty twenty four. We can do a month of episodes where we've already covered the like kind of a revisited disenfranchised revisited month. Maybe. Maybe do. It's our fifth. Next. I mean, next year is like this is season four. After September, it'll be season five. So maybe we do that like in November or something. What do we do? Like the two hundredth episode, right? This is franchise year one. Yeah, there we go.
01:50:53
Speaker
I don't know. Shoot us an email to some French pot at Gmail dot com. But it's not what you think of that idea. Yeah. And tell us what episodes you want us to do or what movies you want us to revisit outside of Van Helsing, because we're definitely fucking doing that one and the Rocketeer. So you got to pick. And what what guest you would like to have us have have on for those episodes, too. If you have some fan favorite guests that you'd like to have revisit, let us know. Fifth place is Endless Love, a movie I know nothing about.
01:51:22
Speaker
Uh, and then rounding out the top 10, we have right along winter's tail, frozen, lone survivor. And that awkward moment, I do want to shout out number 12 and number 14, because those are future. Excuse me, future episodes of this podcast, Jack Ryan shadow recruit at number 12 and vampire academy. Wait, was that the top number 14? No, that was that was the Chris Pine. Yeah, there you go. I'm sorry. How did I fuck that up?
01:51:52
Speaker
And Vampire Academy, let's cover that because I have thoughts because it's on the list, man. That's a movie I have seen more times than I ever fucking wanted to. I can't wait to hear why you can thank our mutual friend, Julie, for that.
01:52:10
Speaker
Oh, that tracks. OK. Yeah, that tracks. All right. Lee, what's that movie? But yeah. Oh, God, I didn't look up. I didn't actually put in this movie for Tomatometer score. So give me give me two seconds here. I can't believe I've done this either. What? I hate myself for doing your game. I you know what I am. Yeah. And that's OK. I'm just pointing out my not my best. That's OK. I will say that not my best day.
01:52:39
Speaker
You know, it's even it's just a podcast. If people listen to us through all the 158 episodes that we've made so far, then they're here for you not bringing it sometimes, you know. Same with all of us, you know. The Tomatometer score on this one is a 49 percent. I don't think that's fair. The critics can say that, which is also the audience score. Rarely those two match up.
01:53:08
Speaker
Yeah, perfectly matched. Critics consensus, while it is far better than it could have been, Jose Padilla's Robocop remake fails to offer a significant improvement over the original. I would agree the meta score is 52 based on mixed or average reviews from 41 critics and the letterbox score on this one is going to be.
01:53:38
Speaker
A two point three. Brett out of I don't think that's fair. Brett out of five stars. How are you ranking 2014's robocop?
01:53:50
Speaker
Man, listing off all of those ratings, it really is just like middle of the road. Nothing else movie because I also gave it a two point five. As did I, Brett, as did I. So two point five from you, two point five from me. It's halfway to five. It's fine. It's fine is what it is. It's fine. It's perfectly OK.
01:54:12
Speaker
Right. Serviceable film. Tucker, how did you rank this movie? Now, I feel a little differently for me. This is a three and a half star movie. It's a three point five. All right. So let's do so. That is how we come down on.
01:54:29
Speaker
Robert Kopp, Robocop from the year of our lords in 2014. That is how we come down on it. What do you think about Robocop? Koppenstein Koppenstein Koppenstein. Let us know what you think about Robocop 2014. You can hit us up on all of the social media as we are at disenfranch pod on Instagram letterbox blue sky.
01:54:56
Speaker
And Facebook, we are no longer on Twitter because I'm just I've just decided now. I love that. Oh, yeah. I've just decided now. Twitter's been so bullshit forever. So like, yeah, rough of it. So I'm going to as of today, as of the recording of this episode, I will post the so long and thanks for all the fish screenshot from his previous episode, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with a link to that episode.
01:55:26
Speaker
Potentially. And let everyone know that we are moving on to bluer skies and I will keep putting everything on blue sky rather than on Twitter. So there is that. But you can also rate and review this podcast on Apple podcast and Spotify. We prefer five stars, please. And thank you. And if you do leave us a five star rating and review, I'm just going to say it now. We'll read your review here on this podcast. So you'll be able to hear your words parroted back to you.
01:55:53
Speaker
If you leave us a four and a half stars, uh, while it's not as good for us with the algorithm, we will admire your integrity. Right. But we won't read it on the podcast. So, you know, no, no, I'll read it to myself at night as I cry myself to sleep. But outside of that, no, I read it. No, no, no.
01:56:11
Speaker
You can shoot us an email at disenfranch pod at gmail.com. Let us know what failed franchise starters you would like to see us cover in 2024. And let us know how we're doing. Like, seriously, just we like to know what you think about what we're doing here. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. You can follow me on. Oh, no, wait. Before I do that, Patreon dot com slash disenfranch pod, you can find
01:56:35
Speaker
God, for five bucks a month, you can get hours, days, I dare say. Literally days. We've got a bonus content, including our weekly show. What are we watching? Which we have already invoked on this podcast episode. It's a free. Franchise. Another thing that we have invoked on this podcast.
01:56:54
Speaker
oops, all Christianity corner, oops, all video game corner. Two things we've also invoked on this video game on this episode. God, I can't talk. Full episodes of those all behind the paywall plus so much more. There's so much content behind that paywall. Again, all yours to access for just five bucks a month, or patreon.com slash disenfranch pod. Please check that out. And if you want to drop us five bucks, we promise it will be worth your while.
01:57:23
Speaker
And there's like, I believe us free trial. Yeah. There is a free trial. There's a seven day free trial. Hop on the trial. Look, if like maybe you have nothing to do for a week, you hop on that trial like you're never going to get bored. Right. There's there's so much stuff. I can't stop sneezing. You guys, Jesus, I can't stop sneezing. I'm dying. Please continue.
01:57:46
Speaker
There's there's so much stuff there behind that paywall that you will not there There is not a dull moment for you back there So there's stuff that brett and I did before tucker joined there's stuff that that tucker has joined on in fact spearheading the the what are we watching? Uh segments my idea. That's that's your baby. Good idea. That's why they hired me man Because i'm an idea man. You're an idea man
01:58:11
Speaker
So, yeah, check all that out. Patreon dot com slash disenfranch pod. I am your host, Stephen Fox, where you can find me on Blue Sky, Instagram, Letterboxd and Facebook at Chewy Walrus. Brett, where can we find you on the socials these days?
01:58:27
Speaker
They can't find you on Facebook at Joey walrus. You don't want them to do that. Oh, no, don't find me on Facebook at all. Thank you for reminding me. Sorry. I've had one too many beverages tonight. I apologize. Welcome. I am on Instagram, letterbox and blue ski at sus underscore warlock.
01:58:43
Speaker
Well, so just sus warlock, no underscore on blue sky. Right. Yeah, blue, blue ski doesn't like underscores for some reason. What's your weekly review of blue ski, Brett, you've been telling us about it. You said it's kind of like really chill because there's not that many people and there's not as much the same. There's a little bit more content because I found a couple more people to follow.
01:59:04
Speaker
Yeah. And really, you kind of have to like keep looking for people and like hoping they show up because there's no real way to see who's popping up on Blue Sky these days. Now, and some people you'll find and then they'll be like, yeah, they signed up back when Blusky started and they hosted in months. Right. Like all of threads. Right. I abandoned threads for that reason. I abandoned threads almost immediately. Everybody did immediately.
01:59:33
Speaker
Like it had most of its most of its activity within the first week of existing. It was fun for 12 hours. It legitimately. Yeah. Tucker, where can we find you on the socials? Well, if you could understand what I'm saying, because unbeknownst to the listeners at home, because I've been muting my mic, I have been straight up sneezing my dick off.
01:59:59
Speaker
for like the last 10 minutes. R.I.P. your dick, I guess. Oh, man. Like, and now I just sound like I'm all nose right now. So I apologize for that. Hopefully you can understand what I'm saying. I am on the YouTube's and on the Instagram's. At Ice 909, that's I.C.E. N.I.N.E. The number zero and the number nine.
02:00:26
Speaker
classy very classy also uh we got some tuck mugs business going on we're slowing down the posts um but only briefly only briefly we will be returning very soon uh our restructuring of the tuck mugs staff
02:00:47
Speaker
Has gone very well, and I think we're ready to kind of output some some some content. And I would like to say that I was bagging it out. I was in your presence over the weekend when you purchased a new mug that I'm sure will be featured on tech mugs at some point at some point. But let me tell you, Stephen, the fact is I was not prepared to bring a mug home in the way that I was traveling home. So that mug is right now. At my parents house.
02:01:15
Speaker
I I wondered if that might not be the 760 miles away. Yeah, that'll do it. That'll do it. Yeah. So is my poster because I was like, I really don't want to roll this. I'd rather just put it flat in the back of my car when I come at Christmas. That is enough because it's flat as fuck already. Right. Now I want to roll it.
02:01:35
Speaker
Mine is still rolled. I need to take mine out of its out of its cardboard sleeve. Put some bricks on that shit, man. I don't know if you'll be doing this, Tucker, but I will be purchasing an oh dear diner mug off of the remedy store very soon, along with a bag of Bright Falls blend coffee. What now? I didn't know there was a coffee coffee coffee. Yeah. Check out the remedy store. Oh, it's on. Oh, good. It's not like I don't have to go to some like weird coffee startup.
02:02:06
Speaker
Pride, no gimmicky thing. Although apparently the other deer diner coffee mug is sold out right now right now, but I'm sure. Sure. You're right. Well, that, my friends, is our episode on.
02:02:23
Speaker
2014's Robocop. We hope you have enjoyed it. This has been the disenfranchised podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy, for my co-host Brett Wright and Tucker. Until next time, dead or alive, you're coming with us.
02:02:51
Speaker
you