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239 - The Fantastic Four (1994)
48 Plays8 days ago
“It’s clobberin’ time… for REAL!”
With Fantastic Four: First Steps on the horizon, we're kicking off a double feature with this unreleased 1994 failed franchise starter featuring a surprisingly expressive rubber mask, a better-than-it-ought-to-be score, and one of the stars of the made-for-TV Not Quite Human film franchise! Join us for a tangent-heavy discussion of this bootleg classic!
Having a tough time watching this movie? Check out on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/the-fantastic-four-unreleased-roger-corman-movie
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Transcript
Introduction and Weekly Recap
00:00:10
Speaker
I'll say good for you.
00:00:23
Speaker
It's clobbering time, that's right, for real, we are the Disenfranchise Podcast, the podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full-fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
00:00:37
Speaker
I am, continue to be, and have always been, and will always be your host, Stephen Foxworthy. ah Joining me, as always, the man, the myth, the legend, ah it's it's Tucker. Hey, Tucker.
00:00:51
Speaker
Hello, Stephen.
Movie Discussion: Food Fight
00:00:54
Speaker
how's it going it goes man i'm exhausted um i've had a hell of a week and i'm recording an episode on this fucking movie so yeah hey yeah it could be worse i suppose but uh you know we could be doing could be food fight yeah i will say this movie better than food fight I'll bet.
00:01:20
Speaker
i still haven't seen Food Fight. I was going to say, I was about to say, you still have not seen Food Fight yet. Are we going to do another episode? Are we going to do something for that? special when I watch it? You can't make me rewatch it.
00:01:30
Speaker
So we'll just be like you talking about what you thought of it and us sharing our reminiscences of it. But yeah, it's it's it's a it's a fucking hot mess because i i refuse to rewatch that. that there There are a handful of movies that I...
00:01:45
Speaker
I have promised myself I will never watch again. Most of them I have watched again, like Requiem for a Dream. Fucking watch that shit again. Seven I've watched multiple times. And honestly, after we covered it for the podcast, I'm like, I don't really want to watch it again.
00:02:00
Speaker
and and I don't have to. um But Food Fight, i that's where I fucking draw the line. The Food Fight is is real, real bad. It's interminable. now yeah And you're like, it can't be that bad. And Tucker, you'll probably... Here's the thing.
00:02:15
Speaker
Much like this movie, i am probably building it up for you so much that you're like, oh, there's no way it can possibly be all that bad. And so you watch it, you'll find... You'll be like, oh, that's not as bad as I was led to believe it was. Which is kind of how I came out with this movie.
00:02:32
Speaker
and under hyped it stephen And maybe that will be the case. Maybe you will be like, oh, you know, oh, God, Stephen said this was bad and this isn't bad. And then and then, of course, the next straight up will be interminable, just interminable as a result. Well, speak.
00:02:49
Speaker
Speaking of, I refuse to use straight up on Food Fight. I won't do it No. Oh, here's the thing. I'm not going to rewatch it, so I'm not going to ask you to use a straight up on. OK, good. Here's the thing. Yeah.
00:03:00
Speaker
Here's the thing. if we If we get up to, I'm going
00:03:07
Speaker
to say, 20 paid patrons. 20, wow, okay. At the $5 level on our Patreon, I will fucking rewatch Food Fight. under the they no And none other.
00:03:20
Speaker
I don't think we're ever – I think we found our 10 people i think on Patreon, Stephen, because there we have some videos. I was looking at this today. We have some of our episodes that are on YouTube yeah have gotten over 1,000 views, yeah I noticed today.
00:03:36
Speaker
um Which is insane to me. But nobody, nobody else has joined of the Patreon. And I'm okay with that. Like, just the fact that there's 10 of them, like 10 people in the world that are, like, fucked up enough to want to listen to To want to pay to listen to us. like like I like talking to you, Stephen.
00:03:59
Speaker
love talking to you. can imagine. But I can imagine if you're not part of the conversation, it could probably be kind of annoying. So thank you, 10 people, for like having that weird itch that we somehow scratched. Here's the thing. I feel like most of the patrons that we know personally have been on the show at this point.
00:04:15
Speaker
like We've invited them on, and they've they have accepted that invitation. so um yeah and if we haven't, and you're listening to this, reach out. We'll rectify that real quick.
00:04:26
Speaker
um Tell me what you want to lose. and Exactly. And everything to gain. Maybe, maybe, maybe not everything, but you know, still I'm, I'm standing by, I'm fucking standing by it, Tucker. But yeah, we have a Patreon, patreon.com slash disenfranchised pod. I think this is the earliest we've brought that up before.
00:04:41
Speaker
um You can join for free. Certainly join the, the, the conversation, the official conversation of the disenfranchised podcast or, ah For $5 a month. And again, if we get 20 people to subscribe at that level, I will record a Patreon episode where I rewatch Food Fight and you will watch Food Fight and we will discuss it.
00:04:58
Speaker
If we can get Brett to watch Food Fight, so much the better. I was going to say we have to. You know what? here's Here's what we should do. Here's what I will say. We should do a let should do a Patreon commentary on Food Fight when we hit that number.
00:05:10
Speaker
That way we can get your reaction live. I don't know. i want to watch it by myself. I don't like watching movies that I haven't seen with other people. But you love showing other people movies they haven't seen. That's quite ironic, Tucker.
00:05:25
Speaker
I also hate being a passenger. i like to drive. I don't like being a passenger in someone else's car. I i would like to drive. You, sir, are a control freak. Even if it's your car, I'll be like, hey, do you mind?
00:05:37
Speaker
Would it be cool if I drive, though? And here's the thing. And if it's my car, most people say no, but some people don't say some people say yes, you'd be surprised. I am not precious about my automobile, which explains a lot about my automobile and me as a person.
00:05:52
Speaker
And I you know what i'm I'm right now I'm the only person in my my household that drives. So I would relish being a passenger, quite frankly. Well, that's what our our good friend JP Leck was saying this weekend, that he never gets to be a passenger. But one of the benefits of taking a long road trip with me is you don't get to drive.
Driving Stories and Road Trip Tales
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah. And you get to nap and you get to nap in this in the in the next seat. yeah He said it was so relaxing. Yeah. Which means must be a very good driver. Because someone like my dad gets fucking stressed out when someone else is driving.
00:06:28
Speaker
Also, I'm an excellent driver. I'm a fantastic driver. um Like, I do not tailgate. I go the speed limit. I follow all the traffic rules. um Because a wise man once told me, never break two rules two laws at once.
00:06:44
Speaker
and Which I'm always riding dirty, so...
00:06:49
Speaker
I mean, I just drove, I not, not, not an hour ago. i was driving, well, I guess a little over an hour ago. I was driving through downtown Chicago and everybody be breaking multiple laws at one time there.
00:07:03
Speaker
But of course in Chicago, what do you expect? and upside chances not yeah We've not even, we are not almost 10 minutes into this episode and we have not mentioned that we are talking about.
00:07:14
Speaker
That's a heavy round. 1994 is the fantastic for it is a heavy. Well, look, we're closer. are closer to five, but I'm rounding up. So up. Uh,
00:07:27
Speaker
i If you're rounding in increments of 10, then yeah, you rounded up correctly. it Just an odd choice, but I i thought I'd throw it out there because it seemed bit fun. they They can look at the times and figure it out. it's You know me. I'm all about ostentatious. We were talking about the 1994, I guess filmed in 1994, but technically unreleased Fantastic V.
00:07:50
Speaker
Sorry, the Fantastic Four, the first part of our two-part Fantastic Four miniseries, I guess, and discussing the failed franchise starters from the Fantastic Four, which is the first and last Fantastic Four movie ah directed by Oli Sassone.
00:08:06
Speaker
And produced, of course, by the late, great Roger Corman and starring Alex Hyde-Weitz, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staub, Michael Bailey Smith and Joseph Culp, among many others. What a cast. What a picture.
Fantastic Four and Personal History
00:08:25
Speaker
You might recognize that. I was going to say say that under contractual obligation. But yes, I do recognize Jay Underwood. Please continue. You may recognize Jay Underwood ah from Uncle Buck.
00:08:41
Speaker
Oh, that's not I know him from. He's He's Bug. You know what I know him from? spray little similarity there no i actually i know him from a ah from a ah weird franchise of television movies that i saw on the saw and recorded off of the disney channel as a child uh oh you loved it then that was your jam i did called not quite human Not quite human, still not quite human.
00:09:12
Speaker
it was i think it was not quite human, not quite human too, and still not quite human, where he plays a an android. and And he is created as the son for an eccentric inventor played by Alan Thicke.
00:09:28
Speaker
Jay Underwood, though, that's where I know him, not quite human. He played Chip Carson, Chip named after the microchips in his head. is that Was that kind of like an Animorphs sort of deal? I've never seen it it it it. Literally, it's just like, wouldn't it be wacky if ah if a ah kid was a computer, basically? in fact Gosh, that would be wacky.
00:09:51
Speaker
I confused it with the computer work kind of shoes on the way down. I was convinced that's what it was called, and then I just pulled up Jay Underwood's IMDb. And in fact, it is called Not Quite Human. so But yeah, it's Not Quite Human. Wasn't that Kurt Russell? Who's the computer?
00:10:05
Speaker
That's Kurt Russell, yeah. And that was its own little kind of mini franchise. Oh, I didn't know there was a sequel. Yeah, it's, um there there were there were a few, like The Strongest Kid in the World, I think, was one of those.
00:10:18
Speaker
um But yeah, like there were, and that takes place in Midvale, which is like the fictional town that where like the Shaggy Dog and the Absent-Minded Professor take place. So there's this like whole franchise, kind of like the John Hughes Shermer franchise that all takes place in that town.
00:10:34
Speaker
there's a bunch of Disney movies that take place in in their own fictional town as well.
00:10:39
Speaker
Dude. Yes. I love that. I love it when stuff crosses over without crossing over. Like we don't need the characters from those movies and the other movies. We just know the location. Like we're familiar with where we are.
00:10:51
Speaker
Kind of like the first couple, the first couple Kevin Smith movies outside Jay and Silent Bob, like each was its own little thing. And then they all kind of started crossing over with Strikes Back and with Strikes Back. Yeah. And then it became like its own interconnected thing. Like it was always kind of vaguely interconnected because they would like reference similar things and you have Jay and Silent Bob. But then Strikes Back really brought it all to a head.
00:11:14
Speaker
Well, and you had ah different actors playing different roles in different movies. So up to that point, I don't know if he ever meant for them to cross over. I think it was supposed to be just kind of like a Shermer, Illinois.
00:11:25
Speaker
No, because he wanted like, and that was, that was gold. He wanted Willem back, Willem black to be played by Scott Mosier in the sequel. But they like the studio is like, you can't do that. Like, we won't let you do that.
00:11:38
Speaker
So like there, there were, run mad I think they brought him back for strikes back. Yes. but like there's two will and blacks there's there's um ethan supley and then there's scott mojo scott motion did it first and they cast supley in mall rats because they didn't want mojo to do it because he wasn't an actor that's beautiful man
00:12:03
Speaker
when lord when's gonna be my time well sir uh
00:12:12
Speaker
But yeah, ah Fantastic Four, 1994. um what what ah What a thing we watched, Tucker, for this episode. i I kind of... I didn't like it, but I didn't like i didn't hate it. i didn't I
Critique of the 1994 Fantastic Four Movie
00:12:27
Speaker
wasn't like, oh man, I wish I weren't watching this movie. I was more like, this sucks, but also maybe it's kind of cool a little bit. yeah Like the Thing costume is is really cool.
00:12:40
Speaker
like it's But it's yeah, the way the mouth moves... it's so expressive like yeah that all of the movie's budget went to that basically it had to it 100 because it didn't go to any of the other special effects um no human torch like doing flips in the air but like but like in a memes or like in a terry gilliam sort of monty python animation kind of way like to That animated like Human Torch is way more ripped than Jay Underwood is. Let's be clear. Let's be very clear. yeah
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah. Yes, indeed. I did like how they masked the stretching effects. Didn't look good, but they made them very quick and they were very effective. Except for the arm at the end coming out of the limo. That was a bit much...
00:13:31
Speaker
That had a very like Mac and me, uh, bubble gum balloons and we'll be back kind of energy to it. Yeah. I'm sorry. Go ahead. umm sorry go ahead and I was going to say, why did they even get married? So let's but let's get this out of the way, because this is really kind of a gross thing about this movie. So Reed Richards, who is in college um and he's like getting he's a doctor by the time we get back to him in this movie.
00:14:01
Speaker
So who knows what year of college he's in? Because 10 years later, he's got a big-ass gray streak, so the dude's getting old. Okay? Yeah. So he's late I didn't that until I was almost 40, so yeah.
00:14:15
Speaker
Mid to late 20s, and there's this little fucking 10-year-old girl at like this orphanage or something where they go sometimes. It's not an orphanage. It's like a...
00:14:26
Speaker
boarding house or I have no idea and she is obsessed with him and then 10 years later magically they're in love and that's okay like i I'm off like age gap stuff as long as it's legal that's great fantastic but like if it's just weird if you knew someone as a child like if you were close to that person as a child and then when they become an adult that's weird that's weird so grooming a little bit
00:14:57
Speaker
but I don't think he had to, like, she was just way into him anyway. and And honestly, because she was as into him as she was, that's probably why she ended up getting into like the scientific stuff that she did and ended up as part of his little team.
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, ah just That kind of felt gross. That's not, to to to my knowledge, not comics accurate. And I think this is the only movie that does that.
00:15:28
Speaker
So, yeah. I don't know why, but fun fact, the girl that plays... The girl that plays young Sue Storm ah is the gal from Adam's Family and Adam's Family Values.
00:15:41
Speaker
She plays the Girl Scout cookie salesperson in the era in the first Adam's Family. And then she's that gal that is always ah ah basically Wednesday's arch nemesis at camp.
00:15:52
Speaker
That is Mercedes McNabb. Good eye. I did not catch that. And then she was that in she was a big deal in Buffy as well. Had a several episode run in Buffy and Angel. And Angel. Yeah. ah Harmony. Was that her name? Harmony?
00:16:06
Speaker
Correct. Yes. It's been a long time time since I've seen any any of those shows. And a long time before I will watch them again. Correct. I own them all, and I'm considering not owning them all. Oh, no. No, wait. You have the DVDs, the original DVDs? I do.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yeah. to Keep those, dude, because even if you're not going to watch them, that's the only way that you can watch those episodes in their original aspect ratio. you cannot They're not available in anything but widescreen now, and to make those shows widescreen, since they were originally filmed in 4x3, they just cut the top and bottom off.
00:16:44
Speaker
and then try to reframe it. So that's the original aspect ratios. Also, it's a good show, Steve. And if I didn't have an icky past with it, Like I would probably watch it again. mean, fuck Joss Whedon, but still you already bought it. Who cares? It's good.
00:17:01
Speaker
Real fucking good. That's kind of where I'm at. Yeah. Fuck Joss Whedon. There was a time when I had, ah when I owned everything the man has ever directed. At this point, I no longer owned Dollhouse because after the allegations about him came out, Dollhouse felt extra gross to watch.
00:17:17
Speaker
ah So I definitely divested myself of that, but I still own Buffy, Angel and Firefly. I have Serenity on four case or I'm sorry, blue, blue ray steelbook. And I also own the Shakespeare movie. He directed um much ado about nothing ah that he directed in his house and backyard.
00:17:34
Speaker
And then I also have Marvel phases one and two as well. So I, I actually own everything he's directed, but dollhouse and then any movies he made after age of Ultron. Did he make movies? Oh, he made Justice League.
00:17:48
Speaker
Did he make anything else? He made anything else since then? I don't think so. Here's the thing. Justice League is the thing that ruined his career. so Well, he just remixed that one. like he didn't really i mean that was That's not his does not even actually get the director credit on Like, that's not his movie.
00:18:07
Speaker
it It's... Zack Snyder still has the director credit, but it's not Zack Snyder's Justice... People call it Whedon's Justice League, and it's not. It's Warner Brothers' Justice League. That's the cut the studio wanted.
00:18:19
Speaker
I think Joss Whedon would have made a Justice League movie very differently from that, had he had his druggers. Well, and he would have made something completely different from the start, too, I think. i Do you think how...
00:18:31
Speaker
Now, considering the tone of that cinematic universe, how do you think of from the ground up Joss Whedon Justice League would have been?
00:18:41
Speaker
do you think I do you think he would have kind of tried to keep the tone? i if he If he had his druthers, I think he would have done it a lot more like he did Avengers. It would have been a lot more classic. It would have been truer to the comic book.
00:18:55
Speaker
um But Joss Whedon is another one of those guys. He strikes me as a Marvel guy. So like he's got his and yeah he's more comfortable with Marvel characters than he is with DC characters. Whereas I think James Gunn is one of those guys that's got a foot in both worlds and understands he can't have one without the other.
00:19:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I will agree with that. I will agree with that. And I mean, i think you know a lot more gross Wonder Woman stuff, frankly, ah with Joss Whedon. I'm kind of glad we never got that Joss Whedon Wonder Woman series, because again, i don't think that would have been great in retrospect.
00:19:31
Speaker
No. I would agree with you there. Remember when he was the guy that everyone went to to write strong female characters? Yuck!
00:19:41
Speaker
He was good at it for a while until like actual women were allowed to start doing that a lot more. And then we were like, oh, I see. Right.
00:19:53
Speaker
Right. I think 100%. um So yeah, that's that's where we're at. um No, Buffy Angel and um Serenity um Firefly. That still, I don't care.
00:20:07
Speaker
i don't care. He's a garbage human. Whatever. That shit's good. I'm going to watch. he's ah He's already got my money. He got it before I knew. So what am I going do now? That's true. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you're right. I'm just looking back at the my DVD shelf there. And yeah, that's that first row of my DVD shelf is Angel, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad and Buffy.
00:20:29
Speaker
That's the um my first row of my tvs but TV shows on my DVD shelf there. So are going to do? Yeah, do it.
00:20:38
Speaker
Battlestar Galactica, that's another one of those shows that I'm like, should I rewatch that? I don't know. um Yeah, i don't know. Anyway, Fantastic Four. Tucker, what's your history with the Fantastic Four? Is that a property that you like?
00:20:53
Speaker
I mean, i they're fine. i don't really care for them, but I don't like dislike them. like I don't mind it when they're around, but I'm never... I'm never going to buy a Fantastic Four comic book.
00:21:06
Speaker
The only Fantastic Four comic book I ever bought was the Ultimate Fantastic Four that introduced the Marvel zombies. And that was because for the Marvel zombies, and it was in a hard hardcover, like, omnibus. So I didn't technically buy a Fantastic Four comic. It was just part of the big book that I bought. So...
00:21:26
Speaker
Do you remember Ash vs. the Marvel Zombies? Do remember that, Stephen? That was good. do. That was real good. owned that series. Yeah, it was fun. Me too. That was real good. Robert Kirkman, that really great that really great art by the the name of the artist is escaping me. sean ja Was it Shawn Jacobs? Got it.
00:21:44
Speaker
I don't know, dude. I am so sorry. that's the only i think that's the only comic book outside of ah partially Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash where Ash is actually written well.
00:21:56
Speaker
Like Army of Darkness has like a whole series of hundreds of issues. And you heard it here first, folks. They all fucking suck. I don't know who was buying them. They're not funny. They don't understand the character. Like it's just really, really bad.
00:22:13
Speaker
But the Ash that's in Ash vs. Marvel Zombies. Yeah, that's good. That's really rich Sean Phillips and the Ashton. There's your boy.
00:22:25
Speaker
Yeah, dude, that's your guy. And the guy who used to paint the covers, too. Oh my God, he was incredible. Yes. Let me see if I can find his name. You keep talking while I look for this So I used to have the i used to have this really cool shirt and the shirt was just the entire front of it. It wasn't like ah an image that had a border.
00:22:45
Speaker
Just the entire front of the shirt was the Wolverine with Hulk in the reflection of his claws. But it was the zombie, the zombie version. Oh, it looks so good because it wasn't like an iron on. It was like screen printed. So like it was part of the shirt. Like it was dyed into the shirt.
00:23:03
Speaker
It wasn't heavy or anything. Towards the end of its life, I cut the sleeves off of it and it looked real good. Real trashy. You love going sleeveless like that. Yeah. Well, a shirt has to earn it.
00:23:14
Speaker
You don't think I had this Greg Universe shirt for more than 10 years before I cut the shirt sleeves off? You're insane. See, and I don't do that because i have I have the arm flab and no one wants to no one wants to fucking see this hanging out.
00:23:26
Speaker
Who cares, man? If you're comfortable, you're comfortable. gives a fuck? Oh, okay. Arthur Suydan is the artist who painted the covers, and yeah all of them look fucking incredible.
00:23:38
Speaker
A little oversaturated for the time, which is why it's so easy to go back now, because I put some time between it. like for a while After a while there, I was like, damn. Because he was after he hit with that, anything that was horror or horror-related, or they do a variant like horror cover, it was just that dude all the fucking time. Every comic, every issue was putting out a... And they were all great, but like oversaturation is a motherfucker.
00:24:00
Speaker
for a while there, I was like, um ah I need to back off that a little bit. Get that paper already. Get that paper. Yeah, didn't get it. I again, I was ah i was i was a DC boy growing up, so I did not engage with the marvel with the Marvel stuff as a kid much.
00:24:14
Speaker
I did collect like there were like Marvel trading cards that I had as a kid. And so I had, you know, I started to learn who the Marvel characters were from those. um And the Fantastic Four, I also had a Fantastic Four coloring book as a child. Oh, nice. And it was it was from that like early series where like they didn't put Johnny Storm in because they were afraid that children would light themselves on fire, ah that the children would self-immolate. Did they have the robot instead?
00:24:41
Speaker
Herbie, yeah. They had a Herbie instead. Yeah. Um, so I had, I had a coloring book with Herbie and I was like, why don't the comics have Herbie? Uh, and then I learned later that he was replacing a different character. So I actually learned the fantastic four. Yeah.
00:24:56
Speaker
I learned the fantastic four without Johnny storm. I learned about the fantastic four with, um, with Herbie instead is how I learned about them. But this movie I learned about through wizard magazine. Did you ever read read wizard magazine, Tucker?
00:25:12
Speaker
I read Wizard Magazine, Steven, and that leads me to mention I wasn't quite done with mine, but I'll throw it in just a little bit here. It does have to do with what you're saying. It's okay. This works because it's right where you are.
00:25:22
Speaker
um i had also heard about this in Wizard Magazine, and also I frequented the Comet Carnival on the east side. And so after about a year or two, and they started having bootlegs of this on VHS.
00:25:36
Speaker
And now I live with the man who managed that store, for he is now my brother-in-law. And at that time, I did not know that we would one day be family.
00:25:47
Speaker
Anyway, yeah, you saw in Wizard. Wizard was dope. with I loved Wizard. And this movie was a perennial punching bag for Wizard. Like, they made fun of it constantly. so i and And it was, along with the Star Wars Holiday Special, probably, like, one of those, like, eternally forbidden bootlegs that you would find at, like, conventions and shit.
00:26:10
Speaker
And yes, Wizard, absolutely or Comic Carnival and Indy absolutely had those bootlegs. I still have my Plastic Man bootleg that my buddy Justin... ah straight up ripped off of that store.
00:26:23
Speaker
um is it a tape? loan to me It is a VHS tape. it is Can I borrow it and watch it? you don't You're not watching it. I'm not. but yeah it's it's like It's like five episodes of the old Plastic Man cartoon um where they replaced Woozy Wings with a ah Hawaiian gentleman named Hula Hula.
00:26:42
Speaker
Oh boy. That's a very Hanna-Barbera thing to do. Was it Hanna-Barbera? It was 100% Hanna-Barbera, yeah. I knew it. I knew it. But yeah, the, the plastic man comedy adventure hour.
00:26:54
Speaker
And there's like five or six episodes on there. And like, yeah, like, cause that's the thing. Plastic man doesn't really have a rogues gallery. So all the care, all the villains are like just really bizarre, silly, funny, goofy kind of like, there's ah a guy called moon Raider and he's very much like a Galactus type. Yeah.
00:27:16
Speaker
But he's like an impotent Galactus, like he's just like silly, goofy Galactus. ah Speaking of the Fantastic Four. um So, yeah, it it like there's there's one episode called Wham Bam, but where the where the villain is just like a giant clam with an eye patch and a pirate hat um like it. Yeah.
00:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, his absolute arch nemesis is a is an Asian man named Dome Head who wears a large dome over his head. His head. Wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It like it covers his nose and it's just this big dome that he wears on his head.
00:27:54
Speaker
I can't wait to see this. Steven, next time I see you, you're going to need to bring that so that I can watch that promptly and post haste. I've got a few things that I need to borrow you. So I just, I just, I need it back.
00:28:06
Speaker
um Because again, that is kind of one of those like plastic man is my favorite comic book superhero. And I don't want to part with that. So yeah, yeah I am such a stickler about people giving my things back. I would never do that to a fellow human being, especially somebody I have to talk to multiple times a week. You know what saying?
00:28:26
Speaker
know what you're For all the various podcasts we work on together. Do you remember um in Wizard Magazine, where before we had like every superhero movie ever, they would do like the fan castings?
00:28:41
Speaker
for like the Dreamcast the movies. That was my favorite part of Wizard Magazine back in the day. I think the one they actually got right was Patrick Stewart as Professor X. That was, I think, the one they managed to get right. because that so ah Who else is going to play Professor X? Yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker
right Don't make it if he's not Professor Don't even do it. There's no reason to do it that if it stopped Patrick Stewart. I don't remember who they cast for the Fantastic Four, but it wasn't anyone in this movie.
00:29:10
Speaker
No. No. Nope. No. So yeah, I guess my expectations for this movie were super low because again, this was always the lowest common denominator in wizard magazine. it was like, oh, you think this superhero movie is bad?
00:29:27
Speaker
Fantastic four. and no no no So I had no, I had like the, the rock bottom X, I was expecting like food fight adjacent when I went into this movie and I was pleasantly surprised by the, by this movie, Tucker.
00:29:43
Speaker
Well, and let me tell you, I had different expectations because last week I watched a little documentary called Doomed, ah which I believe, Stephen, you either recommended to me or at least let me know existed.
00:29:58
Speaker
and um It really it's a really good documentary and I had all the people in it are just like the sweetest people and they had so much fun and they love this movie.
00:30:08
Speaker
Like the people that made this movie love this movie and they want it to be seen. know the The guys who did the score on this, which is way better than it should be for a movie that costs a million dollars.
00:30:19
Speaker
And the reason that is, is because they put up their own money. To record it. They hired the orchestra. They got the studio space at Columbia Records. like The movie did not pay for that at all. They only got paid to write it.
00:30:33
Speaker
But everything else came out of their own pocket. And it's it's fantastic. But um that that documentary just... It's fantastic. Four.
00:30:44
Speaker
Four times, yes. um And that's a great recurring theme. has hints of Jurassic Park in it. which came out year before this movie was made. Yes. um But that's, ah it's good. move You don't, most of the time a score, unless it's like in an auteur film, like in a Wes Anderson film or something, the score kind of just kind of blends into the background. We don't have a lot of like,
00:31:08
Speaker
recognizable themes anymore like jurassic park like that's that's a it's got a hook and they come back to it multiple times and it's really nice they don't really do most of the music music and movies nowadays it's just kind of it's kind of background music but boy they really they really swung for the fences with this one man they did and i would say other than michael gichino like no one really does um the leitmotif thing that John Williams really did. Like John Williams kind of made that, that became cinema scoring and like John Williams, that was his thing. And now that John Williams is retired, like Giacchino is like a guy who did Sylvestri will do that.
00:31:51
Speaker
um yeah but like those are really the only guys still in the game that are doing that kind of thing most of the other guys have either passed or retired like howard george or a goldsmith like the guys who wrote kind of those big memorable themes like williams did those those guys are mostly not doing it anymore yeah it it certainly was an era for sure we didn't know how good we had it we ate as the kids say But ah I was saying I watched the documentary and it didn't give me high expectations of the movie, but it kind of gave me the exact expectations because I enjoyed this movie exactly how much I thought I would. And for the reasons I thought that I would, I just hadn't seen it yet.
00:32:34
Speaker
Like I hadn't experienced it yet. um I really like the, the gag where the doctor, the scientist is trying to draw their blood At the beginning, I think that guy's really funny.
00:32:49
Speaker
i think he's kind of, he steals the movie, really, that guy does for me. Nice. Yeah, there's just some, there's some cool stuff in here. And like, it's one of those where you can tell that a lot of work went into it. And everybody tried really, really hard.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah, and that's and that's the thing. like Watching that documentary, which I saw in college, and it's been, yeah again, it's been a number of years, probably about 20 years or so since I've i've watched that documentary.
00:33:17
Speaker
came out in 2015, so yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. Or I guess 10 years. Maybe I didn't see it in college because i would have well out of college at that point. Now I'm trying to think of where I saw it, but I feel like my college buddies were with me. I'm not sure.
00:33:30
Speaker
But yeah, I watched that documentary, and the thing that really – Captured my attention about it. Is that. it's so and Everyone that was a part of it. Was so incredibly earnest.
00:33:42
Speaker
And they really had. The best time making this. Very silly movie. And they even they even. Tried to make it. Better. like By going above and beyond. like Homeboy that played Doctor Doom.
00:33:57
Speaker
He went into the looping sessions. And he just assumed. He was going to do every Doctor Doom line. Because you can't hear him behind. You can barely understand what he's saying behind that mask.
00:34:09
Speaker
But when he got in there, the guy was like, well, we're just going to do a few pickups here, a few pickups there. And he's like, we're not doing like I'll do the whole thing. but Can we do the whole thing? The guy's like, no, we can't pay you to do the whole thing.
00:34:20
Speaker
And they're like, oh, it sounds great under the mask. It sounds realistic. The sound design in this movie sucks. It's so bad. it's It's so weird because the score is so good. But the other element of sound, every other sound in this movie is awful.
00:34:35
Speaker
Yeah. the Like you can have room noise and you he's moving his gloves around all the time, which is cool. But you put in like shiny metallic like Zippo clicking almost like sound effects. You don't just live Mike the plastic fingers. Come on. Fuck off.
00:34:51
Speaker
but right like yeah it it's it's ridiculous um every every scene in doom's lair looks like it was just filmed on an empty sound stage yeah like just with black in the background like they they did nothing to like decorate it and like like make it look cool like a layer it's just like everything's very dark and shadowy and they're like yeah it's it's dark you know like ah like a villain's lair um Where his chair is, it's great because there's the two balls with the CGI fire.
00:35:23
Speaker
Right. In like 1994 low budget CGI fire. Yes, absolutely. Like terrible, terrible effects. Like... The CGI is – it probably looks cool in 94, and I'm trying to remember like what other 94 movies had like those like special effects. and I'm thinking maybe something like Independence Day. It looks a lot better than that.
00:35:47
Speaker
That came out a couple years later. Independence Day was 96. 97? Okay, It came out the year i turned so it would be it would have been yeah. I told you, i'm in the 90s, movie-wise, it's all a blur. That's when I i came into my came to become cinephile of sorts. So I was watching a lot of old stuff, too. So it's hard for me to really play stuff in the 90s. Before we were recording, I'll just i'll throw you under the bus a little bit here. You were like... I'm into it. is it and i mean Well, here's the thing. I'll throw myself under the bus, too. How's that?
00:36:18
Speaker
um Thanks for joining Yeah, absolutely. It's fun under the bus. Comfy, yeah. Yeah, I mean, when it's hot out here like this, it's nice to be under the shade. i mean, yeah, it smells like diesel, but what are you going to do? um Hey, the buses here are electric, bitch.
00:36:31
Speaker
Bitch! We were talking about Jurassic Park, and you're like, 92 or 94, one those years. I was like, it's 94, definitely. Yeah.
00:36:42
Speaker
And then we looked up and was like, okay, it's not 94. And then you're like, well, then it must be 92. And I looked up and I was like, no, it's not 92. And then i I did one more search and right there, smack dab in the middle, 1993, Jurassic Park. So split the difference and and you ended up getting it. But yeah, we were we we both kind of fucked that one up.
00:37:01
Speaker
Yeah, but we, you know, we were there. we were close. We were. Real, real close. Right on the, literally right around that time. Yeah. We made a 93 Jurassic Park sandwich.
00:37:13
Speaker
em yeah I mean, the 90s were kind of a wild time for the blockbuster. Yeah. And like you had comic book movies were starting to make a resurgence thanks to Batman.
00:37:25
Speaker
But most of the comics that were being adapted were independent comics. and And they usually weren't superhero related. They were comic book adaptations, but shit like The Crow, like pretty much anything that was coming out. Yeah.
00:37:37
Speaker
before Blade, before X-Men was not a superhero property. It may be you get Men in Black. Cool, that's a comic book, but it's not superhero related. A lot of independent comics were getting, were which is cool. like Like I said, before the recording, we didn't know how good we had it, man.
00:37:54
Speaker
Back in the day when they were just like indie movies adapting indie comics or like big budget block butters made out of comics that had like two issues that nobody had ever read. Like we were eating good, dude.
00:38:06
Speaker
Yum, yum, 1994, yum, yum. The 80s are a weird time because you have Superman 2 in 1980. You have Swamp Thing in 82. Superman 3 in 83. Future episode of this podcast, Supergirl in 84. Oh, I can't wait.
00:38:22
Speaker
Past episode of this podcast, Howard the Duck in 1986. Yeah. Superman 4, a bad movie that I unabashedly love. i It's terrible, but I kind of love it.
00:38:34
Speaker
Can I butt in here for just a second and say that like Howard the Duck, I think that if I had seen this movie when I was a child, like, you know, around maybe eight or nine years old, I would have fucking loved this Fantastic Four movie.
00:38:49
Speaker
Just like Howard the Duck. I cannot stand that Howard the Duck movie, like at all. But like it. It's not bad. I just don't like Fine. Fine. But I think I would have liked it when I was a I think I would have liked it when I was a kid. it's the same with this movie. I think I would have liked it. I would have liked it when I was a kid. Anyway, Howard the Duck next.
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah. After that, you got in 87, you got Superman for the quest for peace. The objectively worst Superman movie in 88 and 89. You've got a couple of made for TV. Incredible Hulk movie. The Incredible Hulk returns in the trial of the Incredible Hulk.
00:39:23
Speaker
With Daredevil and Thor. Yes. Also in 89. Well, I think the trial is the one with Daredevil. The death, I think, is the one with Thor. I think they're both in the death.
00:39:35
Speaker
No, Matt Murdock is in the trial. Daredevil's in the trial because Matt Murdock's a lawyer. Matt Murdock is Daredevil's or is the Hulk's lawyer. But this is all speculation based on logic.
00:39:46
Speaker
But. Marvel adaptations in the 80s were not based on logic, Steven. No, I don't. look at I just want you i just want to admit you to admit that it's a possibility that he's not in that one because like that would be the smart move. like He's a lawyer, right? So put him in the trial. He's his lawyer.
00:40:05
Speaker
I've never seen it. That would be the smart move. But like I say, back in the day, like the people who were writing these characters on TV had no idea what the fuck they were doing. trial of the incredible hulk directed by bill bixby starring rex smith as matt murdoch yeah but is he also in the death though because that was kind of the that was the crux of it it wasn't so much was he not in trial but was he in both um' i'm looking that up now hang on okay
00:40:37
Speaker
I tried so hard not to go on this tangent, Stephen, but you wouldn't let me not go on i i know I tried to get out of it so many times. You did not. Fuck you. i did. Absolutely not. As soon as I mentioned it, I was like, fuck, I should just not said anything because here we fucking go.
00:40:52
Speaker
But you did say something, and that's the problem. And now that you've said something, you've said it. I'm willing take 65% of the blame. willing to take 65% if you'll take.
00:41:06
Speaker
you know, the other, the other 30 or 30, 25. I can't get out of here. Steven. Yes. I work in finance, but no Matt Murdoch Rex, Rex Smith is not in the death of the incredible, but here's the thing I can see neither is Thor.
00:41:23
Speaker
So they were both in trial. So I was right except for the fact that I was wrong. i think I think Thor is in return. Incredible Hulk returns. God, who gives a fuck? But we're going to find out, aren't we?
00:41:35
Speaker
we're we're i Look, i can't I can't fucking let this go, bitch. I can't. Oh, oh, man. you're wow You're making this really difficult for me. I'm not going lie. Donald Blake is in The Incredible Hulk Returns. Thor is in The Incredible Hulk Returns.
00:41:52
Speaker
Played by Steve Levitt. We figured it the fuck out. Did they ever bring him back as a cameo in any of the Thor movies? Like they did like with Linda Carter in The Wonder Woman. I'm sure they did. Lou Fregno in The Hulks.
00:42:06
Speaker
Even the MCU Hulk. Craig knows there is his voice. He's part of that voice. He's part of the roar, like the Hulk voice, isn't he? or least he used to be. Here is, here's what here. Steve Levitt's acting credits.
00:42:21
Speaker
um He has a credit in 2022 for a movie called Tavern Tony returns. yeah um And then his previous credit for that is an episode of a television show. It's a TV, a 28 minute TV movie called danger team released in 1991. Yeah.
00:42:38
Speaker
That's a TV special. That's not a movie, Steven. 30 minutes. Don't say that to IMDb. Tell it to IMDb. I will. I'll write them a letter right now. I've got a 30-year-old account. that that They respect me there.
00:42:50
Speaker
He's also in the TV or the film Get Smart, comma again exclamation point oh as beamish But yeah, that's the guy that played Thor. And he is
Podcast Plans: Punisher and TV Movie Pilots
00:43:03
Speaker
not of Thor. three.
00:43:04
Speaker
One of only three actors to play Thor. Yes. That guy. Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth, sorry. And Vincent D'Onofrio. Vincent D'Onofrio. Right. In Adventures of Babysitting. We all know this. Yes.
00:43:18
Speaker
He's the Dawson. And he's also Thor. Also. like Also in 1989, we have the return of Swamp Thing. It's his garage.
00:43:29
Speaker
yeah Yeah. I mean, i wanted that to be better. We have the TV film, The Punisher. And then we have a little movie called... ah Yes, the Dolph Lundgren, future episode of this podcast, The Punisher, starring Lundgren. can't wait.
00:43:41
Speaker
That's a fun one. It's so dumb. We're going to do three-episode miniseries on The Punisher, i think, whenever the next Punisher property from Marvel comes out. do like all of those movies for different reasons. Some because they're bad, some because they're good.
00:43:54
Speaker
I've only seen the Lundgren one. i I've seen pieces of the Tom Jane one. Tom Jane's good. I've seen none of the Roy Stevenson one. That movie's not good, but Tom Jane is the Punisher. It kind of sucks that he didn't get a chance to have a good script because he really embodies that character. he looks He's the perfect look, and he he understands it.
00:44:17
Speaker
The writers didn't, but he does. Fair enough. And then a little movie. i don't know if you've heard of this movie. It's it's a little movie that came out in 1989 called Batman.
00:44:29
Speaker
ah Batman. Batman. but man well by Someone named ah Timothy J. Burton ah starring someone named someone named Michael P. Keaton.
00:44:41
Speaker
um Tim Burton, yes. Yeah, but that kind of re-kicked off the superhero craze. ah So in 1990, you get the aforementioned Death of the Incredible Hulk. You also get yeah ah Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and past episode of this podcast with our buddy Mike Snoonian, Captain America.
00:44:58
Speaker
Dude, yes that was like I like that movie so much. We all like that movie. That is fun. yeah That is fun. Yeah, I gave it three stars on Letterboxd. That's how much I like Captain America. It's so much fun.
00:45:09
Speaker
Then my favorite of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 colon The Secret of the Ooze in 91. Also my favorite, but the first one's the best. Agreed.
00:45:20
Speaker
Yes, that that is undeniable, but yes. um In 92, my favorite of ah the the the Batman films, ah Batman Returns.
00:45:32
Speaker
Oh yeah, that's a good one. That's so fucking good. That is the most Tim Burton movie that ever did Tim Burton. I'm generally, I'm not a big Tim Burton guy, but like Batman Returns is so fucking good.
00:45:42
Speaker
Oh boy. Danny DeVito alone yeah is worth the price of admission. That's like a best leading actor Oscar like nomination for me. If I had my own Oscars, yeah like he would at least be nominated in that category for that. I agree.
00:45:56
Speaker
agree. 93, you've got Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 and Mask of the Phantasm. That was the animated. I can't believe they released that in the movie theaters. And it did pretty well.
00:46:07
Speaker
It did. That series was popping back then. If only they didn't make a direct-to-DVD sequel, we would have covered it on this podcast already. Steven, do you remember, I don't know if you were on this from the jump, but do you remember when the Batman animated series started and it was a primetime cartoon?
00:46:24
Speaker
Yeah. Do you remember that? well like With your parents to watch it? my dad at At that point in my life, my dad hated animation. Now my dad fucking loves animation.
00:46:35
Speaker
Because of Batman the Animated Series. No. I wish I could say that. No, it's because of fucking Shrek. Like the dregs of animation. My dad loves it.
00:46:46
Speaker
I guess she gotta you know have an in somewhere, even if it's Shrek. But this movie comes out the same year as The Crow and The Mask. Yes. Yes.
00:46:57
Speaker
And Tank Girl, right? No, Tank Girl comes out the next year in 95 along with Batman Forever. why The Crow and The Mask are, are ah like for very different reasons, really good movies.
00:47:09
Speaker
Right. like Crow, I know, is is our our our good friend and absent co-host. brett One of Brett's like top five favorite movies of all time. I'd say it's probably in my top 15.
00:47:20
Speaker
Probably in my top 15 for sure. i don't know that I don't know that I like it as much as the the two of you, but it is a fun. Because again, I saw it in my thirty s like That is not a movie that I engaged with when I was young. If I had, maybe.
00:47:35
Speaker
but yeah It holds up. It holds up. You show somebody new this movie and it holds up. But it's also at the same time a very time and a place movie. So if you saw that movie in the time and a place, it's just that much better for you.
00:47:48
Speaker
And that never goes away. Some movies like you saw at at a time and a place and that was the time and place for it and that was the only time in the place. But just the fact that I experienced it then and I can still experience it now and it feels the same.
00:48:02
Speaker
That's a special kind of movie that holds up like that. 96, then I'm going to stop at 96 because 97 is when we get Batman and Robin and that's kind of that kind of killed the superhero genre. The death of the first phase. Yes, right. you But you also get Generation X, the made for TV movie in 96. That was OK.
00:48:22
Speaker
Barb Wire. That comic book. I was a big fan of that comic book. No, damn it, Stephen. I'm going to talk about Generation X and you can't stop me. see you trying to stop me. Dude, when Generation X came out, that was like at the peak of my comic book fandom.
00:48:39
Speaker
And ah there had been ads about it in various books. Tucker, did you have the foil embossed cover of the original Gen X issue one? Until about 2008. Yes, did. Right on. until about two thousand eight yes i did right on And boy, tell you what, I love that series. I did but only because my parents would not let me engage with X-Men comics because they thought that evolution was of the devil.
00:49:05
Speaker
I loved Chamber. Chamber was my favorite. Husk was the shit. And then, like, was his name, like, Mondo? Like, the ah guy with the stretchy... Yeah, liked all those guys.
00:49:18
Speaker
And Emma Frost was there. And Banshee was there. Emma Frost and Banshee, yep. And Steven, you were there. And Burt Larr as the Cowardly Lion was there.
00:49:29
Speaker
And What's His Nuts from ah Max Hedrum was there. Matt Frewer, yeah, was the villain in that movie. yeah Here's the thing. I remember watching the first like half hour of that movie on TV when it came out.
00:49:43
Speaker
yeah And then my parents made me go to bed, so I couldn't finish watching it. I watched the whole thing and I taped the motherfucker because I was ready, dude, because from issue one, I had every... I used to have every Generation X issue...
00:49:58
Speaker
excuse me, that was printed. And when that movie... on That was a pilot for a TV show that did not get picked up, which is why... And that's what they used to do. If a pilot didn't get picked up, they would release it as a television movie. So, Tucker, I propose to you a suggestion.
00:50:15
Speaker
Can we do Generation X? Should we add TV movie pilots to... Because, I mean... I mean, and this movie technically does not pick up. So that would open up a lot. on That would open like that there's the Munsters with like Jerry O'Connell and Portia de Rossi and like Eddie Izzard is Grandpa Munster, which I, I kind of want to just watch that to talk about how much I love Susie Eddie Izzard, who is one of my favorite standups of all time.
00:50:44
Speaker
What if we do this, Steven? Here's what I, ah here's what I propose. um It fits our format except for the fact we usually do theatrically released films. Well, let's just do a month where we'll do a month of okay TV movie pilots that never went to series.
00:51:02
Speaker
Fuck, I love that idea. So like it's we're still sticking with the format. We can take a little break and like change some rules every once in while if it's a theme. i mean, that's kind of what we're doing with this, right? like This movie technically did not get a theatrical release. That's true.
00:51:16
Speaker
I mean, I found a release date on on Wikipedia and I actually have the the the numbers weekend for that here. But like like, technically this movie doesn't fit our format, but we're talking, we're not really talking about it. We're more talking around it, but...
00:51:31
Speaker
You understand what I mean. Like occasionally we will bend to the rules if we can find a good excuse for it. And I feel like that would be a real, I feel like there's enough of those kind of examples of that happening.
00:51:44
Speaker
Generation X, the Munsters. There are a couple others that I'm kind of like in the back of my brain. Like I would have a lot of fun with a theme month like that. And I feel like we could probably get Brett to come on board with that.
00:51:54
Speaker
Yeah, I would just for the chance to cover the Generation X movie alone, I would be willing to do that because I was so hyped for this movie. And when it when it dropped, I set the VCR timer and everything.
00:52:06
Speaker
I set that timer 15 minutes before and after to make sure I got all that shit. You know, sometimes they they they kind of fucking run. they'd run long and you'd miss, or they'd, they'd like start early and you'd miss like five minutes at the beginning. i boy I, as someone who's family time shit all the time, i I fallen victim to that more times than I care to admit there.
00:52:29
Speaker
I feel like there are some movies that I only saw the beginning of when I like caught them like later on in my life. Yeah. Yeah. Well, generation X, I watched it, uh, when it broadcast.
00:52:41
Speaker
And then I think it was on Fox. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I'll compile a list. I'll get a list together and we can we can we can pick four and I will program it. I will 100% program it into the book because i I really dig this idea.
00:52:56
Speaker
And again, it's not it's not our regular format. It's not what we normally do. But neither is this, honestly. Because again, technically this movie did not get a release.
The Fantastic Four Movie's Production Story
00:53:05
Speaker
The... the the The story is that this movie was only created as a way to retain the movie rights for the Fantastic Four.
00:53:17
Speaker
Because as we all know, if something is not done with a property within a certain stretch of time, the rights revert back to the the previous owner. And so this movie was only... a was allegedly only made so that that the Corman studios could retain the rights to the fantastic four for a while longer.
00:53:38
Speaker
um But I would argue this is a real movie. Like after having watched it. And again, i yeah because again, this was such a punchline in wizard for so long.
00:53:49
Speaker
I was not expecting this to be a real movie and Tucker, it is a real movie. Yeah. It's a real movie, and if I may um backpedal a little bit here, um Roger Corman was has always been on record saying that his intention when financing and making this but financing half of this movie and making it, first of all, Roger Corman didn't have the rights to Fantastic Four. Constantine Films had the rights to Fantastic Four, and Constantine Films asked Roger Corman if he knew people, some people in his crew,
00:54:24
Speaker
that could do a quick turnaround on this because they're about to lose the rights. Now they did it so they wouldn't lose the rights, but it was never their intention not to release it. The official story from everybody involved, uh, is that Avi Arad didn't like it, was embarrassed of it, took it and burned all the copies he could.
00:54:48
Speaker
And that's the that's the official statement of everybody. That's everybody's opinion. Even Avi Arad, if you look up on the internet, he's like, yeah, I hated that and I burned it. Like, no, fuck that.
00:54:59
Speaker
It doesn't exist anymore. Like, actually, Internet Archive?
00:55:04
Speaker
you And you can find this movie. I will try to... Let me see if I can link to it in the show notes, honestly. i i will try to link to it in the show notes so you can watch this movie. Like, i and again and And you and I were talking about this before we started recording. like It's not a good movie. like In no way can I say this is a good film.
00:55:24
Speaker
But it's so charming. It's charming, man. It charmed me. like i i cannot give it more than one star. And spoiler, I guess, for my for my ah ranking later. But like I can't give it more than one star. But by the same token, like...
00:55:41
Speaker
I'm charmed by it. Like it's fun. If if they were to honestly, Tucker, um I'm going to tell you this right now between you and me, listeners plug your ears. Yeah. Between you and me, if they like update, like if they like got the negative and like scrub this and like clean this up and like upgraded it and they release this movie on 4k, I would buy it.
00:56:04
Speaker
just like I did with Howard the Duck, a movie that again is really bad, but I kind of love unabashedly love. and Like it's, is it, is it good? oh Do I like it? No. But do I love it? Yes.
00:56:17
Speaker
And that's kind of how I feel about this Fantastic Four. Like, is it is it a good movie? No. But they're like the moment when like he says, flame on, and his hand catches on fire, and he's like freaking out and says, flame off, flame off, flame off.
00:56:30
Speaker
I laughed. like I was charmed by that. That's such a funny moment. And again, very much what you like, what you want from from Johnny Storm. Like, I...
00:56:43
Speaker
I don't know. I had a lot of fun with this movie. I don't have a lot to say about it, but yeah is it, is it terrible? Yes. Do I like it? Yes. I can't explain it.
00:56:55
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's kind of how I feel about it too. It's, uh, It's something else. I would also buy 4K of this, though. No, I wouldn't actually, because I think the reason some of the effects do work and don't look so bad in this is because it's a shitty copy and a lot of it's dark.
00:57:16
Speaker
It's kind of like the sleepaway camp paradox, where if you buy it on anything 1080 or above, you see the identity of the killer when it's supposed to be in shadows and it's not even the right person.
00:57:28
Speaker
Right. Because it was shot to be shown at drive-ins on shitty shitty projectors, on shitty screens, and on VHS. Yeah.
00:57:39
Speaker
yeah I'd buy the VHS of this. If they remastered it and put it out on VHS, do a 4K remaster and then just put it on VHS at 480, and I would buy that.
00:57:50
Speaker
but the fun i do do ah Do a 4K remaster and then transfer it to VHS. Yeah. And then it would look just about the way it should. I would still buy the Okay. um
00:58:02
Speaker
Wikipedia lists this movie as having been released on May 31st, 1994. um So I actually did find that weekend in the box office. Initially, I know we had talked about doing the yeah um initially i know we talked about doing the year, but I mean, we can do both if you'd like.
00:58:22
Speaker
Yeah, let's do both. Let's do that week. And then I do want to to hear the top five or 10 or whatever from the year. so So number one that weekend at the box office is um the first movie I ever saw in a drive-in ever.
00:58:34
Speaker
ah The John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Rosie O'Donnell, Elizabeth Perkins film, Kyle MacLachlan and Halle Berry as well. The Flintstones. Yes. Meet the Flintstones.
00:58:45
Speaker
They're the modern Stone Age family. That movie was okay. it Yes, aggressively okay. And it got a prequel, so we will never talk about it. With the Baldwin we don't talk about.
00:58:58
Speaker
yes
00:59:02
Speaker
He just doesn't have it like the other ones. He just doesn't have it. The second movie, and number two at the box office, the second movie I ever saw at a drive-in. Also, a previous episode of this podcast, see our episode on Maverick, starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner.
00:59:20
Speaker
was it a double Was it a double feature, Jodie Foster? or Was it a double feature? I mean, it it was a drive-in. We saw it. It was Tibbs' drive-in. I went with my my my aunt, uncle, and my cousin.
00:59:31
Speaker
And we went and saw the fli We were there for the Flintstones. And then my aunt and uncle were there for Maverick. And I and remember I fell asleep about halfway through Maverick. But I couldn't get to sleep because my uncle was laughing so hard at Maverick.
00:59:42
Speaker
It's really funny. Mel Gibson is hilarious in that movie. Mel Gibson is funny as hell. As much as I am in the fuck Mel Gibson camp, but not literally fuck Mel Gibson, but like metaphorically and theoretically and like ostracize him from Hollywood, fuck Mel Gibson camp.
00:59:58
Speaker
um He is very good in that movie. He is very winning and very charming in that movie. He's a very funny guy. He's up there with guys like Bruce Willis or Tom Hanks, or like they started out in some kind of two very comedic roles.
01:00:13
Speaker
But then once they hit with drama, they never really went back to And it's a damn shame because all three of those dudes, Bruce Willis, especially you ever seen Moonlighting. That dude is funny. as her aladding What the fuck are you talking about? Future episode podcast, Hudson Hawk.
01:00:27
Speaker
Okay. Do flies fly? Fucking, oh my god. Moonlighting is so good. Another one I will add to that group. Another one I will add to that group is...
01:00:39
Speaker
michael keaton started in comedy uh but once he hit drama never really went back to that yeah it's too bad because he's funny too he's really hope mr mom gung-ho yeah like do multiplicity yo multiplicity is one of the best like multi-performances in a movie by an actor that there is like move over the clumps Here's the thing.
01:01:03
Speaker
Michael Keaton, low key, one of the best actors of all time. Was at one point in my life, my favorite actor. I fucking love Michael Keaton. If you haven't seen the, I don't know if it's GQ or Variety, whoever does the like where they do the career retrospective and they talk about the movies they've been in.
01:01:21
Speaker
The one Michael Keaton did, he's such a fascinating dude. And he remembers so much of all these movies and he loved working on every single one. And he will tell you, Like everything he loved about working on every movie he was in The dude has such a passion.
01:01:36
Speaker
Like you feel such such love from him for just like the work he does. And I love that. Some people are pretty jaded, but he's he's pumped about being an actor. like still thing I know a lot of people hate Birdman.
01:01:49
Speaker
he He should have won the Oscar that year. Who hated Birdman? A lot of people. I don't fucking get it. but I love Birdman. I own it on Blu-ray. Fuck you. It's pretty good. Birdman rules.
01:02:00
Speaker
He is that's pretty good yeah amazing in Birdman. I love him in Birdman. ah Four and a half, five star film. I love it. I really do love that film. For sure. ah In third place, the worst of the Beverly Hills Cop movie. And I say that without having seen Axl F. Beverly Hills Cop 3.
01:02:16
Speaker
John Landis is Beverly Hills Cop 3. You're right. Axl F. is as good as Beverly Hills Cop 2. Which is good enough. Like, two is good. Tony Scott directed Beverly Hills Cop 2, and Tony Scott is one of the best action directors ever. That dude knows... Especially at that time. and Like, he was running shit then. Dude knows how to make an action movie, and Beverly Hills Cop 2 is a great action movie. The only the only reason Beverly Hills Cop 2 is not the best Beverly Hills Cop movie is because Beverly Hills Cop exists.
01:02:49
Speaker
yeah Like, that first movie is amazing. God, Martin Brass. So funny. like Yeah, that man. ah In fourth place, new this week, a little movie starring Danny DeVito from the Walt Disney Company.
01:03:02
Speaker
Renaissance Man. I didn't see that one. The only thing I know about that movie is that Danny DeVito is in it. The only thing I know about it is that I've I've heard the title.
01:03:14
Speaker
I think Robin Tunney is his daughter. Maybe it's Alana Ubach. I don't know. But a lot of ubak early crush for young Stephen. God, I loved Alana Ubach. That woman, yes.
01:03:25
Speaker
Alana Ubach can get it. um Even now, she is hot as hell. Love that woman. um I'm sorry. I just got really horny on me.
01:03:37
Speaker
Wow. It is late, Steven, so I get it. It is it is late. I haven't eaten in several hours, but I have consumed four alcoholic beverages over the course of this recording. That's the way to do it.
01:03:48
Speaker
in In fifth place, rounding out our top five, we've got something called The Cowboy Way. It's a movie starring Woody Harrelson and Kiefer Sutherland. It's the tagline, How the East Was Won, and it looks like a couple of cowboys in New York City is what it looks like. so Yeah, that sounds great.
01:04:08
Speaker
Also new this week. Again, the two new movies this week are opening at four and five, which tells you about how good the movies opening this week are. And then in six, running out the top 10, I want to run through this really quickly. In sixth place, you've got The Crow in its fourth weekend.
01:04:24
Speaker
Um, and already brought in about $38.4 million dollars in seventh place. When a man loves a woman in eighth place, the massive hit for weddings and a funeral, uh, in ninth place, Spike Lee's Crooklyn.
01:04:37
Speaker
Hey. And in 10 place, 10th place, the endless summer too, which I know nothing about. And I don't care to look any further. So there you go. i mean, the poster to the first one is a very famous image, but I didn't know there was a sequel.
01:04:51
Speaker
only And i have no idea what that movie's about. i have no idea what that movie's about at all. i've just I know the poster. It's very familiar to me. that's That's fair. I mean, here's the thing. you know the poster? It's orange.
01:05:03
Speaker
And it's the silhouette. And the guys, it's like in the surfboard and the guys in in the sailboat. I have no idea. Yeah. i don't even I don't even know who's in that movie, who directed it. I don't know what it's about.
01:05:16
Speaker
But I know that poster for some reason. Yeah, I don't care. I will tell you one of those movies, Tucker, made it into the top five of 1994 altogether. Would you care to guess which one it was?
01:05:28
Speaker
ah ah Beverly Hills Cop 2. Three. three Oh. And no, it wasn't that one. It was The Flintstones, the number one movie that weekend.
01:05:40
Speaker
Oh, fuck yeah. Came in at number five for the year with $130.5 million for the year. Impressive and fun set design, I will say. I love the props. I love the art direction.
01:05:51
Speaker
It's silly, but it works. You know, it works. It is, and it does. It works. agree. Here's the thing. If they had turned the set for The Flintstones into a theme park like they did Popeye's Island in Malta,
01:06:02
Speaker
I would probably find a way to go. We'd be there right now. We wouldn't be recording this podcast. We'd be there right now, Stephen. Here's the thing. if we can get If we can get enough patrons to fund all three of us going to Popeye's Island in Malta, we will record a fucking live episode from there. It's never going to happen. It will never happen, which is why I'm so comfortable saying it on mic.
01:06:24
Speaker
Okay, good. ah The number one movie is the Walt Walt Disney Studios animated film of that year. A little movie called i don't know if you've heard of it or not. The Lion King.
01:06:36
Speaker
Oh, I see. I saw that one in movie theaters when it came out in movie theaters. So did I. I thought Simba was a dick then too. Yeah. Fair.
01:06:47
Speaker
The second place movie of 1994 is the Academy Award winner for 1994. A little movie directed by Bobby Z Zemeckis called Forrest Gump.
01:07:01
Speaker
Oh. Remember when we talked about Forrest Gump on this podcast, Tucker? i do. I do.
Soundtracks, Sequels, and Ratings Discussion
01:07:07
Speaker
I used to own that movie on DVD and I don't any longer. And that, that...
01:07:12
Speaker
is one of the smartest, insanest decisions I've ever made in my life. Look, the most positive thing I can say about Forrest Gump is if you're new to music, if you're like just realizing that music is a cool thing and you want to get a quick education of some of the most basic like hit songs from about three decades, a quick education.
01:07:36
Speaker
Quick education. Get the basics out of the way. Get that two CD set, Forrest Gump soundtrack. That is... i Put you on your way. Set you right on your way to... I feel like Robin Zemeckis made the most obvious soundtrack, put together the most obvious soundtrack in movie history for that. So basic, but they're classics for a reason, so you need to be aware of them. 100%.
01:07:55
Speaker
hundred percent ah Number three, another previous episode of this podcast, Forrest Gump first. And then number three, we've got True Lies. ah A very good Schwarzenegger James camp Cameron movie. Do you not?
01:08:10
Speaker
i don't know. I've never seen it. You should watch it and then tell what you think. Should I double feature it with Food Fight? We'll do an episode. I tell you, you will like one of those movies significantly more than the other.
01:08:20
Speaker
And we are not sure which one yet. I am. I'm very sure. Okay. All Bet. Bet, Stephen. Bet. what In fourth place, we have ah Tim Allen's ah holiday classic, The Santa Claus, yeah um making $132.2 million. dollars In fifth place, the aforementioned Flintstones.
01:08:43
Speaker
Rounding out the top ten of the year, you've got Clear and Present Danger, Speed, The Mask, Mrs. Doubtfire, and Interview with a Vampire, all movies we cannot cover for one reason or another.
01:08:54
Speaker
Oh. I need to watch. Well, hey, no, fuck off here. We could do interview with a vampire because even though Queen of the Damned, it's well why not? There's no sequel to it. Queen of the Damned is the sequel. No, it's not, dude. ah No, dude, that's it.
01:09:10
Speaker
You almost made me blaspheme. That's a motherfucking lie, Steven.
01:09:16
Speaker
That's a lie. That is not a sequel. I don't care what anybody says. That is not a sequel to Interview with a Vampire in any way whatsoever, except that it shares a character, a character that is completely different.
01:09:27
Speaker
not to that Not only completely different, but played by a different actor. And the tone is different. Nothing. if They don't even talk about anything that happened in Interview with a Vampire. It's its own separate adaptation of a different Anne Rice book.
01:09:40
Speaker
And I will die on that hill. We're covering it. If you wouldn't let us cover Superman Returns, I'm not letting you cover Interview with a Vampire. But you know what I did let us cover, Steven? I let us cover Man of Steel.
01:09:54
Speaker
Which is the worst movie of the two. And i've ah we've been over this, how Batman vs. Superman is a direct sequel, narratively.
01:10:06
Speaker
Two Man of Steel. So I'm just saying. ah i don't always on it. Again, Superman is in a combined total of 30 minutes of those next two films. stephen Neither them can be considered Superman sequels.
01:10:18
Speaker
Steven, I'm trying to help you out by closing this out early. Look, everybody's heard our episode where we discussed this. would They know where we stand. We don't need to rehash it. Let's get to the social, Steven. Let's get to them.
01:10:29
Speaker
no ah we got No, Tucker. No. Fuck you. ah millow No. Because the tomatometer score for this movie, once fucking loads cell internet, is 27%. Yes, has one.
01:10:40
Speaker
It's 27%. It has consensus. Why you the letterboxd? is twenty seven percent yes it has twenty seven percent it has no critic life a letterbox Yeah, there is a Letterboxd score for this one. There is no Metascore, but there is absolutely a Letterboxd score. And Tucker, you you said earlier this one's probably going to be very meme-y, and you're probably right.
01:11:03
Speaker
ah What what do you put the Letterboxd score of the Fantastic Four from 1994 out?
01:11:12
Speaker
It could go either way, but I feel like it's going to go extremely in either way. So, like, i can't... There's no middle ground. I have to really just pick... um I'm going to say this is a... um I'm going to go with God, Steven. Don't overthink it, please.
01:11:35
Speaker
Fuck a duck. It's between 1.6 and 2.1.
01:11:41
Speaker
You just made it. 2.1. It's a 2.1. You just fucking... I can't believe I've done this. Wow, this is... I need the confetti and someone's throwing Gatorade on me right now.
01:11:54
Speaker
Like... Good thing you went with God. Because by the grace of God, you got there. Like, by the skin of your fucking teeth, you made Oh, with Lee. No, I know. Oh, I know.
01:12:07
Speaker
ah I fucking know. Don't even don't even try. No, yeah. ah This movie is a 2.1 Letterboxd. Tucker, out of five stars, how are you how many are you giving to 1994's The Fantastic Four?
01:12:23
Speaker
ah This, for me, is a two-star movie because it's not good, but it's still a lot of fun, and it is something that I could see myself re-watching possibly on a yearly or every other year.
01:12:37
Speaker
basis, especially if they get me that VHS copy that looks good, but in a VHS way. Right, right. ah For me, it's a one star, which gives our cumulative total a one, one and a half star. But again, even though, again, it's a one star, it's a like, like the movie Chillers, like the trauma film Chillers. It is a one star movie that I love.
01:13:00
Speaker
Like when when when you read my Letterboxd review, you will see that this is a movie that gets one star. But I'm going to put the little heart next to it because I do still really enjoy this film for all its flaws, for all its foibles, for all its faults.
01:13:15
Speaker
And there are many. This is still a film that I had so much fun with because, again, it is charming as hell. And they do get to the core of what makes the characters fun.
01:13:26
Speaker
um Not what makes them true to the comics, not what makes them good or great, but what makes them fun. And I have to, I have to get on board with that. Yeah. Oh, they took a lot liberty. But again, those comics in the nineties, they took a lot of liberties back then.
Fantastic Four Adaptations and Future Plans
01:13:42
Speaker
No, I was just thinking that it's a shame that we ended up recording this episode, even though it's more convenient this way, because if we had delayed it and recorded it next week, you would have gotten to watch this again.
01:13:57
Speaker
I would have had to. That sounds like fun. Yeah. i i still I might still watch it again. In fact, there is a part of me that is considering, and I don't know if I'll have the time to do it, and there's a part of me that is considering watching the Tim Story Fantastic Four films before I watch the Josh Trank Fan Four stick.
01:14:14
Speaker
Okay, so here's what you do. No, you watch the 1994 Fantastic Four, and then you watch Fan Four stick, but as a double feature. And your takeaway will be,
01:14:25
Speaker
wow The Fantastic Four was not a very good movie and fanre Fan Fourstick was at least a movie, but still I like the Fantastic Four better.
01:14:39
Speaker
ah feel like that your takeaway. We'll find out next week. I'll double feature it. I'll do it if you'll do it i'll I'll try. Again, my my my movie watching time is limited right now. We'll we'll do our best.
01:14:52
Speaker
Same, ah same. Yeah, we'll coordinate. Even if it has to be like a one night we watch one and then the next night we watch the other. But we are still, again, this is for the the new Fantastic Four movie coming out as of the release of this episode next weekend.
01:15:06
Speaker
And so, yeah, we'll we'll cover Fan Four Stick next weekend. Again, I would still like to try to watch the the the Tim Story Fantastic Four movies just because, again, I remember really liking that first one quite a bit when first it. didn't like them.
01:15:22
Speaker
I kind of wonder if it holds up. I remember seeing the second one and thinking it was trash, but... Yeah, I don't know. And Steven, you act like it's going to be a long time before this episode comes out, but it's coming out in like 45 minutes.
01:15:36
Speaker
I know. And I know you've got to edit it. So we should probably wrap this fucker up.
Social Media and Farewell
01:15:41
Speaker
ah Look, let me, I'll just run through this really quick. We already talked about the Patreon, patreon.com slash just in French pod. Email us distant French pod at gmail.com.
01:15:48
Speaker
We're on blue sky and letterbox and YouTube at distant French pod fan art. Fucking socials. I, I am your host or a five-star rating and review on letter are on a, Blue Sky i guess and Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Fuck me. but I've had 10 hours of sleep in 48 hours. I'm exhausted. um but i'm I'm Stephen Foxworth. You can find me on Blue Sky and Letterboxd at Chewy. Walrus, Tucker, where can we find you on socials these days?
01:16:16
Speaker
ah YouTube and Instagram at Ice909. That's I-C-E-N-I-N-E, the number zero and the number nine. Also, Tuck Mugs is making a big comeback. Tuck underscore mugs.
01:16:29
Speaker
ah We've had two posts in the last month. That's more than we've had in the last six months. So I'm saying, yeah, Tuck Mugs. Tuck underscore mugs on Instagrams.
01:16:41
Speaker
Get on it. And that is our episode on the 1994 slash unreleased fantastic, the fantastic four. Until next time, I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy ah for Tucker and the very, very absent Brett, right? Until next time, flim off, flim off.
01:17:20
Speaker
Bye.