Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 66: Batman and Robin featuring MB
60 Plays1 month ago
Co-host of The Tasting Menu podcast, MB, is swooping into the studio this week and they’ve brought friends, namely Batman & Robin (1997). Joel Schumacher is making bold directorial choices, Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzenegger are gladly chewing scenery, Chris O’Donnell is back and petulant, and George Clooney and Alicia Silverstone are certainly reading their lines in this over-the-top cartoon of a film. It swings at comedy, adventure and raw sexuality, but does it succeed? You already know that it doesn’t, so tune in.
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:15
Speaker
It's bad to be bad. It's bad to be bad.
00:00:27
Speaker
that you would, if you could. And you know that you should. Yes, you know that you should.
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:40
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to your favorite bad movie podcast. It's the only podcast that's brave enough to ask the question, if this movie's so bad, why do you like it so much? I should have said brave and bold enough to ask.
00:00:54
Speaker
Damn it. Anyway, we're your hosts. I am the original Mr. Cool, Chris Anderson. And with me, as always, he's no more Mr. Ice Guy, Greg Bossy.
Meet the Hosts and Guest
00:01:09
Speaker
I want a car. Chicks dig the car. that I can understand that. Yeah, it's good to see you, sir. How are you? Oh, I'm doing pretty good, Greg. I'm very excited about the movie. this I'm excited about this one, too.
00:01:23
Speaker
I'm excited that, of course, we have my other co-host. I'm hoping that later on we can Netflix and chill. It's my wonderful wife, Anna. Hello.
00:01:36
Speaker
Hello.
00:01:39
Speaker
We'll see how it goes. My wife is fighting. They were through an exhausting day. Prayers up for my wife. But we also have with us a very special guest. You might know her as a co-host of The Tasting Menu.
00:01:55
Speaker
And ah much like Batgirl, she's swooping in to join our ah happy family for just this episode. It's MB. Hey, let's kick some ice.
00:02:06
Speaker
Yes, let's.
00:02:09
Speaker
Now, MB, you chose this week's movie and you chose Batman and
Summary and Nostalgia of 'Batman and Robin'
00:02:14
Speaker
Robin. Listeners, if you haven't seen Batman and Robin, here's just a brief summary of the film to hold in your mind.
00:02:28
Speaker
Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and his ward Dick Grayson are masked vigilantes and they take their toughest opponents yet.
00:02:39
Speaker
Two scientists that were victims of industrial accidents while trying to cure their sick wife or help the environment respectively.
00:02:50
Speaker
that's That is it is a way to describe this film. He could describe it that way. I think that's what happens in this movie if I remember it correctly. Wow.
00:03:02
Speaker
Now, Envy, we went back and forth on some of your choices and you finally landed on Batman and Robin, a fantastic choice. You almost went with another Schumacher. You almost did number 23. And if anyone out there wants to do number 23, please mail us.
00:03:18
Speaker
But you went with this also a fantastic film. Why'd you choose Batman and Robin? Yeah. So I, so I, grew up and i we owned this and, you know, back in the days where you just kind of owned like a couple of VHS films, you just watched them over and over.
00:03:39
Speaker
And so I've seen this just, just a ton of times and, and like, well, it's bad. I think it's really fun. Like, like, like it is a fun film to watch. It looks good.
00:03:55
Speaker
it it just has kind of fun campy vibe that I just think is great. I couldn't agree more. Do you remember how old you were when you first saw it?
00:04:08
Speaker
When did this come out? and ninety s seven so 97. So like like eight 8. yeah so great nine i Yeah. Fair enough. ah Greg, do you remember you how you first saw a Batman and Robin?
00:04:22
Speaker
Oh, I remember it pretty clearly. ah So I was, ah we didn't, I didn't do comic books as a child because I didn't have any comic book shops. so I didn't know any comic book characters, but my like my brother, my sister saw Batman and they like made Batman cards. And I was just like, I want to see that.
00:04:41
Speaker
that looks amazing and then the you know the sequel came out and i we saw that in the theater with just me and my dad and i was like that was amazing it's a batman forever and i was like that was amazing and it was like at a midnight showing with my dad it was great and then So then I went to this one on like opening night and I don't remember if it was this or Jingle All the Way because it was one of those was the first movie that I saw without my parents on opening night, like with a group of friends.
00:05:10
Speaker
And I was so excited to see this. And then I just kind of forgot about it after that. Because I think it was, even at the time, I i think I knew it had some issues.
00:05:21
Speaker
Fair enough. Even at youth, I think I was slightly aware. I think it's the kind of thing where you're, when you're like our age, when it came out, like probably mid teens, late teens, and go see it, you know, in your, with your high school buddies.
00:05:38
Speaker
And I just don't think you have the language to understand this movie. No, no. Yeah. I think sort of like the first Star Wars Prequel, it just works more if you're a kid.
00:05:53
Speaker
like yeah Like, it's just more fun. Yeah. yeah And i I know that you and I had watched this before. ah Yeah, but I had not seen it ah until I watched it with you, i i think maybe sometime last year.
00:06:07
Speaker
um i don't... I'm trying to remember... my familiarity with ah comic book characters. Like, when did when did I first become aware of Batman?
00:06:23
Speaker
And i I don't remember there being any, like, one point, but I know that I didn't see the 90s movies. Mm-hmm. And in fact, at that point, I was kind of a snob about them.
00:06:36
Speaker
Like, I do distinctly remember, like like, making fun of the concept of this movie with my sister. it included the line, Clooney Man away!
00:06:48
Speaker
joe
00:06:52
Speaker
it seemed It seemed very silly. and And when I was 18, I wasn't necessarily yeah up for enjoying silly in the way that I am now.
00:07:03
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah. Yeah. Once again, I think a high schooler is not the target audience for this movie. No. Watching it this time, it struck me that this is very much like Power Rangers.
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah. like If you watch it, like this is the best Power Rangers movie I've ever seen in my life. All of a sudden it makes a lot more sense other than it being so sexual. Yeah.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. It's an odd movie. Wait, I do want to get into that at some point because it's just so awkward. yeah I remember I saw this as a kid in the theater and I think i yeah, once again, just did not process it, but I was never one of those guys that had any particular disdain for these. Cause I remember watching, ah like one of those HBO making of specials that they would show all the time to like fill in between blocks. They had one about this.
00:08:02
Speaker
And I remember Schumacher saying specifically that he was referencing uh, sixties TV show. Yeah, that's obvious. Yeah.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yeah. And so that sort of opened me up to being able to approach this on its own level relatively early on. But I think if you didn't have those two pieces of cultural context and you weren't just a child that was excited to see Batman in vehicles, then you wouldn't have the language to understand this at all.
00:08:35
Speaker
Well, do you guys want to hear what I found out about ah my context research here? Yeah.
Evolution of the Batman Franchise
00:08:42
Speaker
All right. Then it's time for another bumper.
00:08:57
Speaker
I wish I had some context about the background of the film. Script director, actors on set. What was going on on screen? I want to hear some details.
00:09:09
Speaker
Gossips can do all that shit. Can it matter all the time?
00:09:25
Speaker
right, so Batman and Robin came out June 12th, 1997, directed by Mr. Joel Schumacher. I found three taglines. Tagline number one.
00:09:38
Speaker
Strength now. Courage always. Family above all. Batman and Robin.
00:09:47
Speaker
What? Really rolls out of the mouth. Yeah, like, I don't think there's a tagline that would make me want to see that less. Well, maybe this next one.
00:10:00
Speaker
Heroes. Villains. Triple threat. That's it. What? That's it. That's the whole tagline. What are the three threats? Wow.
00:10:12
Speaker
Well, you got Bane. i and ah oh triple threat. You Batman. I guess they both have triple threats. yeah yeah there's the yeah Yeah. Yeah, sure, sure.
00:10:23
Speaker
I mean, I guess the villain's also it well i Dr. Woodrow, the fluoronic man, but the fluoronic man doesn't play a very large role in this. Is he the crazy doctor?
00:10:33
Speaker
The poison ivy? Yes. Okay. Yeah, that's John Glover. John Glover. Oh, that's John Glover. Okay, yeah, yeah. i like him, yeah. Last one. Strength, courage, honor, and loyalty.
00:10:48
Speaker
On June 20th, it all comes together. That's when it gets released wide. It premiered on June 20th. ah Ah. Still, not great. Holy shit. No, no, no. i've never I've never heard a tagline that incorporated the release date.
00:11:04
Speaker
None of these communicate anything useful about this film. No. They are just assuming that you're coming. None of them have an ice pun. Yeah, they could have at least done an ice thing.
00:11:16
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. This summer, stay cool. Something. What was the tagline from Cool as Ice? How to melt a couple's heart, just add ice?
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah. Something like that. They should have just used that. yeah and yeah just for to rep purpose the cool It makes more sense than that one that was just like triple threat.
00:11:40
Speaker
It's like, i mean, I get it, but like, come on. And I like that they're all of them are just collections of sentence fragments. but yeah
00:11:49
Speaker
All right. So in 1989, Tim Burton's Batman came out and made over $400 million dollars at the box office. It proved to be a major milestone in the development of the superhero film genre.
00:12:01
Speaker
It also launched a small franchise of four Batman films that would come out on average once every three years. Batman and Robin was the final entry in that franchise. The nail in the coffin.
00:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, the nail in the coffin. Yeah, they didn't hit they had a home run on that one. Now, halfway through the franchise, Warner Brothers switches directors. ah For the third film, they decided to ditch the pop goth art deco stylings of Tim Burton for the, yeah, sure, I'm up for whatever directing style of Joel Schumacher.
00:12:36
Speaker
but God bless. Yeah. It's a movie? Sure, I'll make it. yeah I love the movies. yeah So ah two things from Schumacher's personal life that I think we should mention because I think they will shed some light on the film and and help help a reading of it.
00:12:55
Speaker
ah First was that he had a passion for fashion. He studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology before transferring to the Parsons School of Design. Makes sense. And the costumes and el are fantastic. Yeah.
00:13:08
Speaker
yeah ah The second thing that you should know is that he was really very, very gay. yes In a 2019 interview, he stated that he became sexually active at the age of 11 and over the course of his life had sex with somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 men.
00:13:27
Speaker
Holy cow. Even if those numbers are an exaggeration, I think it's fair to say that Joel Schumacher was about that life. do You know what and I mean? yeah he was he was walking the walk.
00:13:40
Speaker
Uh, now professionally Schumacher got his start in costume and production design. From there, he went on to screenwriting and directing a couple of TV movies before getting tapped to direct the incredible shrinking woman when John Landis quit because the budget got too small.
00:13:59
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. You can see how much he loves the production design in this film. Like the, The sets are just so fun.
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, love the sets. And he knows how to light them, too. yeah Exactly. It's just beautiful film to look at. yeah ah Now, ah from there, from The Incredible Shrieking Woman, he went on to direct DC Cab, St. Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, Flatliners, and Falling Down.
00:14:35
Speaker
Movies that you've probably at least heard of and possibly even liked, as well as several other films that you haven't heard of and haven't particularly liked. ah What do you guys think of Joel Schumacher?
00:14:49
Speaker
I'm hot and cold on him, sometimes within the same feature, if that makes sense. Yeah. Like, I'm always like, if someone's like, it's a Joel Schumacher, it's like, okay, I'm really interested. But I also understand that at some point I might be like, I can't fucking wait for this to stop.
00:15:04
Speaker
But just for a brief moment or just some portion of it, I i think Lost Boys is a great example. i really like Lost Boys, except for the last half hour. And it has one thing in it that really upsets me as a vampire movie lover.
00:15:17
Speaker
ah But other than those two things, it's pretty good time. Greg, you got to tell me what the one yeah what thing is. So it's it completely spoils the Lost Boys. Is that all right? but Yeah. Listeners just, if you don't want to hear this fast forward, ah I don't know, two minutes. Okay.
00:15:34
Speaker
So, so they invite the person over that they think might be a vampire and he comes and they have dinner and they're like, here's some spaghetti and they've loaded it with garlic and he eats it.
00:15:45
Speaker
And he's like, Yeah, this really garlicky. they're like, OK, so he's not a vampire. But it turns out he's the head vampire. And the reason why the garlic didn't affect him, because they admit that garlic does affect vampires.
00:15:56
Speaker
But the reason it didn't affect him is because they invited him in his house, into their house. And once you invite the vampire in, then all vampire rules go away. have never heard I mean, I've heard the thing we have to invite the vampire in, but once the vampire comes in, it's still fucking vampire.
00:16:14
Speaker
And yeah, you can kill it with a wood steak. I mean, like, that's not like it if he gets invited into the house, can he get cancer and die? Like, what's what are the rules here? Blood anymore?
00:16:26
Speaker
and And you can tell it's just like we needed to throw off the audience. It's like, yes, you did, because that was really obvious. And the only way to make us not think it was to tell us it wasn't happening. And then later be like, we psyched you out. It's like, no, you didn't. You assholes.
00:16:40
Speaker
Anyway. Anyway. Continuing Listeners, you can listen again. And any other Schumacher thoughts? Anybody? I like phone booth. Oh, yeah.
00:16:51
Speaker
When we watch phone booth. That was really fun. Yeah, I liked the seal kiss from a Rose music video, which he, I guess, did. that' yeah That's fun.
00:17:06
Speaker
we yeah We actually watched that last night. Yeah. yeah But yeah, just eh. Yeah, I like i liked ah Phone Booth. I liked his other collaboration with, the what's his face?
00:17:24
Speaker
Colin Farrell. Colin Farrell. Yeah, ah um Tigerland. I thought Tigerland was a bad. oh and of course I love the number 23. twenty three but Yeah, number 23.
00:17:39
Speaker
I enjoyed 8mm at the time when it came out, but I've never gone back to it, and I can't imagine that I would have that same response.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's the I would say the worst thing ah about it is that I think most of his films would do well being a lake tight 90, and they're just long.
00:18:00
Speaker
like what yeah and think that's thing. that's the worst thing about them yeah that makes sense he could stand to tighten the screws for sure i think uh and he mostly seems like the kind of guy that raises to the level of his material you know what i mean if he's got a good script he can do it but if he doesn't he's not gonna fix it on the day you know uh now uh oh anna did you get your schumacher thoughts i said i liked phone booths Yes, you did. yeah
00:18:32
Speaker
Now, it's good. Phone booth is good. ah Now, ah Warner Brothers, they were disappointed in ah the performance of Batman Returns.
00:18:43
Speaker
So they ditched Tim Burton and brought on Joel Schumacher, who they felt would play ball with what they wanted to be. They wanted someone they could control a little bit. Bad call, in my decision. Yeah, just a weird bad call.
00:18:57
Speaker
ah They told him they didn't want it to be as dark as the Burdens were becoming. They thought they were alienating the audiences. They wanted something more kid-friendly and toyetic.
00:19:09
Speaker
Toyetic being a big term in the 90s, meaning there are things in the movie that you can make it into toys. And Joel Schumacher delivered Toyetic. Oh my gosh, yeah.
00:19:19
Speaker
What did everybody think of Batman Forever? um I liked it. Eight. hate my brother he was four years younger um just watched it like each day um he had a big jim carrey phase and so i just saw it so much that that i just learned loathe it yeah i could see A little carry goes a long way. So the OD on Jim Carrey is a rough situation.
00:19:57
Speaker
I, I liked Batman forever. I liked, it's so funny that when Tommy Lee Jones shows up at the beginning of the movie and you're like, God, he's so big. He's filling up the whole screen. And then Jim Carrey shows up and just like blows him out of there.
00:20:12
Speaker
cannot sanction your buffoonery. Exactly. He is good. And truly buffooning and like eating every piece of the set. It's fantastic.
00:20:23
Speaker
And I like Nicole Kidman. like Val Kilmer. Val Kilmer at least looks the part and understands that he just has to sort of be blandly handsome. That's his role in the movie. Yeah. yeah
00:20:35
Speaker
Now, ah let's see. da dottatatata Yes. ah So he succeeded. a Batman Forever, even if it wasn't as critically successful as the Burtons, was more financially successful at the box office.
00:20:47
Speaker
And that's all Schumacher needed to be invited back for Batman and Robin. ah Val Kilmer decided not to reprise the role of Batman, which is probably fine with everyone as he was allegedly becoming a huge bastard at this point in history.
00:21:02
Speaker
okay He went off and completely wrecked the island of Dr. Moreau, for example, and then tried to... He thought when he did The Saint that this would become his James Bond and he could just be The Saint for the rest of his life.
00:21:15
Speaker
That didn't work. Other people that were considered for the role, David Duchovny? now Yeah. I never never saw that. I was like, huh.
00:21:26
Speaker
That might have worked maybe as well as George Clooney did. I think the more interesting choice, the other one was William Baldwin. I think a lesser Baldwin.
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah. That could like yeah maybe try and get a little goofy with it. Yeah. They have like square face for it too. Yeah. It's weird. It's weird to think about It's weird to think about it.
00:21:54
Speaker
The studio, they push for Clooney, and after Schumacher saw him in From Dusk Till Dawn, he was like, yeah, yeah, no, Clooney will be great. ah Other rumored alternate universe casting included Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, or Patrick Stewart for Mr. Freeze. I would have loved Patrick Stewart as Mr. Freeze. Yeah, wow.
00:22:17
Speaker
yeah probably Yeah, I mean... Those are all actors who could just like eat it. Like, like, like you just do hard. i think Ed Harris would be too scary. I think he wouldn't be able to bring the cartoon to it.
00:22:32
Speaker
And Hopkins could, but you'd it would like tank his career. yeah He's the one where it's just like, I don't really want to see him as Freeze. I'm not that interested. No, you'd feel embarrassed seeing Anthony Hopkins as Mr. Freeze.
00:22:47
Speaker
And they also, for Poison Ivy, they were thinking Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, or Julia Roberts. Okay. It have been fun to see Julia Roberts play a cartoon villain, I think.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know that that would have worked out. I don't know either, but I'd still think it would be fun to it. Sure. Sure. She's got the hair at least.
00:23:12
Speaker
Alicia Silverstone was the only choice to play Batgirl. And what a choice. i too not i bet she wishes that she was not. She allegedly, ah in addition to her very bad performance, I want to say. ah Yes. Yes.
00:23:32
Speaker
ah She also ah had her weight fluctuating during this process. And allegedly it made the bat suit not fit her properly. and the the press just raked her over the coals for this.
00:23:45
Speaker
And then to rake her over the coals in terms of performance. This truly sunk Alicia Silverstone's career. Yeah. And Boerthang.
00:23:55
Speaker
I have no belief with Alicia Silverstone. Yeah. No. I don't either. Now, in general, morale was low on set, it seems.
Challenges During 'Batman and Robin' Production
00:24:04
Speaker
Yeah, you can tell from George Clooney's performance. like He is not happy to be there.
00:24:16
Speaker
Allegedly, at some point, ah Arnold Schwarzenegger's prop gun was stolen from set and they had to shut down filming so they could track down his giant ice gun.
00:24:27
Speaker
They found it in the home of a collector. Oh, gosh. Also, the lights that were in his mouth, ah the batteries to power them started to leak battery acid into his mouth at one point. Oh, my God.
00:24:41
Speaker
After that, he had to, they started putting them in little plastic baggies. Good. Yeah. mark And it also allegedly took him six hours to get into and out of his makeup and costume every day.
00:24:55
Speaker
worth it. um yeah ah I mean, he still shows up like more than most of the actors in this. No, I'm going to say him and Uma Thurman were the only two that sort of understood the assignment. yeah yeah Nobody else knew what this movie was supposed to be. yeah yeah At least in terms of your leads.
00:25:18
Speaker
yeah I think that George Clooney knew what kind of film that he he was in, but just didn't know what to do about that.
00:25:29
Speaker
It just like, Oh, I get this. And this is not good. i think he had tried to bring some of the goofy energy that because he does goofball in with the Coen brothers. He can do goofy stuff.
00:25:42
Speaker
If he had just like brought like 20% of that, just some Adam West, just something. But you know, also he's very early on in his career. This is obviously a very big break.
00:25:52
Speaker
That's a scary swing to make. I also feel like he's kind of the straight man in the goofiness. I haven't seen the Adam West Batman, but I feel like maybe he was thinking like, I'm going to be the, like the, the solid rock amongst the goofy chaos, which is why, cause he's very understated and almost not present.
00:26:12
Speaker
Yeah. Too smart and talented enough to just be like, I'm just going to kind of disappear. It's like, that doesn't make a lot of sense. Yeah. I, I think it's a thing that he could do like like like as of now-ish, now that he's older.
00:26:29
Speaker
But this is when he he had like just left or was still in ER. you like This was his like big film. like This was his shot at being a star. So I get the sense he didn't really want to push that.
00:26:48
Speaker
and me um Which is Too bad because I think that he could, but he just he does not at all. No. Just to hit home the low morale, there's a quote from John Glover who played Dr. Jason Woodrew, the floronic man.
00:27:04
Speaker
And he said, Joel would sit on a crane with a megaphone and yell before each take, remember everyone, this is a cartoon.
00:27:16
Speaker
it was hard to act because that kind of set the tone for the film. But that said, out of anybody also, John Glover truly understood the assignment. Oh, yeah.
00:27:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Totally. Now, audiences and critics reacted poorly. ah Perhaps the pendulum had swung too far from Burton's darker take. ah Batman and Robin had a budget of $125 million, dollars and as allegedly there was another $120 million dollars spent on marketing.
00:27:46
Speaker
So when it only took in $238 million at the box office, this era of Batman movies came to a close. Schumacher never got to make his proposed sequel, Batman Unchained, but we'll be talking more about that later.
00:28:02
Speaker
But just to put a thing in its place, other action movies of 1997...
00:28:08
Speaker
that i i feel like it's significant that that when they rebooted batman They gave it to like the straightest director alive. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah. well They were not going to camp it up for a while. Now action movies of 1997. You've got con air. Nice.
00:28:33
Speaker
The fifth element. Yes.
00:28:37
Speaker
starship troopers wow always fun uh if you're looking to see george clooney in theaters you can go see him at the peacemaker hmm i forgot about that one yeah it's very forgettable yeah uh you've got john woo's best american movie face off oh nice You got Val Kilmer's other project, Saint.
00:29:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Lots of great stuff. And if you're looking for superheroes, you've got Shaq in Steel. Oh, nice.
00:29:13
Speaker
So plenty of choices there at your local cinema. Do you guys want to talk about the plot of Batman and Robin?
Memorable Scenes and Performances
00:29:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:29:23
Speaker
Such that it is.
00:29:41
Speaker
Plot bumper, listen to me. I'm gonna give you the plot summary. Come on, baby. Here's the synopsis.
00:29:53
Speaker
Plot bumper, plot bumper.
00:30:06
Speaker
So we open on a Batman logo covered in ice. To me, ice is always a bad sign for a franchise movie. Whenever they're getting to the ice stage, you're like, oh man, you've run out of ideas.
00:30:19
Speaker
ah We get our credits. Then we get a combined Batman and Robin logo. There are two logos for this film. Boom. So many. We then cut to our heroes getting suited up.
00:30:34
Speaker
and obviously we get yeah you get to see bat butt you get to see robin nipple you get to see the bat codpiece and the batmobile rises up out of the floor and it looks crazy as shit yeah uh it even has an open cockpit in it so that when you get a toy at 1 18th scale you can just slide your batman right into it yeah yeah yep yep yeah yet really looks like a blatant toy ad. Just, just straight up.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah. This is a giant toy. Uh, Robin, he wants his own car because as Greg pointed out earlier, chicks do dig the car. And Alfred says that he will cancel the pizza that he ordered.
00:31:24
Speaker
I think this, I think this right here I think this is shiny, the reason why I said that line is because literally opening line of Batman and Robin is, i want a car.
00:31:36
Speaker
Which is fucking ridiculous to me. It's the stupidest opening line. And it's like, that's the opening line of your superhero movie is 17 year, quote unquote, 17 year old saying, yeah I want a car.
00:31:50
Speaker
Like, what what are we doing? And Albert's like, I'll cancel the pizza. It's like, this is insane. Yeah, the script is wild. and Really wild. Yeah, right off the bat, you're being told that this is a comedy.
00:32:04
Speaker
This is a family-friendly adventure comedy. And maybe not a good one. Which is... No? Yeah, I guess I was shocked at how hard the toy sale stuff was, given that it's PG-13.
00:32:18
Speaker
thirteen Like, it's not even a PG film. Like I was like, wow, like that's, that's, that's, that's hardcore. Well, I think, you know, they want it to be sort of aspirational. do you know what i mean? Like the way to get your, your Queens is to make it PG 13.
00:32:34
Speaker
And the, and that's admittedly like how it worked for me. Like I didn't know the first Batman movie, but I've had cards that had pictures from it i was like, this looks awesome. I can't wait till I'm old enough to see this, you know? so it was like, it worked and it's ah in a way.
00:32:49
Speaker
So as a Batman and Robin roll out, they get a call on the video car phone from Commissioner Gordon, letting him know that the Gotham Art Museum is being robbed by the new villain in town, Mr. Freese.
00:33:03
Speaker
it's It is very economical storytelling. yeah It's very much like the first page of the comic book. Yeah. Yeah. And now we're off to the races. Indeed, Mr. Freeze is robbing the art museum, trying to steal a big diamond that he needs to fuel his freezing engine.
00:33:21
Speaker
He is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is bald, blue, and wearing a huge chrome exosuit. And by all appearances, seems to be having the time of his life.
00:33:33
Speaker
and in Shiny as hell. Even his skin is so shiny. Yes. And he is constantly making ice puns and ice dad jokes.
00:33:45
Speaker
Yes. ah I think his first line in the movie is, the Iceman cometh. yeah And it's still fun to make, frankly. Yeah.
00:33:57
Speaker
I mean, they really try and jam in everyone they can think of. So a lot of them just don't quite work, but they're still there. And he sure says them all the time. Yeah.
00:34:07
Speaker
All of the time. Allegedly, anytime you see him in this movie and you're not seeing his face, that's a double because he really limited the amount of time he's going to be on set in that makeup.
00:34:19
Speaker
That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. but still you can tell he is goofing around. He's loved getting to be a villain again, you know, which he probably hadn't done since Terminator one.
00:34:31
Speaker
And, uh, and it's so fun to like say all his lines in the Arnold voice, you know, when you're watching the movie, Now, ah Batman and Robin show up and there's a big fight.
00:34:44
Speaker
And the fight has ice skating and sliding down dinosaurs and there are lots of henchmen. I don't know why there's a dinosaur at the art museum, but there is. Well, it's not the art museum. It's just the Gotham Museum.
00:34:56
Speaker
So they've got art and they've got dinosaurs and they've got giant giant diamonds. Okay, yeah, I guess maybe that art museum was just a wing of the entire Gotham Museum.
00:35:08
Speaker
Anyway, anyway, ah Mr. Freeze tries to escape with the diamond in the escape rocket that is located in the back of his Friso tank, but our heroes hop on board.
00:35:20
Speaker
Boy, is this tank, once again, fantastically toy-edic. Yeah. Freeze freezes Batman to the rocket's walls before jumping out and gliding back down to Earth.
00:35:31
Speaker
Robin rescues bats and the two of them sky surf after Mr. Freeze using the rocket's doors as surfboards in the clouds. At one point, Robin yells out, Cowabunga.
00:35:43
Speaker
Wow, this is happening. At some point in this section, ah Mr. Freeze says to bed, because something happens with like Robin or something. And Mr. Freeze is like, your emotions are your weakness because you love people.
00:35:57
Speaker
You'll always have a weakness or whatever. And it really upset me because that was like literally the point of the climax of the previous movie.
00:36:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So like first conflict, let's rehash that thing that ended the movie lifetime. And then also, and this is what really upsets me. Mr. Freeze is, he's got a dead wife in the tank. And he's completely emotional about it.
00:36:24
Speaker
He's the most emotional character in the movie. He's crying constantly. Well, don't we always criticize the most in others what is true of ourselves? Of course we do, but I don't need that kind of life lesson in a cartoon with Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, I used to see you.
00:36:40
Speaker
like he's literally unable to speak in English other than the phrase, you're ruled by your emotions and that's your weakness. Everything else, everything else is like revenge is a dish best served cold.
00:36:54
Speaker
like You could just talk. You could talk at some point. We all know guys like that. I have trouble with puns. I have trouble with puns. Well, this is the wrong movie for you. I enjoyed this movie, but that's the part of it that that's my that's my that's my vampires welcomed into the house moment.
00:37:11
Speaker
yeah fair enough uh let's say yes ah robin yells out cowabunga that's how you know this movie is made for 10 year olds no movie with cowabunga and it's made for anyone over the age of 10 uh they catch up to freeze who promptly freezes robin solid and then escapes with the diamond while bats thaws him out and that's when he's like yo you're weak because you love robin uh meanwhile in a laboratory in south america The most beautiful woman in the world, Pamela Isley, is breeding carnivorous plants.
00:37:45
Speaker
I love that she's like, quote unquote, ugly because she's got like unclean hair and glasses. Yeah. Just like really unpretty.
00:37:56
Speaker
Not the attractiveness doesn't come through. She gets what film that she's in and absolutely loves it. She's having a great time. She's really good.
00:38:07
Speaker
And she has like eight different looks in this movie and all of them make me like knock need with horniness. Every single time she's on screen. It's incredible.
00:38:18
Speaker
Now ah her lab partner, Dr. Woodrew has stolen some of her research and used it to create a super soldier named Bane that he plans to sell to rogue nations of the world.
00:38:34
Speaker
Unfortunately, Isley finds out what Woodrow is up to, and he kills her by dumping a bunch of poisonous chemicals all over her. And then she sinks down into the earth. There's a lot of people in the Batman series being shoved into vats of things or having liquids pouring on them.
00:38:51
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Chemicals are very dangerous. Yeah. yeah Industrial accidents are a big problem in Gotham. Yeah. The real hero is Osha.
00:39:02
Speaker
Right.
00:39:05
Speaker
Now, back in Gotham, Bruce Wayne and Robin watch a video about Mr. Freeze that someone has made. He was a scientist working to cure McGregor's syndrome to save his sick wife when he fell into a cryogenic chamber filled with freezing liquid.
00:39:22
Speaker
Come on, That's weird.
00:39:26
Speaker
And also while he was researching a cure for this extremely rare disease, he also invented a functioning cryogenic chamber, at which nobody seems that psyched about. Whatever.
00:39:37
Speaker
Whatever. But falling into vat of chemicals turned him into a big ice man that needs cold temperatures to live. And it also made him ah crazy.
00:39:49
Speaker
so Batman and Robin, they bicker about Robin's autonomy in the team. Robin sees they're having some growing pains. You know, he wants to leave the nest and fly. and Alfred gives Batman some advice about it. He's like, well, someday things might change.
00:40:05
Speaker
I might die. For ex example. Yeah. Because like, even like in the beginning, he was like, I'll cancel the pizza. And then they look away and he's like, Oh, also I'm afraid.
00:40:19
Speaker
left I can shudder now. Yes. He tries to put on a brave face. Quiet face of pain. That guy's great. He also gives a great performance. oh he he all and He's one of the few actors that him and Pat Hingle, who plays Commissioner Gordon, they are a few actors that transitioned from the Burton verse to the Schumacher verse.
00:40:42
Speaker
And both of them do work equally well in both, I think. Yeah, and I think it's very nice ah that this script allows um Alfred to lie down for a lot of his part. I think that's a nice thing for an old actor.
00:41:00
Speaker
Yeah, I can wear my pajamas at set all day. Now we're talking.
00:41:05
Speaker
ah Now, back at ah the lab in South America, Pamela Isley emerges from the earth with long flowing neon red hair. She has a new, more confident personality and also poisonous kisses.
00:41:19
Speaker
Hmm. Worth it. ah She kisses Woodrow and he dies. And then she starts wrecking the joint and talking about how she's an avatar of nature.
00:41:32
Speaker
And then she notices that Wayne Enterprises is written on the side of one of the beakers. And she says, I'm going to go get Wayne Enterprises for some reason.
00:41:44
Speaker
It's perfect. Yeah. And she brings Bane along for muscle
00:41:51
Speaker
Back in Gotham at Freeze's lair, Freeze forces his henchmen to sing along to ah the Snowmiser song from the Rankin Bass TV special, The Year Without a Santa Claus.
00:42:03
Speaker
That will be our closing credits this week. Nice. Okay. I love that song. ah He tells his goon, Frosty, that he just needs one more giant diamond to fuel his freezing machine.
00:42:15
Speaker
And with that, he can then blackmail the city into giving him the billions of dollars he needs to fund his pharmaceutical research to cure his wife. This plan seems strange to me.
00:42:29
Speaker
I think it is, yeah. Yes, yeah. but You know, you're a kid. You roll with it. yeah I also want to take this moment to point out that, well, he does need the giant diamond for his ray.
00:42:41
Speaker
He needs a constant supply of diamonds for his suit. And I just wonder, what is the suit doing the diamonds? does it It uses them for fuel. Does it integrate them? Yeah, like there's nothing that can cut a diamond other than a diamond.
00:42:55
Speaker
And yet this machine's like, I chew through them. though you I need a lot of diamonds to function. I just pulverize them into nothing. I think it dissolves them or maybe splits their carbon atoms.
00:43:07
Speaker
No, I mean, I'm sure it's something like it has to be really sure fascinating is what it is. What's going on in there, Freeze? I mean, but also a diamond, right? It's just crushed coal. So maybe it's just like super coal.
00:43:20
Speaker
And so he's just running a coal furnace to fuel his refrigeration. Who could say? Anyway, at Wayne Manor... We finally get the one thing that this movie needed.
00:43:31
Speaker
Another character. Yes. So many characters. This time it's Barbara Wilson, Alfred's niece, played by poor Alicia Silverstone. Horribly miscast Alicia Silverstone.
00:43:44
Speaker
she Bad casting. It feels like she's just in a different movie than this. Like every time she speaks, I'm like, what movie are you in? Because it's not this one.
00:43:54
Speaker
i'm going to I'm going to offer a tentative defense. Sure, okay. Not even defense, really. But I actually like that they don't make her do an English accent or attempt to be believable as an English person.
00:44:10
Speaker
She's still not doing a very good job, though. I have no i have no like beef with her in this movie. I just think she just didn't really... I think it was one of those things where like it made sense to cast her because of who she was.
00:44:22
Speaker
made sense business-wise, but not organically in any way, shape, or form. So what we're seeing is synergy. Yeah, they should have... ah Who would you have cast as Batgirl? For some reason, I'm thinking Nev Campbell.
00:44:36
Speaker
That would be fine, maybe, I think. There's just little bit of an edge there. Yeah, that would work. Yeah, she was doing, she was starting Scream, though.
00:44:47
Speaker
I mean, you'd have to turn down Scream for Batman. And then they could have put Alicia Silverstone in Scream. Ooh, fun. Yeah. Hmm. Now, ah let's see.
00:44:59
Speaker
She's come to visit her uncle, Alfred, and Robin is already visibly horny for her.
Visual Style and Iconic Architecture of Gotham
00:45:05
Speaker
Now, the next day at the Gotham Observatory, Bruce explains that he's donating a new telescope, and also it's going to be hooked up to a system of satellites so that it can look at the sky all over the world.
00:45:17
Speaker
It's interesting concept. Also, the Gotham Observatory is really cool. Yeah. It's in a big Arteko statue that holds a thing, and that thing is the observatory. It's cool.
00:45:32
Speaker
There are a lot of these really huge statues, like, holding architectural elements in this Gotham, and it it makes me think Megalopolis.
00:45:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, it just makes me think of Megalopolis. Yeah. Yeah. that To give you a sense of the scale, it's debatable as to whether or not these are ah building sized statues or or buildings that are just shaped like men. like They could just be buildings that are like that, but they're cool.
00:46:09
Speaker
It's a cool touch. Uh, now, uh, let's see a new telescope. The press is not interested in the new telescope. They're interested in his relationship with Claudia Schiffer.
00:46:20
Speaker
Uh, but the press conference is then interrupted by. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was never a supermodel guy. Yeah. And George Clooney is just so awkward as Bruce Wayne in this, like, like, like to a weird extent, like, like, like it doesn't really work for the,
00:46:40
Speaker
character it's it's just very odd no he always seems like mildly demure or shy just a little bit but he also always seems to have a smile on his face he seems too happy to be batman sardonic in a weird way for bruce wayne it's odd yeah uh now uh the press conference is interrupted by poison ivy ah who is dressed down as Pamela Isley and asks to speak to Bruce ah to turn the full resources of the Wayne Corporation to saving Mother Earth.
00:47:19
Speaker
Bruce declines. And someone remarks that Gothamites have nothing to fear from global environmental collapse because Batman and Robin are there to protect them and solve all their problems.
00:47:32
Speaker
With that...
00:47:35
Speaker
With that revelation, Poison Ivy resolves to herself to kill the dynamic duo. Naturally. Yep. Checks out. That night, there's a jungle-themed soiree where rich men bid on hot dates with hot ladies.
00:47:52
Speaker
Yeah, it gets a little problematic. Yeah, there's a little bit of auctioning on women in this film. so What's weird is I'm actually catching a lot of megalopolis parallels at this point. There's that reporter who's like constantly being like, Mr. Wayne, what's your opinion on your marriage? Which is basically kind of Aubrey Plot. like Both of them have this like reporter who's at the center of it all somehow.
00:48:16
Speaker
yeah Despite the fact that no reporter ever is like that anywhere. ah So yeah, there's an oddly megalopolisly like. like I agree. Now, I didn't think of it at the time, but Anna, I think that was a very astutely observed observation.
00:48:32
Speaker
That's my smart wife. ah Now, they're betting on all the ladies. Bruce Wayne has loaned out the biggest diamond he could get his hand on, the heart of Isis, as bait for Mr. Freeze.
00:48:46
Speaker
ah But Poison Ivy shows up first. And boy, does she make an entrance. Yeah. She then doses our heroes with a love toxin and is about to let them fight over her so that she can make out with the diamond, make off with the diamond.
00:49:05
Speaker
know And but then ah freeze drives his tank through the nearest wall and just takes the diamond from her. Batman and Robin give chase and Batman doubts Robin's ability to jump his Robin cycle off of a giant statues hand.
00:49:22
Speaker
And he remotely kills the engine, which Robin feels is a betrayal. It's pretty emasculating. Yeah. yeah And you shouldn't really mess with, you know, the controls while someone else is driving. That's just not safe.
00:49:38
Speaker
What would Andrew Young husband say? ah Still, Batman is able to capture Mr. Freeze himself and also retrieve the diamond. So that night, back at the cave, Batman and Robin bicker a little bit more about mutual respect and whether or not Poison Ivy is coming between them.
00:49:56
Speaker
Later, Robin... Yeah, I... This film just really does not seem like they like each other at all. No, they don't. Yeah, you know there's a lot of attention. They seem actively unhappy. Yeah.
00:50:10
Speaker
Which is really whicht is wild because in Batman Forever, like there's a lot of like there's a lot of sexual tension, ah unacknowledged sexual tension between the characters.
00:50:21
Speaker
In this one, there really isn't. No. no They're just like roommates who work together.
00:50:30
Speaker
Let's see. Later, Robin catches Barbara sneaking back in on a motorcycle and also learns that she knows judo. Who knows if anything will come of that. ah Mr. Freeze gets wheeled into Arkham, where he is robbed of his exosuit and teased by prison guard Jesse Ventura.
00:50:51
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. Ivy moves into an abandoned Turkish bath with Bane, and Bruce alienates his girlfriend, Elle McPherson. Mm-hmm.
00:51:02
Speaker
That night, Barbara leaves Wayne Manor on a motorcycle, but this time, Robin follows her. She heads to an illegal street race organized by Coolio. And Robin joins the race.
00:51:14
Speaker
Another great Coolio performance. Yeah. It's kind like the Warriors, but Coolio is there. it's yeah It's exactly like that. Yeah. Wayne commented on that. He's like, but I love it when each gang has a theme.
00:51:29
Speaker
yes And I love that one of them was the Clockwork Orange. yeah like that's it That's a tough reference for that. It's been a fun cartoony thing. Remember that NC-17 movie? Yeah, anyway. It's it's continuing on to the fun, the goofy little motorcycle chase.
00:51:46
Speaker
So we do continue on to the goofy motorcycle chase. And ne'er-do-wells trying to cheat. And Robin saves Barbara's life. Yeah. ah When Robin saves her life, this gets Babs to open up.
00:52:00
Speaker
ah She really came to Wayne Manor because she wants to buy Alfred's freedom. Seems like she thinks he's a slave.
00:52:12
Speaker
Also, she knows that he's dying. Bruce asks Alfred about it, and Alfred's like, a brother never says he's dying. and But he admits that he has McGregor's syndrome.
00:52:23
Speaker
Chekhov's syndrome. Level one, stage one, after we just revealed that Freeze knows how to cure stage one McGregor's. That's strange. What are the odds? Right?
00:52:35
Speaker
I don't think a lot of people get McGregor's. Now, back at Arkham. Oh, sorry. I said not these days. No, thank goodness. ah Back at Arkham, Bane and Ivy bust Mr. Freeze out.
00:52:49
Speaker
When word gets back to the caped crusaders, they realize that retrieving his cryogenically frozen wife will be his first priority. So they head over to his lair and abandon ice cream factory.
00:53:02
Speaker
The bad guys are there too, though. And after a cusle couple of dust-ups, Freeze's suit gets charged up with some more diamonds.
Turning Points in the Plot
00:53:10
Speaker
Batman and Robin are bickering again after about trust and which one Ivy wants to have sex with.
00:53:15
Speaker
And Ivy disconnects Nora's life support. Aww. Yeah, RIP'd to Nora Freeze. Later, Ivy tells Freeze that Batman killed his wife.
00:53:28
Speaker
and Freeze vows to put the entire planet on ice as revenge, and Ivy hopes to repopulate the Earth with her carnivorous plants after the thaw.
00:53:40
Speaker
Meanwhile, Alfred has given a CD-R to Barbara to give to his brother Wilfred. It's so, I love how he solemnly puts it in this like, this sleek like wooden jewel case. It's just, it's really, really funny.
00:54:00
Speaker
Yeah. And there's also like, he's like, I hope this gets to you. And then as he's dying, like, get this to him. It's like, did you have a plan for how to get it to him? Or were you just like, all right, A is done. I've made the recording.
00:54:12
Speaker
Now to figure out how to get it to him, wherever he might be. I happen to know that your best friend, Bruce Wayne, has a lot of resources at hand if this is important to you. I think you could find a way to mail something to someone.
00:54:27
Speaker
I hear even knows Batman. Between the two of them. They should be able to figure something out. Instead of trying to deliver the CD-R to Wilfred, Barbara uses her leet computer skills to hack into it by guessing passwords until she realizes it's her mother's name.
00:54:44
Speaker
Her mother's nickname, which is just three letters long, and all I could think is, you need a longer password than three letters. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Is it a three-letter password? That is weak, Alfred.
00:54:58
Speaker
it did i did think that you could do a funny bit in a movie or a book or something where somebody knew that a password was a nickname for Margaret.
00:55:09
Speaker
Because there's like, don't know, two dozen nicknames for Margaret. And some of them are like Daisy. Yeah, it's true. You could really eat up a lot of time if she didn't have the photograph on there that says love pig. And it's a picture of her mom.
00:55:26
Speaker
Anyway, on the CDR, uh, it says, uh, that Bruce Wayne is Batman. I guess maybe Alfred was hoping to lure Wilfred to be his replacement. When he died. That's my guess. That's my guess. but i love I would have maybe gone for somebody younger.
00:55:41
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. I think you're right about that. But I love when she starts it up. We get the classic project the computer screen onto the face of the person. yeah And it's that opening. is's the opening logo.
00:55:53
Speaker
It's like that brand logo with a logo. It's that thing. i saw that 45 minutes ago. I saw that an hour ago at the start of the film. She's watching the movie she's in.
00:56:05
Speaker
Now, meanwhile, Bane and Mr. Freeze, they go to the Gotham Observatory to take it over so they can convert it into a giant ice laser. Tonight, hell, Freeze is over, Freeze says excitedly.
00:56:20
Speaker
Meanwhile, Barbara has found the Batcave and runs into a computerized version of Alfred, Alfred 2.0, who I thought for sure this meant Alfred was going to die. And in in the next movie, we were going to have Alfred 2.0.
00:56:34
Speaker
which would be great. I also love that all that stuff is on like an old school Mac OS. I was like, yeah.
00:56:45
Speaker
So she says, suit me up, Uncle Alfred. then roby with like four And there is a scene there where where they just focus on her in the Batsuit.
00:57:00
Speaker
There's a shot that's just like straight on and into her boobs and it's so awkward yeah it's like this is just this not hot so I noticed that in the opening thing it's just like it's just like here's Batman's chest here's Robin's chest here's Batman's butt here's Robin's butt here's Batman's crotch here's Robin's crotch and this was like here's here's her chest here's her butt here's her crotch like it was the exact same montage it's like we've seen the boys here's the girl moving up
00:57:35
Speaker
So Robin shows up at the Turkish bath, seemingly still under the sway of Poison Ivy's love poison. But when she goes to kiss him, he's wearing a thin layer of plastic over his lips for protection. Lip condoms.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yeah. And it works. It works. And then Ivy fights Batman and Robin and appears to be winning and about to escape when Barbara shows up in the guise of Batgirl and kicks poison Ivy into the jaws of a giant plant, capturing her.
00:58:08
Speaker
You would think poison Ivy would be able to get out of a giant plant, but apparently not. That was very odd. Not today. Not Between that and when ah Mr. Freeze got captured, like both of those seemed like non-events. It's very easy to forget how that happened.
00:58:25
Speaker
She also says at one point, chicks like you give women a bad name to Poison Ivy, which sucks. that's a Very odd. Just yeah really weird. yeah Now, back at the observatory, Freeze freezes all of Gotham.
00:58:42
Speaker
The Bat family race there in an assortment of ice vehicles, which I'm sure you can buy. And this leads to a very long fight scene with lots of reversals.
00:58:53
Speaker
It's so long. At least five occasions of grappling hooks. Uh... Eventually, Batman and Robin defeat Bane, freeze, destroys the telescope, which they were going to use to thaw out the city.
00:59:06
Speaker
But then Batman orders Batgirl and Robin to hack into the global satellite array to reflect sunlight onto Gotham, thawing out the entire city.
Themes and Tones in 'Batman and Robin'
00:59:16
Speaker
Robin says, you're not so bad at this little girl. And it's fucking disgusting.
00:59:20
Speaker
Gag. Mm hmm.
00:59:24
Speaker
<unk> a Batman tells freeze that it was actually poison Ivy who attacked his wife, but Batman has saved her and that she's still alive.
00:59:35
Speaker
And he will set him up to continue his research in Arkham asylum. If freeze can give him the cure for stage one McGregor syndrome. Luckily freeze happens to have some on him. Literally with him.
00:59:48
Speaker
Here's it with him all time. Just in case. The Bat Family cures Alfred and welcomes Barbara into the fold. We're going to need a bigger cave, Alfred says.
01:00:02
Speaker
And then we see all of them running together away from the Bat Signal and the credits roll. Finally, we've made the end of the film. Final thoughts, five star ratings. Greg, why don't you kick us up All right. So um I have some thoughts about this I want to say. For me, like I really enjoyed watching this. It was great to be watching this again. and really enjoyed it.
01:00:24
Speaker
But i Arnold Schwarzenegger really grated on me this time. The puns were really difficult for me. um and i So ah eventually reached a point where – so I've read in a book and a book series that I like. There's a section where – because this is what I eventually started thinking about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
01:00:41
Speaker
ah There's a section of this book where that I've read where everyone's telling stories, but there's one guy there who is from the other side of the war. They are from a fascist society where they can only speak in like state sanctioned phrases.
01:00:54
Speaker
And they're doing a storytelling competition. And they're like, he wants to tell the story. and like the guy who can only speak in state sanctioned phrases is going to tell a story. This lady's like, yeah, I'll interpret for you. So this is one of the exchanges that I wanted to read.
01:01:08
Speaker
ah So the guy says, in times past, loyalty to the cause of the populace was to be found everywhere. The will of the group of 17 was the will of everyone. Fiola interpreted once upon a time.
01:01:22
Speaker
And to me, that's what watching this was like. It was like, I feel like when he hands him the vials, he's like, take two of these and call me in the morning. it's like, you can't talk. Like, have you lost the ability to speak like a human? I eventually reached a point where I was like, you are a broken in such a way that you're unable to speak without a pun.
01:01:44
Speaker
and Like moments of sadness when you'd be like on a cot, he'd be like, revenge is a douche best served cold. And it's like, you just, I need you to talk like a person for some amount of time, but I'm not probably with puns.
01:01:58
Speaker
But anyway, now that I'm past that. I would say that the watchability on this one is pretty high. i think it's pretty enjoyable. I'm going to give it a four, I think. I think it's got some bad stuff in it, but all of it's just a joy.
01:02:11
Speaker
It's really campy. I really love the architecture a lot. yeah That was one of the things that really got me through both this and Batman Forever is just that, like... I feel like it all takes place up in the sky.
01:02:23
Speaker
Like everything is elevated off the ground. Like they're always on the 35th floor or something. Love that. i It's a weird movie, but it's also like a crazy campy Batman movie.
01:02:36
Speaker
So I'm kind of torn on this one I'm going to give it like a two and a half. I don't think it's too crazy, but it's a little weird. How about you, Anna? Where did you land? um I would give this a five for watchability. I think it's ah a very easy bad movie to recommend.
01:02:55
Speaker
um And, you know, a very fun Batman movie. um As far as weirdness, I think, I don't know, I think it might be fair to compare it weirdness-wise to other Batman movies. and Okay.
01:03:14
Speaker
I think it is weirder than a lot of Batman movies. I don't know. I'd give it a four. Okay. Well, I landed on a three and a half for watchability. I think there's always something fun going on, but I think our heroes get very lost, and I think it's very plotty.
01:03:32
Speaker
I think it... almost works out better if you approach this in our classic vibes based viewing system because the vibes are very fun for weirdness I gave it a four at times it felt like a Saturday morning cartoon about strippers
01:03:50
Speaker
just just a confusing tone I think just makes it very weird and the fact that it's about riffing on you know such a well-known character makes it both approachable in that weirdness So how about you, MB? What do you think?
01:04:05
Speaker
Watchability? For watchability, I do a 4.5. The thing that I don't like is that it, I think it's just too long. Like, like, like it just goes on the fight scenes just go on for a long time.
01:04:19
Speaker
I, I think that the two plots don't really work together. They seem like they're in two separate films, like, and it's, it's just odd.
01:04:33
Speaker
But it is just really fun to see. Like the the sets are just so fun. The costumes are fun. Like everything has a green ah purple or or like or like red light like on it It just looks fun.
01:04:50
Speaker
So I think I'd give that a 4.5. And for weirdness, I don't think it's objectively that weird of a film. But it is really weird to see George Clooney in like a cartoon Batman film.
01:05:03
Speaker
um
01:05:06
Speaker
The film actually does use like cartoon sound effects at at least two points. like They're like, whoop, whoop, whoop, whoop. Yeah, and so it's just like- Yeah, they're mixed low, but they're in there for sure.
01:05:20
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And was like, wow. there's like like we're We're just doing straight up cartoon stuff. um I like the idea of doing a more 60s Batman-ish. I like- the idea of, you know, like a shark repellent gag or fun stuff like, like that. But I, I, I just don't think it really comes together here.
01:05:45
Speaker
um So I think I'd give it a three for weirdness. Cause it's, it's just odd. Yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, with that, it's time to move on to the last act of the show. I can keep this rig rolling.
01:05:57
Speaker
We're going to, we got a brand new segment. Listeners, you know what that means We got a brand new bumper. boom excited. I haven't heard this one. Yeah, it's ah this sequel was shelved.
01:06:16
Speaker
This movie film was pretty good. If you ask me, I think they would make a sequel. But the sequel was shelved.
01:06:34
Speaker
This movie film was pretty good. If you ask me, I think they would make a sequel, but no sequel was bad.
01:06:53
Speaker
So while Batman and Robin was still in production, WD WB executives were so sure that they had a hit on their hands that they started work on another Batman movie before it even hit the theaters.
01:07:06
Speaker
Smart movie was tentatively titled Batman Unchained. Great. Great. I love it. um Yeah. They hired on a screenwriter named Mark Protosevich to write a draft of Schumacher's concept.
01:07:21
Speaker
ah The only other film of his that I remember, he wrote The Cell. But that was after this. He didn't have anything going on before that. Schumacher wanted to take it closer to the Burtons in terms of tone, and it would serve as a stirring conclusion to all four previous films.
01:07:41
Speaker
The main villain was going to be the Scarecrow, who was going to be played alternately by either Coolio, who was going to turn out his character in this film was the Scarecrow, whoa or Nicolas Cage.
01:07:55
Speaker
Oh, dope. Yeah, that that that would have worked. I can't think of any two actors that have less in common than Coolio and Nicolas Cage.
01:08:07
Speaker
Yeah. But I want them to make this movie already. yeah Yeah, it's a shame. Now, in any case, the Scarecrow would team up with Harley Quinn, who would be played by Courtney Love.
01:08:19
Speaker
Yeah. ah Whoa. Yep, yep, yep, yep. And she was going to be written as the Joker's daughter. oh Scarecrow and Harley Quinn would team up to drive the Batman insane and have him committed at Arkham Asylum.
01:08:33
Speaker
There, he would face a hallucination of the Joker, played by Jack Nicholson, reprising his role. And also, every other batman from or every other Batman villain from this cycle would also make appearances in the movie.
01:08:47
Speaker
All of them together at the conclusion. I thought you were going say, also played by Jack Nicholson. No, that would be right. oh how ice to meet i can't do... I that.
01:09:01
Speaker
You're on to a strong start there. at the yeah yeah it was the the Yeah, the energy was there. It's when you want to work out in the mirror first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah ah Now, this would have meant ah cutting checks for Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Uma Thurden, and whatever huge guy they got to play Bane, I guess.
01:09:27
Speaker
Joel Schumacher told Protosevich that he had written the single most expensive movie ever made when he wrote all of them in there. So when Batman and Robin disappointed in the box office, everyone just sort of agreed.
01:09:41
Speaker
Let's just forget it. Everyone just walked away, but that's all I found. I know there's more Batman Unchained scholarship out there. So if anybody else has any Batman Unchained facts that they know, feel free to drop.
01:09:57
Speaker
what were Were Robin and Batgirl going to be in it? Batgirl, no. ah Robin was going to like leave at the beginning. He was going to be like I'm going to go set off and be my own. I guess I'll go become Nightwing in Bloodhaven or whatever.
01:10:11
Speaker
And then he was going to come back in the end and rescue Batman from Archive. I'm all for it. They should go and do it. They should make it now. I would love to at least read the script.
01:10:24
Speaker
Yeah.
01:10:26
Speaker
Well, with that, do you guys want to play a game? Yeah. All right. We're going play a little wins going on.
01:10:47
Speaker
I say, hey, hey, hey,
01:10:57
Speaker
When's going on?
01:11:09
Speaker
I said, hey. When's going on?
01:11:31
Speaker
All right, so we're doing a little when's going on with the films of John Glover. We've all expressed our admiration for in this episode. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read you a title of a film.
01:11:45
Speaker
a description of the film and the role that John Glover played in that film. And I want you to tell me the year that that film came out. If you come within five years, you get one point.
01:11:58
Speaker
If you come within one year, you get two points. If you get it right on the dot, you get three. I'm going to get answers from all of you. And, uh, and he has worked from 1973 today. He is still working now. Oh,
01:12:14
Speaker
So with that, is everybody ready? Yes. Yes. All right. Question number one. Somebody killed her husband.
01:12:27
Speaker
A woman's husband is murdered and she and her lover must find the killer or stand accused of doing it themselves. John Glover played Herbert Little.
01:12:38
Speaker
So, Anna, we'll start with you. When do you think that would came out? 1984. 1984. nineteen eighty four All right. What about you, MB? I'm going to go with 86. All right. Greg? 78. Ooh, Greg the Assassin gets it on the dot.
01:12:55
Speaker
Wow. It was 1978. Boom. how ah Three points for Greg. Woo. That's right. Plenty of game left to play. Question number two.
01:13:07
Speaker
Schemes. After receiving a large insurance payment from his wife's accidental death, a successful architect becomes the target of a con man's plan to get the money.
01:13:19
Speaker
John Glover played Victor Kraft. Anna, when did you think that one came out?
01:13:26
Speaker
Um... 91.
01:13:30
Speaker
All right. How about you, MB? I'm going with 85. All right. And Greg? Going right down the middle with 87.
01:13:39
Speaker
All right. Anna gets a point that came out in 1994. Nice. yeah
01:13:46
Speaker
all right. This one was an HBO classic. Question number three. El Diablo. When the notorious outlaw El Diablo kidnaps a schoolgirl, her teacher, a greenhorn Easterner, sets off to rescue her.
01:14:03
Speaker
John Glover played the Preacher.
01:14:08
Speaker
All right, we'll mix it up. Greg, we'll start with you this time. 1996. Okay, Anna? Um, 89. Okay, 91. All right, Anna
01:14:16
Speaker
B both get two points. was 1990. ninety one all right anna and b both get two points it was nineteen ninety on the board Anna has tied it up with Greg. It's still very close listeners.
01:14:36
Speaker
We've got a barn burner tonight, folks. Question number four. We go on. Miles Grissom offers $30,000 to the first person who can prove to him that there is life after death.
01:14:51
Speaker
John Glover plays Dr. Ellison. All right. ah MB, when do you think that one came out?
01:15:02
Speaker
heard of it. I don't know if this is that old. um He is still working today.
01:15:12
Speaker
twenty fourteen 2014.
01:15:14
Speaker
Okay. Greg, what about you? Yeah, I think it's a later one, too. I'm going to go 2009, though. All right. Hannah, how about yourself? I'm going to go with 77.
01:15:26
Speaker
All right. MB gets to the point. It was 2016.
01:15:32
Speaker
So with that, it's all tied up. Nice. Question number five. Dead Man's Gun. A cursed revolver bedevils the lives of a variety of owners.
01:15:46
Speaker
John Glover played Jack Fleetwood. Anna, when do you think that one came out? That one's 77. All right. MB, what do you think? 95. 95. well um ninety five All right. Greg, how about you?
01:16:03
Speaker
I'm going to go 2001. feel like this is in that kind of like crime thriller area that was going on at that time. Fair enough. It was 1997. MB and Greg both get a point.
01:16:18
Speaker
Question number six. Dead by Midnight. Ooh. They stole his memories, but they forgot his spirit.
01:16:28
Speaker
A man receives a memory implant in his brain and becomes a professional killer. John Glover played Dr. Armand Drake. Greg, when do you think that one came out?
01:16:42
Speaker
so I have to be honest. I tuned out a little in the middle of it. I'm going to say 87. 87. All right, Anna, what do you think? 83. All right, MB. 89. right m b nine
01:16:57
Speaker
nobody gets the point that was 1997 okay all right we've rounded the horn now question number seven the body a crucified body dated back to the first century a.d.
01:17:12
Speaker
is uncovered in an ancient cave in jerusalem trouble ensues as word spreads john glover played jesus christ street actor
01:17:25
Speaker
All right. ah ah Greg, when do you think that one So he started in 73? Yes. Let's say 77. All right. Anna, what about you? 78.
01:17:42
Speaker
All right. MB? think I'm going to break off. This seems like part of the like weird late latent ninety s religious horror type stuff.
01:17:56
Speaker
um I'm going to go 99. All right. MB gets a point. That was 2001. The priest investigating the body, Antonio Banderas. perfect Fun.
01:18:09
Speaker
Question number eight. Fatal influence. Like, follow, survive. A social media ambassador assembles a class of rising influencers for a dangerous game of chance where the prize is content to die for. Ooh.
01:18:29
Speaker
John Glover plays the Grand Zell.
01:18:34
Speaker
MB, when do you think that one came out? I think it was 2019. right. Anna? 2022. All right. Greg? Yeah. twenty twenty two all right greg 2017. All right.
01:18:50
Speaker
Everybody gets one point except for Anna who gets three. That was 2022. And with that, the score sits at six for Anna, six for MB, five for Greg with one question left.
01:19:05
Speaker
Boy. Oh my God. wow It all comes down to this.
01:19:13
Speaker
Meet the Hollow Heads. In the future, the Hollowhead family have their hands full when dad's abusive boss invites himself over for dinner.
01:19:25
Speaker
And John Glover plays Henry Hollowhead.
01:19:31
Speaker
Greg, when do you think that one came out? Wow. This tough. 2003. Okay, 2003 for Greg. Anna, what you 1994. 1994. two thousand and three okay two thousand and three for greg anna what do you think ninety ninety four 1994. Very interesting. MB, what do you think? 1990.
01:19:58
Speaker
All right. MB gets two points. Anna gets one. That was 1989. MB, you're the big winner this week. Congratulations. um congratulation Listeners, update the wiki. We got another guest W. Speaking of Ws, it's time for the big winners of the Batty Awards.
01:20:29
Speaker
Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards. Now you're messing with the Batty Awards.
01:20:40
Speaker
Now you're on a** with the Batty Awards. Congratulations to all the nominees.
01:20:53
Speaker
That's right. Listeners, you've made it to the Batty Awards. No, it's not the Batty Awards. It's the Batty Awards. yeah ah The only awards that we give out on the show.
01:21:05
Speaker
Greg, why don't you kick us off? What's your Batty Awards? right my baddie award goes to the best little henchman, and that's Bane. ah and there's reasons there's reasons for that, though, because this is what it was. As I was watching, I like i really loved Bane the first time I saw this one. um And I do like Bane. And I just love luchador masks also. But anyway, um I loved watching it this time.
01:21:29
Speaker
You see him be like, he was a former serial killer, whatever, scrawny guy. And he turns into this big, beefy, like meathead guy. and then and then there And then she's like driving away and she's like, Bane, I need you to take me to the airport. And he's like driving the car. And I'm like, oh, okay. So he's capable of more than just like beating the shit out of people. And then she's like, and then we're going to stomp him. And he's like, stomp.
01:21:57
Speaker
And it was just like, okay. so I guess he is a monosyllabic meathead, but he's still capable of some very complex activities. And so, hey, good work, Bane. One thing that really struck me as odd about Bane in this is that they made a big guy opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and they put Arnold Schwarzenegger in like a giant exo suit. So he looked even bigger.
01:22:19
Speaker
So when you looked at Bane, he really didn't seem that big, which I think sort of undercuts Bane. And I do, there's a moment at the end where he's like, bomb, every time he puts down a bomb. And it's, I was like, it's a good thing he's saying that because they don't look anything like
Awards and Homages
01:22:34
Speaker
bombs. And we probably wouldn't No, they were icicles. Yeah. So it was really confusing. So again, good job, henchman.
01:22:40
Speaker
Absolutely. I'm going to give my baddie award to Gossiping Gertie. Oh, yeah. My favorite reporter. Yeah. The gossip reporter that is the only reporter in the movie. She also was brought back from the previous film and she's just on the Bruce Wayne beat every week in her column. She has to devote at least two inches to be like, and Bruce Wayne was at the observatory with his glamorous wife, or should I say not yet wife, not Claudia Schiffer.
01:23:12
Speaker
It just seems like a great, uh, facet of Gotham that I really enjoyed. Anna, do you have a batty award? I do, and it's to a ah very classy film history reference in this movie, which is that when Poison Ivy makes her big...
01:23:31
Speaker
entrance inside of a gorilla suit and then very seductively strips it off that is a reference to a marlena dietrich number in von sternberg's blonde venus from 1932 that's awesome yeah yeah and youtube just that one scene listeners if you haven't seen it just go watch poison ivy's entrance you will not forget it mb do you have a batty award Yeah, so so during the Bane transformation scene,
01:24:08
Speaker
um there's a bunch of weird light stuff that's going on, but there's also like a laser show that's going on too, where it's just green, red. And I was like, that's fucking cool. like like Yeah, so I'm going to give mine to that.
01:24:29
Speaker
All right. More laser shows in movies. That's what we need. And we need you, MB, to come back again. It was so great to have you. So great
Community Engagement and Next Episode Preview
01:24:39
Speaker
to talk to you.
01:24:40
Speaker
Do you have anything that you want to plug? No. Tasting Menu Podcast. You can search for it on Instagram or Blue Sky. Yes. And search it on your favorite podcast platform.
01:24:54
Speaker
and They're almost definitely on the one that you're listening to right now. But before you go up and you hit that little search bar, why don't you just give us a quick five stars?
01:25:06
Speaker
MB, this is a new thing that I'm trying. are Are you going to listen to this show? Oh, yeah. All right. When you listen to your episode while you're there, give us five stars. Awesome.
01:25:17
Speaker
I'm going to get the hosts if I can't get the listeners. Listeners, do you hear how easy that was? You too can do it. And you can tell a friend about the show. You can say, hey, I've been enjoying your favorite bad movie up a podcast. And I'll say my favorite bad movie podcast. And it'll be a funny misunderstanding.
01:25:33
Speaker
But then you can tell them about the show and they won't forget it or just put us on your social media, or you can find us on blue sky. You can find us on Instagram. You can come join our discord.
01:25:44
Speaker
And, uh, we're watching Tyler Perry's the oval on Tuesdays, watching a movie every month. We've got tons of fun stuff going on there with a great crew. Come hang out.
01:25:55
Speaker
And you can also email us at favoritebadmoviepod gmail.com. If you want to get in touch, you want to suggest a movie, you maybe want to come on the show network, we're always excited to talk to you.
01:26:11
Speaker
Hell, we might even get a mailbag segment going one of these days. And ah come back next week when we'll be joined by Larry Brown, and we'll be talking about the classic 1991 horror movie,
01:26:23
Speaker
popcorn Very psyched to talk popcorn. You don't want to miss it. So until then, be good. and Goodbye.
01:26:34
Speaker
Goodbye. Bye. i
01:26:43
Speaker
I'm Mr. White Christmas. I'm Mr. Snow. I'm Mr. Icicle. I'm Mr. Ten-Melo. Friends call me Snow-Lizer.
01:26:56
Speaker
Whatever I touch turns to snow in my clutch. I'm too much.