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S3.E8: Heroes in a Half Shell - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles '90 (ft. Ricky from @thenightclubpodcast)
19 Plays18 days ago
🎬 In this totally tubular episode of The Average, Tim and Johnathan are joined by Ricky from @thenightclubpodcast to dive deep into the sewers of nostalgia with the 1990 cult classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! 🐢🍕
We’re talkin’ puppets, pizza, practical effects, and the power of childhood wonder as we score this film across our signature categories—giving weight to why a movie might hit that sweet 3.5 out of 5 stars and still be legendary.
💬 Did you grow up on TMNT? Think it still holds up? Drop your score in the comments, and don’t forget to check out our Instagram (@theaveragereviewspod) where you can join the conversation using our scoring systems!
A massive thanks to Ricky for joining us on this ride through the sewers of cinema.
👉 Like, comment, and subscribe if this movie made your childhood a little greener.
🔗 Record your own podcast like us with Zencastr — click here to start for free and support the show:
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#TMNT1990 #TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles #TurtlePower #TheAverageReviewsPodcast #MoviePodcast #NostalgiaMovies #ThenightclubPodcast #Cowabunga #TMNTReview #RetroMovies #PodcastLife #ZencastrPartner #MovieNerds #PracticalEffects #ShellYeah #PizzaTime
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Transcript
Introduction and Format Explanation
00:00:30
Speaker
Cowabunga dudes and welcome back to The Average where the real review happens with your friends. I'm Tim. And I'm Jonathan coming to you live from the sewer metaphorically and sometimes emotionally.
00:00:44
Speaker
Today we're diving shell first into the 1990 classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a film that gave us gritty puppets, pizza obsession, and one of the most radical soundtracks of the early 90s.
Rating System Discussion
00:00:58
Speaker
It was dark, it was weirdly emotional, and yes, it's still kind of awesome. Here at The Average, we don't just shout out a score and move on. we break up each or We break down each movie into categories like story, acting, direction, and cultural impact and build that up into a final score altogether.
00:01:15
Speaker
Because sometimes a three and a half out of five stars isn't just meh. It could mean way more than that. We talk it out, weigh it out, and invite you to be part of the conversation.
00:01:28
Speaker
You can score along with us using one of our rating systems posted on Instagram. Whether you're a Team Star rating, Pizza Slice rating, or Nunchuck Swingin' Approval, we got you covered.
00:01:41
Speaker
So don't forget, like the video, comment your score for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and hit that subscribe button like you're Leonardo busting through a skylight.
00:01:53
Speaker
Grab a slice, sit back, and let's get into this hard shell hero classic.
Guest Introduction: Ricky
00:01:57
Speaker
This is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1990 style. But before we get too deep into the ooze, we've got someone special joining us tonight. A real radical dude from the Nightclub podcast.
00:02:12
Speaker
And someone who's just as passionate about horror, cult cinema, and weird pop culture as we are.
00:02:20
Speaker
Please welcome the one and only Ricky. Ricky, what's up, man? I'm feeling good today, but my therapist stopped taking my calls. So I'm just a little nervous about what that might mean.
00:02:38
Speaker
And I'm feeling a little claustrophobic. And you guys are looking exceptionally handsome. It's only because we're the first men you've ever laid eyes on.
00:02:52
Speaker
All right. Let's lay down some turtle trivia before we hit the scoring.
TMNT 1990 Film Trivia
00:02:57
Speaker
So the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was a massive hit.
00:03:02
Speaker
At the time, it was the highest grossing independent film ever made. Yep. Made on a budget of around $13.5 million and pulled in over $200 million worldwide. That's a lot of pepperoni.
00:03:16
Speaker
And speaking of budget, they got Jim Henson's creature shop to design the turtle suits. This was one of the last projects Jim Henson worked on before he passed away.
00:03:27
Speaker
It shows, too. The puppetry in this is nuts. The mouth sinks up. The body movement feels grounded. Like, silly, but it's believably silly. And it's way closer to the original comics than people remember.
00:03:41
Speaker
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles started in 1984, created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And those early comics were pretty dark.
00:03:54
Speaker
Exactly. Tons of violence and greedy black and white panels, and they all wore red bandanas. The colors didn't come until the animated series.
00:04:05
Speaker
This movie does a great job blending the comics tone with the cartoons vibes.
Film's Tone and Style
00:04:10
Speaker
You've got the emotion and shadowy alley fights of the comic, but still has some of the pizza loving cowabunga charm from Saturday mornings.
00:04:20
Speaker
Plus we get Elias Codius as Casey Jones, which man, chef's kiss, a hockey stick, wielding vigilante with long hair and rage issues. That's peak cinema. My kind of guy.
00:04:34
Speaker
And don't sleep on the soundtrack either. There's that turtle power song and honestly some funky cues that just scream 1990. So now that we've tossed out the trivia like a well-placed manhole cover, let's start scoring this thing and figure out if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie is a masterpiece in a half show or just a pizza-fueled nostalgia trip.
00:04:59
Speaker
Let's go dudes.
Hosts' Personal Memories
00:05:01
Speaker
Bitchin. all right. I want to hear So this movie is pretty nostalgic. I think for the three of us, that's why we're here.
00:05:12
Speaker
ah yeah. What is your earliest memory of this movie?
00:05:18
Speaker
Ooh. Uh, well, I had it on VHS. I had all three of them as far back as I can remember. And, um,
00:05:30
Speaker
I want to say like certain certain scenes, especially with like sound design and just the way certain things are shot, like absolutely are burned into my brain.
00:05:44
Speaker
Things that i I thought I had forgotten, but I totally didn't like on this last rewatch. It's it's crazy how much of my inner child was present um watching this the other night. and ah yeah Yeah, I mean, as far back as I can remember, I've been watching this.
00:06:09
Speaker
john what's your memory? Man, I saw this when I was real little in like early elementary school back in like Knoxville, Iowa. And the neighbor kid, Ryan, behind me, man, he had the movies.
00:06:23
Speaker
And I would watch them at his house. And like I saw the cartoon first and then saw the movies. Shit was kind of backwards because, you know, poor family and all that. But...
00:06:34
Speaker
For sure. For sure. It like, man, watching that back then and just the feel like that's where I got my love of martial arts from that and like the karate kid. Like that's one of those things like, ooh, so good, man. And just like the memories of everything that went along with that and Pizza Hut and this and that and all kinds of stuff that's all tangled up together. We'll talk about later.
00:06:55
Speaker
But can probably all blame our obsessions on with pizza on this, right? Oh, for sure. That and the early 90s book it or reading clubs where if you read enough books, you got pizza. Yeah.
00:07:12
Speaker
Right. I read lots and lots of books. I used to get lots of personal pan pizzas,
Unique Story Elements
00:07:17
Speaker
bro. I remember that. so was getting those stars on my buttons. Yeah. but This movie was one that a surprise surprise.
00:07:25
Speaker
i don't remember being allowed to see I don't think I was allowed to see it because it was violent. There was a lot of action. ah um So we had a neighbor.
00:07:36
Speaker
Like, God, then your neighbor had the movies. I had a neighbor who, when we went over to their house to play, i i would see this movie. So I think at that time, it might have been the third one that I saw more, but it still ingrained to love for the turtles in me way back then. Right. Even if it was the widely considered worst of the series.
00:07:59
Speaker
But... Oh, yeah. Yeah, the third is absolute garbage, but I love it anyway. Oh, I can't wait. i ah I love how they get worse, like how the costumes just get worse. How the fuck does that happen, man?
00:08:12
Speaker
I found it. thought it was pretty awesome, but three. That's dope. We had the third one on VHS when i was growing up, is like early teens and in Southeast Arkansas. And my little sister, dude, if it wasn't,
00:08:25
Speaker
Princess Bride. She was watching. yeah. It's three. Right. Right. And over and over. I'm like, have you had enough? No. Yeah. I'm like, oh, give me a break. But I'm not supposed to die too, sir. Princess Bride is amazing. It's so funny. I love that movie. Yeah. Those two and Major Pain.
00:08:43
Speaker
Like those were the three VHS that she would watch over and over and over. Yeah. Nice. wear that VHS. Major Pain also. yeah dude. Thanks, Tara. I want to Core memories were unlocked watching this, But the scenes that really always stuck with me
00:09:00
Speaker
um i want to say like just some of the things dude like like core memories were unlocked watching this man like but the ones that the the scenes that really always stuck with me where when April O'Neil is drawing the turtles.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah. That image of Leonardo sitting in the chair next to Raph. Her pulling water on her fingers and dripping it on Raph as he's recovering. Yeah.
00:09:33
Speaker
The image of of the turtles crying and and fucking splinters right there in the fire, all ghost-like, all Jedi and shit. And having the ah ah the main thing, the thing I always remember the most is ah Casey Jones with the lever for the garbage truck when he goes, oops, oops. That was awesome.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Like, there's just so many things that, like, Now, probably when I'm old and senile, I'll still remember it. Like, I'll probably be telling people, ah you got to know what a crumpet is to understand cricket. That was another thing, dude. All right.
00:10:16
Speaker
So this but the story of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don't know that it's fair to just judge the story of this
Influence of Comics
00:10:26
Speaker
movie without judging how original the story of the turtles truly is because right it's fairly faithful to the comic book the shredder the appearance of shredder i think is a little bit earlier i recently tried to read the original comics and filming shredder was introduced as early i could be wrong he might have been the first issue
00:10:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not sure. i remember reading Omnibus for like the Digital Turtles collection way back Schaumburg. Yeah. I don't remember much it at the moment. My comic collection was small and like spread out, so I had random stuff.
00:11:08
Speaker
Well, and here's, they recently relaunched the turtle books with, so it doesn't go from the beginning, but it kind of picks up. They're a little bit older.
00:11:19
Speaker
um Jason Aaron is writing it right now, who pretty well-known writer ah writer. He wrote four for a really long time. Nice. It's been fantastic so far.
00:11:31
Speaker
They, ah the first four issues each focus on one turtle because they're all separated but the art by Juan Ferreira is just insanely good.
00:11:45
Speaker
yeah Yeah, looking at it right now that's gorgeous dude. The shadow volumes, the highlights, everything dude, beautiful. So you're going to off, I gotta show off.
00:11:56
Speaker
yeah Okay, show off yours. So the Yusagi Ujimbo Ninja Turtles Complete Collection. Whoa. yeah Dude, that looks crazy. What is that?
00:12:07
Speaker
I mean, I know you just said what it is, but it's like a mango. That's dope. Yeah. And then there's like colored stuff in like one section in the middle of a colored story. okay Dude, I completely forgot that rabbit guy existed. You see, that's so cool.
00:12:25
Speaker
Yeah, dude. He was cool as fuck, dude. That's why love listening to this type of stuff, dude. That book. Hell yeah. I've got that downstairs. That book is one of the best graphic novels period the last one for the last years of the last run and so extra stories i still gotta finish reading all those so yeah needless to say we're decent turtle fans over here um not diehards not diehards but i'd say i'm a pretty decent turtle fan uh but i gotta say there's nothing else like the turtles
00:13:04
Speaker
nothing else. Anthropomorphic animals. Sure. Street sharks, man. Totally.
00:13:15
Speaker
but This idea of like spilling on some turtles in the sewer and turning them into like mutant human turtle hybrids that also, depending on what version you're reading, carry the spirits of Japanese ninjas from years ago. i think that's the later IDW revitalized version of it when they're like,
00:13:42
Speaker
their past lives. I don't remember if the original Eastman and Laird get into that, but the, I think the reboot does. Um, well, the last Ronin could touch us on that, like the later point where the brothers and splinters are back in Japan with one of the clans trying to like make, you know, reparations are trying to like cooperate again.
00:14:02
Speaker
um, there's the one who is like oh was it mikey who is away from everybody else while everyone else is guarding splinter and they all get taken out and he becomes the last and that's where shit gets all crazy you know amazing there's nothing really bring back that old old stuff elements and yeah ninja It's into, it's not really a superhero comic, but it is deeply rooted in that, like helping stop crime, helping people on the street. There's that street level element to it.
00:14:32
Speaker
And there's this mysticism to it that comes from the martial arts and the Japanese past lives and so on. And it's funny.
00:14:45
Speaker
It's serious. it's It's got gritty moments. It's got funny moments. It's got this little bit of mysticism to it. And I just love the heck out of this. I can't think of... you know You can compare the superhero elements and the comedy to like maybe Spider-Man, but Spider-Man is still nothing like the Turtles.
00:15:06
Speaker
Oh God, It's still not even a fair comparison. I can't think of anything else like the Turtles. So I know I'm talking about the Turtles, but really that is this first film.
00:15:18
Speaker
This first film is that introduction. So the story of this... Even we don't get a whole lot of the, we get a little bit of the depth of Shredder. Don't we? We get those little flashbacks with the little puppets that are adorable. So yeah, yeah I think all of it fits.
00:15:38
Speaker
It's really pretty faithful to what is laid down in the comic books. So I got to give them credit for that. Oh, look, Domino's right behind you, man. Yeah. Yeah.
00:15:49
Speaker
yeah So yeah, product placement was confirmed, but Pizza Hut was still the the majority marketer. Yep, yep. That's a domino box. I thought so. I thought so.
00:16:01
Speaker
I wonder if Pizza Hut came in for the later films,
Character Focus: Raphael
00:16:06
Speaker
but I need to watch this. They did marketing for the first one. Okay. 20 million budget marketing that they did for this first movie.
00:16:14
Speaker
and one Maybe everyone got a little piece of the pie, huh? Yeah, there we wonder if they went back and reshot it.
00:16:26
Speaker
Good stuff. The story yeah it is crazy with the story, man, especially like when they get those flashbacks to just the shredder and splinter's old master. Was it a Hamada Yoshi?
00:16:38
Speaker
And you see him like trying to learn from him, like who who has a who has a rat, you know, as a pet, you know, and then like that just going to try and mimic martial arts. That's that's awesome concept.
00:16:49
Speaker
And despite all his rage, Splinter was still just a rat in a cage. Oh,
00:16:58
Speaker
But I appreciate all the different elements and how crazy the story was because it's despite all the things that we've seen in like here and there and different stuff, like the culmination of all these realms together to make this amazing story um and with with a fun family feel while still being serious, still kind of dark a little bit in parts of it.
00:17:15
Speaker
You know, and they really made it so that this story had some appeal to just about everybody. Yeah. And you got to love that. I mean, turtles were like the hugest things in the It's insane.
00:17:28
Speaker
Right. Yeah, story-wise, it's it's crazy how it's crazy how how much feels you get out of this, man. And honestly, like one thing that I didn't remember is, a I mean, Raphael's almost like the main character of the Turtles, right?
00:17:52
Speaker
He's the main like anti-hero protagonist. I would say so. It seems like we follow Raph more than like the rest of them. I didn't remember that. It really felt more like Raphael's story to me this watch. He's the center for sure.
00:18:09
Speaker
but He's always the one running off, being all hot-headed and getting into shit. Right. Him learning to deal with things and whatnot. and I guess we'll get to characters later on, but story-wise, I feel like ah Man, up I mean, is it like profound, like change your life? Like, no, but dude, like I was so engaged.
00:18:31
Speaker
There was a lot of stuff I remembered, but I couldn't remember how we got there. And dude, like I didn't, I didn't pick up my phone once, you know? i think that's a test I think that speaks as a testament to the story.
00:18:47
Speaker
Yeah. So where does that put us at on our scores, gentlemen? I'm hitting a five. I'm a five. two I'm at a four. Okay.
00:18:59
Speaker
We actually have ah that handy little link on our Instagram where others can submit scores. We actually have scores for some others on this one. ah Our good friend David from journey with a cinephile.
00:19:14
Speaker
He gave it a three. He's going off of memory. He said it's been a while since he saw it. So I'm going to forgive the low three there. um And Travis, who was just on to talk about Howard the Duck and is part of the nightclub podcast with Rick, he gave it a four. Four? Oh, okay.
00:19:34
Speaker
Yep. So... Character. go for it. Ricky, you were talking about the character of Raphael and following that. You want to keep going with that train of thought?
00:19:46
Speaker
Um, sure. Since I put the brakes on it, now i'm telling you to go for it again. No, you're good, man. um and really, it like I said, I guess ah it speaks to the story a bit too, but, you know, ah feel like it's his character arc in a way.
00:20:03
Speaker
ah You could say it's his and and Leonardo's. I mean, they all learn to work together and this and that, but Leonardo and Raph are the ones that butt heads the most.
00:20:18
Speaker
And Raph has to learn to accept help and accept, you know. But... it's the It's the scenes where Splinter's talking to him, giving him the wisdom.
00:20:33
Speaker
And I see I'm trying to talk about the cinematography now, unfortunately. It's the way that that shit is shot, man, is so deep. And I can't remember exactly what he says, but I'm like, yeah, man, you're goddamn right, man. You better learn to...
00:20:52
Speaker
Yeah, you better learn to be part of the team, man. You better stop trying. It's the way he says it. He says that you're all going through this, but you are unique in the fact that you choose to go through it alone.
00:21:05
Speaker
And don't know. I love love his arc. I love his arc. I can't think of anyone else other than splinter as really having an arc.
00:21:21
Speaker
Okay. Yes. i I actually i actually wrote I love that scene. i've put it in my notes of Splinter talking to Raphael because it's also amazingly shot. That scene is mostly one long take of these two puppets having this in-depth conversation.
00:21:47
Speaker
It's beautiful. It is so good. But i did... I think Raphael is the biggest character arc for the turtles, but there's also just a lot of depth to each of these. And we get that in that scene that you mentioned of April drawing the turtles And she kind of examines each of them and how they're coping with the loss of their father figure.
00:22:16
Speaker
I also wrote down that this whole of turn of events basically destroys April's life. She gets fired from her job and it's not the the turtles. She was onto the foot clan before the turtle showed up.
00:22:33
Speaker
That's the opening shot of the movie is April. Like, Hey, there's this crime syndicate basically. So she gets fired and then they show up, burn down her,
00:22:46
Speaker
second job, which is a memory of her father and her home. So her life gets flipped upside down. We never really get a moment to sit with that, but I'm not upset about that, but I also think, I think that is my biggest complaint about the film itself is that we have these great characters and these great stories that And when we defeat Shredder, it ends.
00:23:19
Speaker
Right. It ends. I don't know where, where's April going home to? We can assume with Casey Jones. ah We didn't. Where does Casey live, man? In his truck? In the park. Yeah. let you know the park He sleeps on the bench. Yeah. We've seen him in the streets. We have no idea where he's at.
00:23:38
Speaker
They must have not put in those spiky benches yet, dude. I don't yeah know. no.
00:23:46
Speaker
This was 19 films in 1989. They still had the good benches for sleeping. Oh yeah. The, the same, he probably ran into that ah bird lady from home alone too, a couple times.
00:23:57
Speaker
i
00:24:00
Speaker
um But yeah, we have these great character setups and I'm not mad that we don't get full resolution because I think what this does so well is it makes me want to go pick up the comic book.
00:24:17
Speaker
Right. It makes me want to read more, continue this story. But I still think as a movie, it ends too abruptly to wrap up, you know, does Raphael learn to control his anger?
00:24:31
Speaker
Not really. In the end, he's going toe-to-toe with Shredder and getting mad about it. So, okay, does April get a place to live? Not really, but she kisses Casey Jones. So there we go. we get Right. You know? so that is probably my only complaint about this film is that it has fantastic...
00:24:53
Speaker
character stories we just don't really see a resolution to a lot of what has happened right okay that's that's completely fair So yeah, Raf, yeah I agree with you guys. Raf definitely makes the the the lead, takes the lead on this for the most part between him and Splinter.
00:25:17
Speaker
um Donatello and Michelangelo, you don't really get much from them. I remember there being so much more of him in the movie than there was, man. They're kind of just background almost.
00:25:29
Speaker
Just about, you know, there's there's so much banter back and forth that you get from Mikey and- Come on, ninja kick the damn rabbit. So it would have been nice to get a little more involvement from them.
00:25:41
Speaker
joe As far as like the the emotional set of it, they were just kind of there. you know you don't really get too much of an impact from them, with the except for when Donnie's kind of bonding with Casey Jones, fixing up that truck at April's right up upstate house in the country. I was going to bring that up too. Yeah, dude.
00:25:59
Speaker
I like that. Mikey just kind of does whatever, but then you see Leo, who is so torn up. that that Raph is in such bad shape and like his conflict with having to like figure out how to be a leader, how to keep them on the right path and how to work together.
00:26:16
Speaker
l and that's how to accept And how to accept him, you know? see I mean, he was like, fine, we don't need you, dude. Like, Come on now. There's a lot of conflict between the two of them on that. So them kind of coming back together over, you know, loss of Splinter and wanting to get him back.
00:26:33
Speaker
And then Splinter himself, like just hoping for the best for his boys, you know, trying to teach them all that he can so they can be awesome and really help people. And seeing them come together, i think kind of is a big part of that growth arc for them.
00:26:47
Speaker
You know, he gets that that satisfaction as a father and as a master, as a sensei, you know, knowing that they're they're using what he taught them to do what's right and to back each other up. You know, there's a big message in that with the, know, as far as character development goes.
00:27:01
Speaker
Casey and April, that's just kind of like a fun little mishmash of story of love, picking at each other and goofing off being kind of crazy, silly people. April, though, yeah, her life gets totally effed in the A.
00:27:13
Speaker
But at the end, though, she gets her job back and becomes the highest paid reporter in New York City. And they're going to set her up with a new office and stuff while she figures out the rest. That's right. We can talk about the income-ups on that.
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah. How could I forget she got the she got the job back? Little ginger shit thief Danny, that little bastard. Right. Holy cow. He started off as a straight up hotta ya, dude.
00:27:38
Speaker
And now now he's like, I'm Dan now, dad. Okay. Yeah. I'm a grown man. You know, I'm such a young man now. just fucking stealing from everybody and on the streets and shit. but Which I can't really still i really say shit about Danny because, I mean, I had some sticky fingers when I was little. He does give her the money. He does pay April back.
00:27:56
Speaker
He gives her money. That's very awesome. And I like the fact that she's like, what? And he's like, trust me. i owe it to you. You don't know this, but I stole some shit from you. Also like everybody else.
00:28:07
Speaker
I'm glad you brought that Come around. but I'm glad you brought that up because he really does have quite the arc in the film. And I was thinking that when I watched it, I just forgot to put it in my notes. I forgot too when talking about it. i just thought of the boy. like Yeah. cause he's Because he's he's invested, but he's apprehensive in the foot. like Like he's struggling with, is this the life that I want or
Character Arc: Danny
00:28:31
Speaker
not?
00:28:31
Speaker
And then after he sells out April's house in the turtle's location, to them. I think that's really the turning point. Yeah.
00:28:42
Speaker
Like this is not who i want to be. But can we blame him? The first thing he was running probably the coolest teen hangout in all of New York. I was going to say that, man. like but charles la slave Dude, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't be who I am today. I would be over there, man.
00:29:02
Speaker
howib bes like I would be that pissed off bald guy by now. Beating up on the kids. They've got the... they've got the skateboarding indoor skateboarding the kids are smoking cigars they're gambling at roulette games I'm like no one of these kids never agree right the one punk dude was like playing bass and shit dude yeah man they were yeah that's the hangout man it looks awesome
00:29:33
Speaker
um go got Sam Rockwell is one of the thugs. He's kind of a shitbag early in the movie his small bits, but then the end he's like, okay, all right, let's right here, all right, bro. Come guys, here's some info. Just don't fuck with us, man. Just don't put us in jail. I totally forgot he was in this film. When he came on, I was like, that's Sam Rockwell.
00:29:52
Speaker
He's no!
00:29:56
Speaker
It was pretty cool, man. Yeah. And it's hard for, i you know, most people don't maybe maybe don't remember, but Corey Feldman voiced Donatello. Yeah. So I think Corey Feldman, it's like a big draw for the, yeah.
00:30:06
Speaker
I forgot that too. ah He was big in 1990. Yeah, late 80s, 90s, man. The Corys, man. Two Corys. Corey Feldman, Corey Haim. And honestly, he does, before we get to the acting, he does a fantastic job because I didn't believe it when I saw it.
00:30:25
Speaker
Right. When I saw Corey Feldman, I was like, in in the costume or the voice? You're kidding. And going back, I'm like, you know what? I do hear a little bit of it, but he really did a nice job.
00:30:39
Speaker
So anyways, Jonathan, were you done with the characters? Yeah, that was it for me. Yeah, i was trying not to go up to it right there. I was a four. I was a four on the characters.
00:30:50
Speaker
I went five. Five.
00:30:53
Speaker
I went three, but I'm coming up to a four. Yeah, are. Yeah, you are. I'm coming up to a four because I forgot about Danny when I scored that. And I think Danny might have the the strongest arc of everyone, honestly.
00:31:07
Speaker
pes I also want to say, though, but got to remember, the Ninja Turtles, they are teenagers. And i think people kind of overlook that because how how adult the the emotions and the feelings are sometimes. For sure. You know? And so, like, they're teenagers. Danny's a teenager. They're all trying to figure their shit out. Mm-hmm. You know?
00:31:23
Speaker
They're all kind of coming of age together in a way. Yeah. Coming age story a little bit. I think they tend to forget the turtles are teenagers because April looks 35. So so the, uh, David gave it a four and Travis also gave it a four on the character, uh, music and sound design.
00:31:46
Speaker
Two.
00:31:49
Speaker
Bro, that fucking main theme, dude, when that yeah shit came on. oh dude, it was a bop. The whole movie. All the music. Perfect. All the music is perfect.
00:32:01
Speaker
I'll wait to give my score, but I'm telling you, all the music in this film, including the end credits song about the Ninja Turtles and April O'Neil. Perfect.
00:32:11
Speaker
I love it all. I made my wife watch this with me. She's watched most of the turtles movies with me. We went to see the animated one in theater. Was it a year ago now?
00:32:23
Speaker
actually, it's not this, but I've still really enjoyed it just cause I liked the turtles and the animation was pretty cool. um But She watched that one with me. She kind of has a soft spot because they're animals, even though she doesn't like all the action.
00:32:38
Speaker
But she liked this one and goes like, too many action scenes, but it was all right. But the song, the Turtle Power song that comes on at the end, she found on Spotify and this has been playing it.
00:32:52
Speaker
Because it gets stuck in your head. It's a little earworm. It's a nasty. That song was everywhere growing up. I remember that song. I remember that song. And it sounds like a very 90s, late 80s hip hop song for sure.
00:33:08
Speaker
But I also just love the music throughout the film. It is kind of this rocky, sometimes we get a little synth in it. that's typical of that time period but it sounds so good i looked i looked for the the record after because i don't think the album's on apple music but i was like surely somebody has released a collectible vinyl of this surely because it is a good soundtrack the uh When introduced to Shredder, man, the music there, is and the shot with the shadow from above, dude, like it's all so good, man. it's Shredder's Suite, as it's called.
00:33:53
Speaker
That's awesome. So we got to figure out... um We got give credit to the composer of that film.
00:34:02
Speaker
So...
00:34:05
Speaker
the 1990 film, the soundtrack featured artists, uh, MC c hammer, high tech three more. Um, I'm trying to figure out see who the actual composer was for which song, who, which one, which song for like the soundtrack for the score.
00:34:30
Speaker
I should have done my research and had this figured out.
00:34:38
Speaker
umm I'm going to edit out this nice little long pause here. Okay.
00:34:45
Speaker
Huh. Soundtrack album by various artists, but doesn't say much about score.
00:34:55
Speaker
Composer. i This music by John Duprez. Hmm. Yeah. You see a mirror enough a couple of things.
Soundtrack Analysis
00:35:09
Speaker
Yeah. So don't know much, don't know much about it, but it's, it's a rock heavy soundtrack. Like we're not getting beautiful strings here. We're getting some drums, some guitars, some nice little synth.
00:35:23
Speaker
ah One of the things that i greatly enjoy about this movie is how whimsical the music gets during the action scenes. Yes. Yes.
00:35:34
Speaker
but It is like, first of all, I'm sure we'll talk about these action scenes are well choreographed for a kid's movie to begin with.
00:35:45
Speaker
Definitely. They look great. And they look they were great 35 years later because it's actual men in suits doing the stunt work.
00:35:57
Speaker
It looks good. But to keep it from being like this heavy, dark action scene, the music is almost comedic with what is going on on screen.
00:36:08
Speaker
You have the turtles cracking jokes and then you have this lighthearted music. The only time it gets super dark... on musical on a musical level is the shredder fight at the end right and when they are destroying the antique store and casey jones shows up and is like what are you doing to my friend there oh right that right that scene gets me a emotional that scene is good but he shows up there and they're all and he's like wait who's the babe and then never mind um but the music gets dark there for a second as it burns down and i it was such a dramatic shift from the whimsical music of the fight scenes to like oh things are intense now and it's so well done not even to get into the
00:37:00
Speaker
eighty The ADR has a couple moments when you're like, oh, that's definitely ADR. Obviously, the turtles are ADR'd, but you... We'll talk about it with the special effects for sure.
00:37:17
Speaker
But with their mouth movements... I don't really think about it. It's more the couple scenes when they're like climbing out of the sewer and they're walking away that I'm like, their voices aren't going further away. They're still just nice and loud.
00:37:30
Speaker
So those are the couple of, I see, I'm, I'm, I paid too much attention to it, but those are a couple of moments. that I'm like, oh, the ADR shows up, but it doesn't take me out of the home. There's a scene.
00:37:43
Speaker
I almost died laughing when they're drowning Donatello in the fish tank. And then they he comes back up and he spits water in someone's face. The sound effect right there is kind of like... love it, dude.
00:37:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:04
Speaker
Yeah, there was cool stuff on this one for sure, man. like I was looking at the soundtrack stuff and it says the collections made up most of hip hop and New Jack Swing. I've never heard that term, New Jack Swing. i didn't know what the hell that was. I had to look it up.
00:38:16
Speaker
Apparently, New Jack Swing, new Jack or Swing Beat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance pop and the urban contemporary sound of r and b Interesting. You can find this pop music usually performed by black musicians combined elements of jazz, funk, rap, rhythm, and blues.
00:38:34
Speaker
Synthesized to sample beats. Yeah, there's a lot to it, man, with this description. I was like, I had no clue. For me, it was just some kick-ass music, you
Puppetry and Choreography
00:38:41
Speaker
know? Yeah. And I loved every bit of it, man. Like, this shit just takes me back, man.
00:38:46
Speaker
This makes me really wish I could find just the music to listen to it outside of the film. How differently would I hear it? Oh, yeah, yeah.
00:38:58
Speaker
But I like the, with as far as the sound design, man, like the sound effects that you get from all the fight scenes just was amazing to me. I loved it. All the clashes of blades and hitting the shell, dumping stuff, people getting thrown around, you know, just, you know, like small things like,
00:39:16
Speaker
yeah right and like even like hearing splinter or not splinter but shredder fall into the dumpster truck you know all kinds of small things man there's there's a lot to go like think the music right there goes hard too bro when do you get that shot of the blood and stuff as it's crushing yeah man it's pretty cool man yeah i would say well who else got more to say don't know go for it that's it i exhausted my words I was just going to go ahead and just say I give the music Sound Design a four.
00:39:48
Speaker
yeah i give it a five. I was a four. After I praised it so much, i was still a four because it does repeat a lot of the same themes over and over again. Yeah, it does.
00:40:02
Speaker
They're still really good themes. They are, man. But I was a four. Travis was a five on Music and Sound Design. Oh, And David was a four.
00:40:15
Speaker
So then, all right, that leads right into the editing and special effects where we talk about how that ADR with their voices matched up insanely with these puppeted mouths on the articulation of the lip movement, dude. Like, holy cow. Yeah.
00:40:35
Speaker
Insanely awesome. How did they do it? i mean, I'm sure I'm sure it's a documentary, but these are some of the best puppets I've ever seen. Like you guys are saying the animatronics or whatever it is in the faces like it's incredible. Like the turtles, in my opinion, the turtles never look better than they do here.
00:40:55
Speaker
You don't get... It doesn't get better, man. Like, it's insane. Like, the skin te looks... The texture looks right. Like, they look... Like, just the amount... Like, just the right amount of, like, in between, like, dry and moist that, like, a turtle is normally. You know? Like, there's just so much about...
00:41:18
Speaker
the detail of their costumes alone and the puppetry and like you can tell that splinters basically always just a puppet that they're puppeteering off of uh you know off camera those are movies and stuff but he's so good and it's designed so well that it never breaks immersion not once nope and i think for me and a lot of it yeah even with splinter the turtle it's the eyes yeah by having the eye movement and even just like the eyelids and the eyebrows yeah having that movement
00:42:00
Speaker
Brings a level of reality to it that is insane. Can you see like the seam of the neck on some of the turtles? Yeah. Don't care.
00:42:11
Speaker
Rarely. It's not big thing to notice. It doesn't bother me at all. I can see it. but that level, I put it in my notes. There's that scene when they come back and Splinter has been taken and Raphael gets mad.
00:42:27
Speaker
And the computer the camera spins around him while he is like emotional. But they got all of that emotion on his face.
00:42:38
Speaker
On a puppeted face. You can read the emotions. It is insane. And that scene is just... I also that I like the comedy of he's screaming and upset and it immediately cuts to a guy stepping over a sewer grate and hearing the scream and like, yeah, at the great like um it immediately cuts to like this really heavy, dark moment.
00:43:06
Speaker
And then immediately has a joke that does not ruin the moment at all, but is like, Hey, somebody would probably hear that. And they acknowledge that. But yeah, it's It's just so good. I can't praise the puppetry enough. And then to see these puppeted faces in full body suits going toe to toe with ninjas in fight scenes is fantastic.
00:43:31
Speaker
Yes. So it's awesome. It's awesome. That's another thing. The choreography never feels never feels lazy or shitty. No. Even with the suits that they have, they don't really seem like they're hampered that much by it.
00:43:46
Speaker
Right. They still have the sense of articulation and movement that they need to really make those moves happen. And even though you can tell, like because you know a lot of the action scenes, like particularly at the beginning of the...
00:43:59
Speaker
um big fight in the uh goddamn antique shop is very slapsticky you know for the comedy element even though you have that um You can tell that like for the rest of the fights where they're choreographed, like it's real it's real martial artists that are right here you know performing you know in the turtles and in the foot you know costumes. it's It's so good. It's surprisingly good going back and watching it.
00:44:35
Speaker
Speaking of real martial artists, I love that nunchuck scene. ah yeah Yeah, dude. Oh, a fellow chucker. A fellow chucker, yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
And then they have the chuck-off. i love that. Just to do chucking off in an antique store, you know? Nothing quite like it, bro. Just chucking away. Just careful it doesn't get too claustrophobic in there.
00:45:01
Speaker
Right.
00:45:04
Speaker
Man, one other thing, though, like for the special effects stuff, like when April, like after April's saved and they're bringing her back home, and she's talking like, oh, she mentions like the frozen pizza.
00:45:15
Speaker
They have that speed shot where Mikey shoots up out of the sewer hole, and his face, like the the movement of the face is so fast. Did you say pizza? like And the way everything in the face moves when he has that freak out spaz moment over it. yeah I was like, oh, shit, that kind of like...
00:45:29
Speaker
Kind of scuff me for second. Like, oh man, it's like really boom in your face really quick. It's almost crazy. Awesome. I love that whole exchange between that scene it and then they're walking away and she's like, well, what do you guys like on your pizza? And he's like, it's just kidding. We like normal things. It's so good. So,
00:45:48
Speaker
is just kidding good we like normal things it's so good so I can't give this movie anything less than a five for editing and special effects.
00:45:59
Speaker
Cause also I have to say, we didn't even talk about the
Moral Lessons
00:46:04
Speaker
editing, but the editing in these fight scenes is better than some of the editing I've seen in fight scenes today.
00:46:11
Speaker
Definitely the back and forth between like the banter of them talking. Oh, Raph's just out. He needs to blow off some steam and then it shows him fighting or getting his ass kicked or all. He might drop in any minute and then boom, he goes through dude like so the editing. So good, man. Beautiful.
00:46:28
Speaker
<unk>s so good man yeah beautiful it's It's perfection, honestly. I don't know that I could watch this and say, ah they could do that better. Anybody who comes in here and says a CGI turtle would be better than what we got, may I show you the 2014 version?
00:46:46
Speaker
They try it. They're not better in the new version with the CGI. They can eat my ass. It's not better. It's cool. But it's not better than this. Exactly. It's not better than this. So, five to three.
00:47:00
Speaker
Five as well. Five. It's to three. Five around the table. It's a five for Travis and a four from David just because it's been a long time. He hasn't seen it. He doesn't remember.
00:47:10
Speaker
if he If he would revisit it, dude, I bet you he'd be like, holy shit, look how good this is, man. You know? Yeah. He said, dude, for real.
00:47:21
Speaker
He said in his notes, he said, been a long time since I've seen this, so I'm going off memory. i was a massive fan growing up. I know it's darker than I expected.
00:47:32
Speaker
So yeah that's what he wrote. So, but yeah, editing special effects. We're pretty much fives across the way script here.
00:47:43
Speaker
So I'm going to jump in on something. Was it what Jonathan was talking about earlier? Or maybe it was Ricky. I don't remember. We're talking about splinter sitting with rough and talking about controlling his anger Yeah, that's Rick. can You were talking about that. Okay.
00:48:01
Speaker
I put that down because I was like, not only is this movie consistently funny, consistently engaging, like genuine laughs, genuinely interested in these characters, but it is also back in the day when we weren't afraid to provide a genuine...
00:48:22
Speaker
lesson for the kids watching this right yeah about like splinter is sitting there giving good advice about controlling your anger you know don't give into it learn how to use it channel it i'm like this is good stuff for kids i needed that growing up i had anger as i still do just that's how it sounds good road the as see like suchma ah But there's also that moment when splinter teaches us of the teaching comes through splinter because he's the adult figure, but there's that moment when he, without saying it so much, and actually he does say it in words,
00:49:11
Speaker
That sometimes the misunderstood enemy, in this case, it's Danny, sometimes just needs somebody to listen. Right. that is teaching without preaching it that not every conflict is going to be solved with fists.
00:49:28
Speaker
you know Right. not And it's so... good. It is, it's not preaching it at you. It's not beating you over the head with it. Splinter is held captive and Danny is like, I might have done this. And Splinter is like, what's going on? Like, tell me.
00:49:48
Speaker
And it's a beautiful scene. and So i love that. It's consistently funny. I love that it carries good lessons, moral, valuable lessons with it.
00:50:02
Speaker
And it's an engaging from beginning to end. So this script, it's a knockout for me, but... Hell yeah, dude. like I love the banter with the way they wrote it. There's so much fun little banter back and forth between everybody in different directions.
00:50:19
Speaker
And I love all the jokes that they wrote into it, how it all plays out. um But like what you're saying, though, Splinter, though, like the sensei lessons, yeah you know, with Raph and Danny and even like all four of them when he's all Jedi.
00:50:33
Speaker
ghost over the fire, you know, phosphorus. I don't even know why we didn't even talk about that in the special effects. Can't believe we've talked about that. That good stuff. Retroactively. Right?
00:50:44
Speaker
But yeah, that was like some of the biggest part it was just those sensei lessons, you know, even though it's done in like a fatherly way, you know, and like the way that connects with a lot of people, I think is pretty rad, you know. But yeah, just like the back and forth between all all the different characters, especially like I said earlier, Casey Jones in April, like their little back and forth, tete-a-tete's you know, with picking at each other and how that evolves into something is is cool, man.
00:51:10
Speaker
There's so many like fun little one-liners and like how throughout the movie, like there, know, someone like, was that thing? Like Donnie's maybe like trying to figure out his kind of special catchphrase kind of thing. It's like, yeah, Nova Chevy Nova. It's like, I've always liked cowabunga, you know, just crazy little one-liners and stuff, you know?
00:51:33
Speaker
Um, but yeah, God, well Oh, man, what was it also the thing where ah where they're waiting for the pizza would guy to show up with Domino's pizza? Yeah, and he, like, parts is, like, words of wisdom, you know, like, never pay full price for pizza. I can't remember what the first part of it was. It's the way he's sitting there with that popsicle stick, and he's like, pizza guy's got 30 seconds. Yes. what Leo's trying to be all deep in conversation with him about, you ever imagine if, like, Splinter wasn't here? And he's just like, oh, let's just talk about pizza again. Right. Like, bro, what the hell, man?
00:52:08
Speaker
Oh, and I love i love the big... I can't remember the specific address, but it's, you know, such and such, such and such, and an eighth. Yeah. They have like an eighth. Where's the eighth? What? He's like, an eighth?
00:52:22
Speaker
What is that? You're standing on it, dude.
00:52:27
Speaker
It's a... he He's a wise man say, forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza. There you go. There you go. Oh, when, uh, during the the fire in the shop and Casey Jones shows up and was, I think Mikey's like, that Wayne Gretzky on steroids? like Yeah, dude.
00:52:47
Speaker
There's so many good one-liners in here. Definitely. The, and we've, we've indirectly quoted it and referenced it multiple times, but we cannot forget Donatello's you're a costrophobic.
00:53:04
Speaker
Yeah. You all insecure about it. You immediately, you want a fist in the mouth? I've never even looked at another guy before. Right. Right. Like clarify for him. Like, Oh, okay. It's so good.
00:53:19
Speaker
yeah super Yeah, man.
00:53:23
Speaker
Kind of like the would like little April. There's that one part, though, after everything, everything burns down and they escape to the house out in the country. And you've got like the inner monologue from April going on through that whole set, talking about what they're going through and everyone's trying to fix everything come together like that whole string.
00:53:42
Speaker
of of dialogue there was pretty cool, man. So that it had really added some more like a extra set of depth to what's going on in the story. So got to kind of appreciate that.
00:53:53
Speaker
but i just kind of like it how like not just with Domino's like get other weird little like offhand product placements, even if it's not meant to, where she's talking about like we're all four of them or get back together. And she's like, oh, it's such a Kodak moment.
00:54:05
Speaker
Kodak was like a big product then as well. I'm not sure if it really relates to it like that. I kind of felt it like that. Did you catch the other product placement towards the beginning of the film that we're actually going to be talking about later in our season?
00:54:19
Speaker
Rafael standing in his trench coat right before he meets Casey Jones. And what movie is playing at the theater? Critters. You see the poster and I saw it. I was like, oh my God, critters.
00:54:32
Speaker
He walks away and he's like, who comes up with this stuff? I was like, shut your mouth. Rafael is a great movie, bro. No.
00:54:45
Speaker
And I love that this is the last one I got. I mean, we can just quote the whole movie because it's so good.
Humor and One-Liners
00:54:51
Speaker
But in that scene, I'm pretty sure it's that scene when he's chasing thugs into the park and he rolls over that cab and the passenger comes up from the back and says, what the heck was that?
00:55:05
Speaker
And cab driver, Look like a sort of big turtle in a trench coat. And then they just move on. Like, so it's so casual. It's so good. Yeah. I've got one more.
00:55:17
Speaker
Okay. When the foot catch up to April and kidnap her, and dude's like, yeah i have a message. Yes. out his open palm, and then slaps her. I was like, what the hell, dude?
00:55:29
Speaker
This whole scene got me, man. Because because they they they pop up out of nowhere, and she says... What is my ah Sony account late?
00:55:40
Speaker
He says, your mouth will get you in trouble. I deliver a message. And he does the thing and it's like, shut it. Dude, intense. yeah That's another thing that i always remember from this movie, man. Like she, yeah, that dude slaps the crap out of her.
00:55:57
Speaker
It's a cutaway, but, you know, yeah, it still counts. oh It does. It does. ah I'm a four on this script, man. This the script is tight. It is a good script.
00:56:10
Speaker
Actually, a four technically means it's a great script. so I'm coming up to a five because yeah i'm still cause I've still got shit I want to say from the script. Go for it.
00:56:25
Speaker
I also want to mention that you know I consider the script to be like also the flow of the story and how it's told and everything. and There is just...
00:56:37
Speaker
Like, yeah, it's not like as tight as it could be, but because I do feel like there's a little bit of slack or slog in the second act, but dude, it it's never boring. Like I said, i ah you I'm bad for picking up my phone during movies, even movies I've never seen.
00:56:56
Speaker
And this one, I never did. and never even thought about it. So I'm going give it, going give it that five and, uh,
00:57:06
Speaker
I think that's going to be all I have to say about it. All right. beautiful i had some ah I had some other lines that I wanted to bring up, but, you know, that's good. They're good. Also good.
00:57:17
Speaker
Yeah. Jonathan. Four. Four. Travis was a four, and David. you No, no, sorry. wait Yeah, four, yeah. Okay. And David was a five.
00:57:32
Speaker
ah but No, he wasn't a five. Sorry. He was a three. I was looking at i've got the chucking scene coming out on my side. Not yours. at the house. Yours has already passed. I'm on my TV too. ah All right. So the acting in this movie.
00:57:52
Speaker
I mean, like you said, I didn't know it was Corey Feldman. So i had to go back and on second watch be like, oh yeah, that was Corey Feldman. I recognize it now, but which that's what I want out of voice acting.
00:58:09
Speaker
I don't want my voice acting to sound like unless you're Nick cage playing Spider-Man noir in the miles Morales thing, because he it's perfect in that situation.
00:58:24
Speaker
I don't want, like, I typically don't want to know that Nick Cage is voicing somebody in the movie. I want to hear it acted. And these guys doing this in this film are pretty freaking great at the turtle voices.
00:58:42
Speaker
Also, April, she didn't come back for the second movie, and I want to know why. Right. Judas Hope playing April. Did a Elias come back as the second movie?
00:58:55
Speaker
Did he come back in the second one? I believe so. um i know he's in the third one. Okay. So then he was most likely back for the second one.
00:59:08
Speaker
But Josh, why don't I know? Raphael's voice is Josh Pace.
00:59:16
Speaker
Sure. I really don't recognize his face. I don't...
00:59:25
Speaker
There is not a whole lot. It looks like he's done a lot of TV stuff, but yeah, there's, they're all great in this film. ah
00:59:39
Speaker
They deliver the emotional moments when they need to. They deliver the comedy really well. That's one area we all know that I've talked about. i don't react to comedy the same way as other people. I find very different things funny.
00:59:54
Speaker
And this movie manages to be funny and that's partially the enthusiasm of the cast and delivering their roles. They're not thinking about the fact that they're grown men dressed in turtle suits, slinging these lines and doing these stunts.
01:00:12
Speaker
They genuinely deliver it. And it's a believable experience and great job. I wonder if the, if the aid, like all the voice, all the voice acting was probably done by the turtles after the fact, right? Like after the visual recording.
01:00:29
Speaker
Oh, I would think so. Yeah. The, during the ADR process. Yeah. Which makes me wonder that's typically backwards.
01:00:41
Speaker
Because typically you do your voice so that the mouth can match up on camera. Right. For animation. And like that was actually part of the issue with the Howard the Duck movie was they were doing the ADR after.
01:00:59
Speaker
um i still want to say they probably had to do the ADR after on this, but they got the mouths to match up really well. So I don't really well. That's why I'm wondering about it Yeah, they could have done all the turtle lines before, but then the physical performance with it, like it's just such a whole picture type of thing that I never really think about the fact that it's ADR when I'm watching the turtle talk. I'm believing that that turtle is talking. Right. yeah Even though was an adult, I'm fully aware that it's a person in a suit. It's being puppeted, whatever.
01:01:37
Speaker
It's just so tight. It's so good. Yeah, dude. yeah Yeah, give respect to the actors for that and like how they managed to make those work together. Just kind of like they did with Howard the Duck, you know, between the actual live actors, dudes in suits with moving mouthpieces and stuff and trying to keep that in sync to it. Man, that's tough, man.
01:01:55
Speaker
That's tough. You know, maintaining that flow of dialogue and everything as you're doing the scene and everything. um I think they did a great job, man, between Elias and Kodiass and Judith Hoag, man. they I think they did a really great job on that.
01:02:09
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I'd say like a lot of the background acting um and even some of the acting at the for forefront is very cartoony as well, but not in a ah way that breaks the immersion.
01:02:23
Speaker
You know what I mean? This is what you expect. The fucking chief of police guy that's like, are you telling me don't do my job? You know, like that. Yeah, that's straight out of a cartoon, but this is the Ninja Turtles movie. So of course you have that.
01:02:37
Speaker
Um, and april's reaction right to seeing the turtles and splinter for the first time is iconic it's priceless you know that squeak when she starts to freak out that's hilarious yeah dude
01:02:58
Speaker
i actually i actually put that in my notes too that uh April waking up and seeing splinter in the turtles is hilarious. And that's what I wrote. And then I had to look up 27. Wow. She was 27 when this was filmed, which I mean, she does look, I, this is one of those things that like I see on the internet that like George in Seinfeld was 32 or something in Seinfeld and he's balding and,
01:03:30
Speaker
whatever. And that like adam him aging today is very different than aging in the nineties and nineties. 30 was like adult. And now it's like thirties are just grown teenagers. So i don't know, but this was one where I was looking at it. Like she's 27 looks 30 something. So yeah,
01:03:47
Speaker
thirty something then so This scene here playing behind you always struck me as really awkward where he's like rubbing her shoulders and like she's like, no, stop. And then he like shoves her into the chair and makes her sit while he rubs her shoulders. Damn, Casey, chill, bro.
01:04:08
Speaker
Yeah, chill, bro. Turtle wax.
01:04:14
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Nice. A lot of good, dope jokes, man.
01:04:21
Speaker
All right. so these fours Oh, oh god go for it you bet it. I would say, I mean, all things considered, I'm not going to say it's perfect oh because it doesn't feel perfect, but I'm going to say it's great. I'm going give it a four, man, because between the voice acting and all the very serviceable cartoon acting and the little bit of something extra that we get from our main cast that are not in the suits,
01:04:51
Speaker
ah Hell, dude. Like Danny Shredder, the bald Charlie Brown guy beating all the kids. Like all of them are so fun, dude. I love them.
01:05:02
Speaker
Tatsu. Yeah. I forget about the Charlie Brown guy. No.
01:05:10
Speaker
yeah man bald bald scary asian guy is one of my favorites he was always one of my favorites as a kid i was like look at that scary man bro he just beats the crap out of casey jones towards in the third act yeah yeah wait it looks like they had a voice actor for him too really yeah because there's tatsu is uh toshishiro obata and then michael mcconaughey as the voice for tatsu ah Okay. Damn, that sounds racist. It sounds like they got ah a Japanese man to play the ah played a character, which is obvious.
01:05:46
Speaker
And then they got a white person to do the voice. ah yeah There's two voice actors for Shredder, too. Yeah, to be fair, there's a voice actor for Shredder. Oh, okay. well That's a trip. Okay.
01:06:00
Speaker
Yeah, David McCarran was the voice of Shredder, and James Sato was the Shredder. Okay. So that's... Hey. hey Casting in the 80s was different. Definitely. Hey, man, they they made a whole white woman into a ah a Hispanic woman in Aliens. So, you know, good luck good luck with that shit today.
01:06:27
Speaker
True. True. But like you said, I'm going to go acting. It's a four for me. Yeah, same. Yeah, I'm sitting at four. and Travis is a four. David is a three on that one.
01:06:42
Speaker
So mean the direction here.
01:06:47
Speaker
This one, man, I'm really tempted. i'm really tempted to give this one a five, to be honest, because...
01:06:59
Speaker
just the way we've talked about how everything came together on this film. If one of these elements hadn't have worked, this film would not be as remembered as it is today. It could have easily gone the route of Howard the duck, you know, where it's more of a cult classic Some people hate it. Some people love it.
01:07:25
Speaker
It's not, you know, not widely regarded as a great film. This film works from the musical elements to the The action scenes, the set pieces are fantastic.
01:07:42
Speaker
The, the foot clans hangout is awesome. The streets of streets of New York are awesome. The sewer sets are awesome. Incredible. It all works so good.
01:07:55
Speaker
And then we get great performances. My one complaint about the movie is that when they go to that house, it does slow down quite a bit. It slows It hits, it hits a, yeah.
01:08:07
Speaker
Yep. it It hits the brakes pretty hard. We get some nice emotional character development there. right That kind of like we're healing from getting our butts kicked and then we're going to come back whole. But that's that's my one complaint about it.
01:08:22
Speaker
But I mentioned like one of the scenes I got a praise is I said it way back earlier, but there's that long shot of Splinter talking with Raph and that camera is amazing.
01:08:35
Speaker
moving around these two puppets and zooming in on these two puppets, talking to each other. It's treating them like actors, not puppets.
01:08:48
Speaker
And that happens throughout a lot of this film. The director treats what is on screen as genuine actors, especially, you know, Splinter usually the only one that's solid puppet, but,
01:09:05
Speaker
Because the director views it that way with his eye, the way he sets up scenes, we believe it that much more. Right. You know, I never realized until this watch, not to cut you off.
01:09:18
Speaker
No, I never realized that till this watch that Splinter was not a guy in a suit. yeah Never. You know? And I think that's thanks to what you're saying. The guy treats everyone like a character, like an actor.
01:09:33
Speaker
You know? It's fantastic. And you, Ricky, mentioned earlier that introduce introduction shot of Shredder that is like Darth Vader level of awesome.
01:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, dude. Man, it's it is just really well done to put together these Choreographed fight scenes that just look so good for people in costumes and in and I'm not talking like Captain America costumes. We're talking like padded with animatronic helmets like insane costumes.
01:10:11
Speaker
It's awesome. He did so good bringing this all together and making it work. It is no wonder that ninety s children everywhere lost their minds at this movie.
01:10:24
Speaker
like I get it. I get it for sure. So that's my two cents on the direction. i don't think there's a particular flair. You know, it's not an Ari Aster film. It's not a whatever, pick a director.
01:10:40
Speaker
It's not a Dennis villain, Villeneuve film. There's not a, there's not a visual look that is a cue of this director. It is just that this director was competent enough to succeed in making this film work.
01:10:59
Speaker
Steve Barron is the director's name. We should praise Steve Barron. ah He's not exactly a stranger to big movies.
01:11:11
Speaker
He directed, ah he worked with the Merlin TV series in the 90s, if you remember those. e Yeah. um He has also done a lot of TV. There's a lot of TV connections to this.
01:11:27
Speaker
I'm trying to see.
01:11:31
Speaker
did some Michael Jackson music
Director's Approach
01:11:33
Speaker
videos. He did Coneheads. Nice. Oh, shit. Fuck you, that movie, dude. The Adventures of Pinocchio. a a lot of music videos as well, which explains the great music and timing.
01:11:47
Speaker
I find a lot that music video directors have impeccable timing with their films. They know how to make that work. um Yeah.
01:11:57
Speaker
I mean, there's not really... I mean, David Bowie, AHA, Culture Club, ZZ Top, Super Tramp, Bryan Adams. the He directed a ton of music videos, more so than movies. 1983, the dude was just pumping out.
01:12:15
Speaker
He did the Billie Jean music video, Madonna burning up. oh shit Toto, Kenny Loggins, Joe Jackson. He directed the Africa by Toto.
01:12:26
Speaker
fun The Human League Fleetwood Mac. ah I mean, his resume is mostly music videos. So i'm impressed by this film. This film is he pulled it off.
01:12:44
Speaker
He did a bang up job doing it. I wouldn't be able to say anything. better than the way you just said it, man. Like to make this shit work as well as it does.
01:12:56
Speaker
I was 37 years old when I realized that a movie I've seen all my life and known about all my life that Splinter wasn't a dude in a suit. So yeah, this guy definitely knows how to, he knows how, how to make it work, but he knew he had a vision.
01:13:20
Speaker
He knew how to make that vision work and how to sell it like perfectly. And like you said, the timing and everything, like everything is so, especially the first half of the movie, it's just so like, bam, bam, bam. Like it never lets up.
01:13:38
Speaker
And I don't know if I want to put, i mean, like we talked about the sets and stuff like I know it's not necessarily his style, but like this movie has such a style to it. In my opinion, just that the, the seedy New York fucking thing, man. Everything's dark.
01:13:57
Speaker
Those shots of, of, uh, Mikey skate, or was it Leonardo? One of them skateboarding in the sewers is one of my favorite awesome things ever. You know, dude, I, I was at a four, but I'm coming up to a five. So there you go.
01:14:15
Speaker
You convinced me. Kick ass. I really like like the beginning, the intro shots to the movie where you see bustling New York just on an average day. Everyone's getting around hoofing it.
01:14:26
Speaker
Traffic, mad dash, cap, everyone trying to their get to work, do a job, delivery's here. And then you see, like, as the story goes and you hear April, you know, giving her report over the news thing, you know, the stuff getting lifted from the truck, you know, and you see a guy getting, yeah just getting pickpocketed, just out of passing by. And then thes it off to the pass, but yes pass, pass, pass.
01:14:48
Speaker
And then Danny's just like back here, like guy grabs it. Like that whole sequence of shots and how that sets the tone for what you're to expect in the movie, I think was really cool. I think it was a great way to start the film.
01:14:59
Speaker
There's one shot in particular. Sorry. There's one shot in particular in this beginning section where you see April talking about the foot and all the crime going on on multiple TV monitors at a time at once.
01:15:14
Speaker
And like there's just little things like that where I feel like. the director was kind of may maybe flexing a style or just you know experimenting because who would you know like what what else are you going to do with it you know he says oh well hell i'll just put it on three different screens in frame and there'll be different sizes placed in different spots you know um i feel like there's a little bit of style there it's cool uh you you mentioned like the three different screens
01:15:46
Speaker
I did put it in my notes. You knew that an 80s villain was going to be bad news based on how many TVs were stacked in his lair. That like first scene of Shredder, there's just TV, TV everywhere, and he throws that knife into I'm like, yeah, you know this guy's going to bad news. Right.
01:16:11
Speaker
But, yeah, and i'm actually, while we're talking, I'm thinking, like, a music video director makes sense for a martial arts movie because it's not that different than filming dancing.
01:16:22
Speaker
Right. Choreography not really at the end of the day. Yeah. It's all a choreography. You got to hit the right cues at the right time. You got you got to pull it off and it makes a lot of sense.
01:16:33
Speaker
You making me want to change my score, but I think, i think I'm going to go a half. I'm going to four and a half on this. We're I'm hitting a four on it.
01:16:45
Speaker
Okay. And then Travis was a four and David was a three. So the it factor, we've kind of danced around the it factor all night, but uh,
01:17:02
Speaker
yeah go for it this factor was actually not hard no it's there it's really not it's really not the it becomes the it factor or cultural significance and impact there's a lot here there really is this is a time where martial arts is like slowly starting to become a little more well known across the country and this film really helps set the tone to inspire other people to to get mixed into that, you know, as well as just the love of Ninja Turtles and the whole franchise and all the other stuff that came with it and the marketing and the toys.
01:17:36
Speaker
Like myself, man, like I said earlier, this is one of those films that really got me into loving martial arts. Hell yeah, dude. First week, Black Bolt, National Karate Schools of Chicago. Bro's got the key. Multiple championships, 2011-2013 heavyweight, 1829 division grand champion, aka Grand National Chicago. A couple other tournament stuff, you know. well As you've seen, you know I've got some nunchucks.
01:18:01
Speaker
I've got swords. I've got bow staff training. I've actually, like, I know bow forms. I know some bankai sword form. My dad is a post-staff guy too. I do have a pair training comma.
01:18:11
Speaker
yeah Nice. and then nice on top of that, you know what we've already shown. you know All of this. All this stuff. All these different things that come about right from the creative minds because of what's inspired from this as a franchise and how that it affects so many people.
01:18:26
Speaker
like And all the different stuff's come out. How could it not have a cultural pick? It's super massive, and it's not just here in the United States. There's a love for it worldwide. You know?
01:18:37
Speaker
The Ninja Turtles has such a huge impact. It's super saturated, and I think it kicks ass. I don't want you guys say whatever you want. I feel like it's because of this movie and the toys.
01:18:52
Speaker
ah Maybe the cartoon as well. Yeah. Overall. But I mean, it's I mean, it's this movie and the toys, man. Like I had so many fucking Ninja Turtles. It was ridiculous, dude.
01:19:05
Speaker
I had ones that didn't even make sense. Like I never saw him in any comic in the cartoon or nothing. They had like this lion guy who was like a King Arthur type knight dude. And I'm like, well, how does that make sense? Fuck it. It's a Ninja Turtle. Get it.
01:19:19
Speaker
um My dad was my dad is a third
Cultural Impact
01:19:24
Speaker
degree black belt in Taekwondo. And later on, he did a ah some Hapkido and some other stuff, too.
01:19:32
Speaker
want to try Hapkido or Aikido. There's a I think he did Aikido as well. There's a Japanese sword form that he did. i can't remember the name of it.
01:19:44
Speaker
Also, so martial arts was always like a big part of like relating to my dad as well. And I, I tried Taekwondo, but I was, I was too young and I didn't care, you know, just so I didn't get it. I didn't get far. Iraq discipline.
01:20:02
Speaker
But um you rack a discipline, rack a discipline very much dishonor. So but like this movie, man, like, God damn, i it's just just burned into my brain.
01:20:16
Speaker
I know it's burned into everyone else's my age. but if you don't love it you've definitely fucking seen it man everybody can every anybody can quote at least one line from this shit dude like this is a five cultural impact in my opinion so there you go yeah hell yeah uh i just remember growing up like i was I was one zero when this film came out.
01:20:49
Speaker
ah yeah I was born in 89 and this came out in 90. yeah However, a three I remember all of my life, all of my early life, the turtles were everywhere.
01:21:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah, dude. because Many iterations. Yes. 1, 2, 3 came within three years of each other, which is insane. Nowadays, we have like six years between sequels, and then Robert Pattinson's the youngest Batman ever, and then his second movie, he's the oldest Batman ever, and it's just absurd.
01:21:22
Speaker
ah but Yes. But to do that, to be everywhere, I remember... I remember them. I seem to remember them with fast food. I don't know. I was like six. I don't remember exactly.
01:21:37
Speaker
McDonald's had the toys, man. Okay. Yeah. See, I remember all of these things. I remember the turtles everywhere. And I remember just having this fascination with them, even though I wasn't allowed to watch the movies yet because there was too much action. Yeah.
01:21:53
Speaker
um I loved it. And they were everywhere. And for this movie, we said at the beginning, but this is where it's worth noting. This was the highest grossing independent film until the Blair Witch Project.
01:22:09
Speaker
That's so crazy, dude. Really? Yes. Blair? It was $135 million at the domestic box office and in the foreign.
01:22:22
Speaker
On a budget of under 10. Shit. Just some other cool things. um Robin Williams was a huge fan of the comic books and provided Judith Hoag, who played April, provided her with information to play her character from his personal collection.
01:22:42
Speaker
Nice. The guy in the back of the cab who... said what was that when rafael rolls across it is the actor who plays rafael oh no way thought he looked familiar nice well yes so each of the people in the suits has a scene outside of the suit in the film nice michelangelo is the guy who delivers the pizza
01:23:12
Speaker
Leaf Tilden, the guy who plays Donatello, is the foot messenger that slaps April. Nice. um The guy who plays Leonardo is one of the gang members in the warehouse.
01:23:26
Speaker
Nice. Wow. i So. That's cool. Originally, Jim Henson was not. He was not the first idea for this film.
01:23:37
Speaker
The original idea for this film was going to be the same approach that was used for who framed Roger rabbit, where do they would be interacting with animated turtles, but they then perform. They then, then pursued Jim Henson and he was up for the challenge.
01:23:56
Speaker
He unfortunately died a month and a half after its release, which is probably why the turtles went downhill in design.
01:24:07
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. Could be.
Technical Filmmaking Details
01:24:11
Speaker
Disguising how... I should have brought this up in the special effects because how you pull this off is insane to me and make it so seamless. um The turtles were slow.
01:24:25
Speaker
The costuming, the puppetry was slow. So to make it look normal, dialogue scenes were shot at 23 frames per second and then played at 24 frames per second.
01:24:40
Speaker
So that they move faster. And for the same reason, you can tell it a little bit more in these fight scenes, but some of the fight scenes were shot at a slower frame rate and sped up.
01:24:51
Speaker
You can, I did notice that a couple of times, but we did mention the foot clans hideout. was used as dino dino hat in in super mario bros from 1993 but also you guys here will appreciate it was the top dollars nightclub
Group's High Score
01:25:11
Speaker
in the crow 1994 oh wow that's the same place low but yeah this
01:25:24
Speaker
This was just ah insane. it was a cultural phenomenon. And then to get two more sequels immediately after is success.
01:25:35
Speaker
that You guys already gave your score on it, didn't you? I'm a five all day, every day on it factor, bro. Yeah. but This is one that we are actually all five of us unanimous.
01:25:49
Speaker
It's a five. Everybody remembers the turtles was a phenomenon. So you're. How entertained you were. Well, before we get there, I want to say this movie also had a huge impact on my psyche because um it's probably April O'Neil's fault that I have such an obsession with legs.
Personal Impact and Favorites
01:26:12
Speaker
So there you go. I'm just going to put that out there. You can imagine what you're referring to. That is too funny, dude. I'm just going to say, i mean, you know.
01:26:23
Speaker
That's okay, man. Yeah. Nothing wrong that. See, you're looking good. Some shots, man. Judith Hogue, we rock it, bro. Let's go. All right. So then, how entertained were you out of 10?
01:26:36
Speaker
this is This is your nightclub score, Ricky. This is the nightclub score. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Let's see. Let's check it out. ah but I don't have it pulled up already. Dude. or like Yeah, I have it at a nine.
01:26:52
Speaker
But talking about this, just yeah, dude, I think I think I was a little too critical on it. going to give it that 10. Yeah. Yeah, you are.
01:27:04
Speaker
I didn't pick up my phone, man. going to give it that 10, man. God dig that.
01:27:11
Speaker
Okay. For me, it's it's a 10. I always say, am I willing to put this on again immediately? The one caveat here is that I might go right into the second one.
01:27:28
Speaker
Right, right. For sure. you know, but that's what this movie makes me want to do. I want to stay in this world. i finished the movie and picked up a Turtles comic because ah love it that much. It's a great film.
01:27:42
Speaker
I think it's one of my favorite comic book adaptations ever. Yeah. because it makes sense. It does what a good comic book movie should do. And it makes you want to go back to the source. It makes you want to dig in no more.
01:27:58
Speaker
And that is successful. So yeah, for me, it's a 10.
01:28:04
Speaker
10s all day, bro. 10s all day. Okay. You're just going
01:28:11
Speaker
okay what theres you're you're just gonna say it's a I don't really need see much. I thought I would have spazzed out and been like, look at me, look at all my shit, look how awesome this is, man, it's a nice movie. How many times I've seen number three and how much I love the franchise and blah, blah, blah.
01:28:25
Speaker
Yeah, man, it's just a kick-ass set. I think it's something that everybody should be able to watch and have fun and share with one another. you know then Maybe it might inspire somebody else to get into the martial arts and maybe some of those aspects of the Ninja Turtles themselves might rub off on people. It's fucking kick-ass shit. so I'm all for it, man.
01:28:44
Speaker
So Travis also gave us a 10 and he said, i don't want to take up too much time by explaining all my scores, but to be fair, they are ratings based off of memory.
Comparison: Howard the Duck
01:28:55
Speaker
I didn't have time to rewatch, but he says, but I will say this for as much love as I gave Howard the duck, this gets 10 times that. Yeah. Like, yeah, yeahp I do think it's interesting. We're doing these back to back. They're both comic book adaptations.
01:29:13
Speaker
They're both. puppetry in film i was going to say late 80s but howard the duck was not late 80s um but one of them was significantly more successful than the other right and i do think it is interesting to see why and it's definitely not like this movie was criticized for being a little too dark but I think you got to have that darkness to see some of the humor, to get some of the levity, to appreciate the lightness too. Otherwise it'd be too fluffy.
01:29:49
Speaker
I love having that heaviness to it. i I think it's an interesting comparison going from Howard the duck to this one. And it was unintentional. Both of these movies were not on our regular schedule.
01:30:02
Speaker
Jonathan ne and I were messaging and like, Hey, you want switch it up? Yeah. Okay. And we did. Nice. Back to our regular programming in two weeks.
01:30:13
Speaker
ah But, yeah, I mean, i don't know that I have all that much more to
Final Scores
01:30:18
Speaker
say. My final score out of the 50 is or four and a half stars out of five on this film oh ah my my total was a forty six so you're four and a half as well I think my total is 46 as well. Look at that lineup. And Travis a 45, and David is 37. So that's 3 1⁄2. really, that average comes out to 43.9 or 44 or 4 1⁄2 stars. So...
01:30:45
Speaker
and a david is a thirty seven so that's three and a half um but really the average comes out too forty three point nine or forty four or four and half stars so Basically, this movie is going to be a hit with a group of people.
01:31:10
Speaker
Right. I think, Ricky, you said earlier, like there's something in here for everybody. Even my wife didn't hate it, and that's a win. I thought you said that, but I agree with it for sure. like Everybody what you mean that said it.
01:31:25
Speaker
You did? Yeah. but Okay. Jonathan said it. Somebody said it. But yeah.
01:31:34
Speaker
No, it's actually one thing I forgot to joke about earlier when Splinter is telling the whole story to Danny.
Praised Flashback Scenes
01:31:41
Speaker
i think it was about his past and like his master, Hamada Yoshi, and how like him and Shredder, Oroku Saki, were fighting and they fought fiercely over the love of a woman. yeah Her name was Tang Shin.
01:31:56
Speaker
Master Yoshi was getting that sweet tang, bro. Oh, That tang had them boys acting crazy, dude. It's so bad. It's so bad. Had them boys acting up, ball. That sweet tang shin. i i didn't even mention how I wanted to talk about those flashback scenes. Yes.
01:32:18
Speaker
are I love the way they were filmed. Almost most entirely black like it was a puppet show. No extraneous details. Nothing distract from the point. No, no no sets, nothing. it was the light, our focus, and some puppets on there.
01:32:37
Speaker
It was a great choice. So well done. So, Ricky, you have any final words? yeah iconic Iconic, that scene. I mean, and for the whole for the whole film. yeah Yeah, dude, that ah shit's crazy.
01:32:52
Speaker
This is something that I grew up with, man, and I just, I'm glad I got to revisit it. I probably wouldn't have revisited it for a long-ass time if not for this episode, so I'm um i'm glad to be here.
01:33:06
Speaker
I'm glad you did. Yeah, man, it's been a blast. It's always fun having you on, dude. yeah Hey, man, I'll come i don't think we have you scheduled for any of our other episodes. You got to fix that. i yeah sam got get All right. Yeah. Yeah, you do.
01:33:22
Speaker
Yeah. Jonathan, we got, we got to get, I still want to get all of the nightclub on an episode with us. two i don't care if it's six hours long. i sure about that?
01:33:35
Speaker
I just want to have a party. maybe Maybe we'll just set up a live stream party with all of you. Maybe I'll come down you guys in Louisiana. we can just all get together and then just stream with Tim. yeah Yeah. There you go. You, me, Travis, Rick, man. We all three get together. I come down there, and then we'll just do an episode straight from there. That sounds awesome. um I might have to travel for that, though.
01:33:56
Speaker
so Yeah. We're going to definitely hook it up, man. i know we should We should see about working that out sometime this year. i My wife and I are planning on it because she doesn't do a lot of episodes, but she knows we're all friends here and she wants to meet people in person.
01:34:14
Speaker
So I want to do that. right. Anything else to say before Jonathan and I read us out of here?
Nostalgic Reflection
01:34:25
Speaker
Oh, should I plug or something?
01:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, plug your stuff, man. Okay. um Yeah, um I'm Rick. I'm part of the nightclub. You can find us where you find podcasts, or if you don't care, then that's cool too.
01:34:41
Speaker
um But go find them. There you go.
01:34:47
Speaker
there you go bo That's the plug, girl. It was good. was good. Masterful. All right. Ready, Jonathan? Yeah.
01:34:59
Speaker
There's something special about movies like this. Yeah, it's a little dated. Yeah, the suits might squeak and the ADR sometimes sounds a little bit off.
01:35:11
Speaker
But when we watch this as kids, none of that mattered. Shit.
01:35:19
Speaker
Not at all. And just grateful for it. yeah We didn't just sit there picking apart the puppetry or wondering who was sweating inside a turtle costume. We believed. We felt it. These were real heroes fighting in the shadows, eating pizza on rooftops and teaching us about loyalty, brotherhood, and standing up for what's right.
01:35:36
Speaker
This movie reminds us of a time when films weren't productions. They were experiences. And every now and then a rewatch like this brings back that magic.
01:35:49
Speaker
The kind that makes you forget you're watching actors and effects and just lets you be that kid again. And that's why we do this. To laugh, to remember, to celebrate what these movies mean to us, not just what they look like on paper.
01:36:05
Speaker
So until next time... keep sending in your scores, keep watching the weird stuff, and don't forget that this is the average where the real review happens with your friends.
01:36:17
Speaker
See you next time.
01:36:21
Speaker
Hell yeah.
01:37:30
Speaker
Bye.