Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
219 - The Spirit (2008)
49 Plays14 days ago
“My city screams.She is my lover. She is my mother. And I… am her Spirit.”
This week, we’re kicking off a month of films based on American comic book superheroes with the movie that brought Stephen closer to leaving a movie theater before the end of the film than any movie he’s seen before or since! In an effort to avoid discussing the movie any more than we have to, we discuss the comic book work of Spirit creator Will Eisner and this film’s director Frank Miller, the acting career of star Gabriel Macht, and why Tucker got tired of Looper and Johnny Cash.
Like all the women in this hellhole, we’re not out of our minds, we’re just equipped. Check us out on social media for the proof:
- @Disenfranchpod on Bluesky, Letterboxd, and YouTube.
- Join our Patreon at either the free or paid level!
- Email us your thoughts or requests to disenfranchpod@gmail.com
- Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!
- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky and Letterboxd.
- Check out Stephen’s first novel - Check In, Check Out - on Amazon, now available in paperback or ebook: https://amzn.to/44idk8y
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Letterboxd.
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including bi-weekly episodes of What Are We Watching? at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
- Check out Tucker and his awesome roommate in last year’s Endless Elsewhere Halloween Special from our buddy J.P. Leck wherever you get your podcasts!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Theme Announcement
00:00:22
Speaker
A franchise right alone will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams. My city screams. And it ain't the only one screaming. No, we're all screaming here at the disenfranchised podcast. That podcast all about those franchises of one. Those films that fancy themselves, full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film.
00:00:43
Speaker
I am your host, Stephen Fox, where they're kicking off a brand new theme month, our first theme month of 2025. But before we get into all of that, I first need to introduce my co-host. What is it with him and women? Maybe he'll tell us.
Reflection on Past Episode
00:00:57
Speaker
It's Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hi, Stephen. Respect. Is that what it is?
00:01:03
Speaker
Oh, wait, i I thought we were still talking about Bodied. Oh, respect. No, we did that last week, man. We got to move on to other things. I would say bigger and better, but this movie is somehow neither. It's not. And speaking of Bodied, I want to apologize to the audience. I edited the episode and it's very entertaining, but I was clearly too inebriated. That was a late record. that was a late It was a late record. And like, I misjudged. Because like, if I'm watching the show or something, and it's late, I'm just I'm just hitting I'm not even thinking about how much I'm hitting the pin, right? Right. You and you I do remember you hitting the pin quite a lot. And I didn't think much of it at the time. and But yeah, in retrospect, you you were Yeah, you were hitting it quite a bit.
00:01:52
Speaker
It was a lot, yeah. It came out fine, but I i knew that I was a little too far gone. I could have been a little more present is
Superhero Theme Month Overview
00:02:02
Speaker
what I'm saying. Touche. I mean, speaking of inebriated, I am on my second rum and coke of the evening, so. Speaking of rum, I have a shot of rum right here. Well, let's let's let's let's ah let's do a little toast.
00:02:16
Speaker
Let's have a toast. To to this this this new theme month that on which we are embarking tonight. Clink. don't
00:02:30
Speaker
And believe you me, listener, we're going to need it for tonight because we're starting this one off with a whimper of a movie. In fact, um well, let me let me get into the theme month first. We're doing we're doing a superhero theme month.
00:02:45
Speaker
because it's been a hot minute since we've done ah just a bunch of superhero movies all in a row. So we're doing an American superhero theme month with some of the great American superheroes. And I use the word great fairly loosely, because we're going to be talking about a few duds I have a feeling over the course of this month. But we do have a couple of great guests scheduled for this month. So it's going to be, it's true um we're going to have a good time.
00:03:12
Speaker
I'm pretty excited about a few of these. i we Actually, everyone except for I was excited about this one before I watched it. Fair enough. Because I'd
Discussion on 'The Spirit' (2008)
00:03:23
Speaker
never seen it. And like I said before the record, usually if everybody hates a movie.
00:03:28
Speaker
i I go into it with an open mind and I'll find a bunch of stuff that I like about it. yeah I'll probably admit that it's not good. Sure. But I'll be like, yeah, but I dug it. Right. This movie, I did not dig this. No, this movie there's at all. This is a movie that I I have mentioned on this podcast before. I've never walked out of a movie that I saw in a theater in my life. But this is the movie I came closest to doing so.
00:03:53
Speaker
um It is the 2008 Frank Miller film based on Will Eisner's classic comic book superhero, The Spirit. um Now before before we go into that, can I tell you I've only walked out of one movie? Oh, yeah. And it's it's kind of funny. um The comic carnival.
00:04:16
Speaker
No, it was Downtown Comics, the one in Greenwood. Oh, yeah. I don't know if it's still there. It's Comic Book University now, and I'm pretty sure Rob has retired.
00:04:27
Speaker
Oh, no, I'm talking about. Maybe it wasn't there. No, I don't know. It's the ah Downtown Comics was the one on the it was this there was a strip little strip mall off of one word county line in 135.
00:04:42
Speaker
And there's a Dollar Tree now there and it used to be a Walgreens. Correct. That same place. There's that shitty, like, idiot bar yeah there on the end. He moved over to, it's which is now a burger place. Full of idiots. He moved over, that that the the idiot bar is now a burger place. um yeah He moved over to, um over by where the Gallions was and re renamed it to the store Comic Book University.
00:05:09
Speaker
Well, it was Comic Book University before he moved. Was it? I'm pretty sure. Yeah, because I followed him. Oh, that's right. like Yeah. Yeah. Recently, um you were saying that somebody else took over. Yeah, I think he retired there recently. I so think I saw online that he retired.
00:05:26
Speaker
Well, remember we were chatting about it in the group chat when he said he was closing up shop and we were like, oh, shit, that sucks. It's like not last Christmas, but Christmas before. Right. I remember us having a conversation when we met this Christmas. You told me that. Did you tell me somebody told me that somebody else has taken it over and it's called something else now, but it's still a comic book. It might. It might have been because I know Brett went there as well. Like I have a feeling like we all remembered Rob.
00:05:52
Speaker
like independently of each other. Rob was good. Good dude. Love that guy. I used to make fun of him for dating people way, way too young for him. Well, he Rob's a kind of kind of like me to where he kind of has had ah the emotional and intelligence of a teenager and the interests of a teenager. Yes. And that's why I just stopped dating after my 30s. Smart.
00:06:18
Speaker
Because that's not appropriate. And let me tell you, I'm not the one who approaches women either. They approach me. So I'm like, no, sorry, I'm, I'm a forced asexual now, because that's weird. So go on somewhere, please. um Yeah, it looks like ah Comic Book University. at The website says 2005 to 2024, but ah maybe it's still called Comic Book University. They're still posting. They just bought them out. They're still posting new releases and stuff. So yeah, um that's why. But yeah, I remember the last time I saw him, we were chatting and he goes, yeah, I got to go to my girlfriend's graduation. I was like, oh, high school? And he just he just laughed and he gave me a big hug. He's like, dude, I miss you.
Frank Miller's Career & Influence
00:07:01
Speaker
but yeah wowzers um But yeah, the reason I bring bring it up yeah is that Downtown Comics used to give away a lot of free passes to new movies that were coming up. i oh That's a whole other story. I almost saw shoot them up because of that. I saw a bunch of other movies early, at like preview screenings with free tickets from Downtown Comics, and one of them was perfect stranger. And unfortunately, it was not a movie remake of the sitcom. Right. With Larry and Balke. Cos and Larry Aplaton. Because that would be ridiculous. And don't be ridiculous. Yeah, so it's this movie with Halle Berry and the Rocketeer. And the Rocketeer beats the fuck out of Halle Berry. Oh, no. With Bruce Willis?
00:07:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, wait, I'm thinking of something else. But Halle Berry's, no, see, I get those two movies mixed up because they have the same color palette. But anyway, a Perfect Stranger has Halle Berry and Bruce Willis and Giovanni Rubisi. And star of this movie, Richard Portnow.
00:08:07
Speaker
Oh yeah. He's in that too. You see, I walked out of that about 20 minutes in because the filmmakers thought I was so stupid that I wouldn't remember something that happened. I'm not kidding. 30 seconds earlier. They flashed back. They flashed back to something 30 seconds earlier. And I was like, no, I'm out. You don't, you don't treat me like that. Come on. that about You insulted my intelligence. I'm out here. It was free. If I had paid for it, I would have stayed for the entire. Right. And that's kind of where I landed with the spirit is like I paid for this. So damn. And and I was with friends. So I'm like, I honor bound to stay. This is from the guy who directed Glengarry Glen garry glenn Ross, ah one of my favorite ensemble films of all time. He also directed an episode of Twin Peaks, ah but like late season two Twin Peaks. So.
00:09:01
Speaker
no um And then he also went on to direct ah not the first, but the last two films in the Fifty Shades series. so cool That's the last thing he's directed as of right now is Fifty Shades Free. Yeah, I thought you might like that.
00:09:18
Speaker
i'm glad I'm glad he's, you know, working and stuff, whatever. Do what you can. Get that money. That's it. King. That's it. Get it. Old King. ah So we're talking about 2008's The Spirit, directed by and directed and written by Frank Miller, a he of Sin City fame um and starring. Dark Knight Returns fame. Yes.
00:09:42
Speaker
and starring Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Ava Mendez, Sarah Paulson, Dan Luria, Stana Caddick, Louis Lombardi, Jamie King, Paz Vega, and the aforementioned Richard Portnow. With um cameos from Frank Miller, DC Comics President Paul Levitz, and cinematographer Bill Pope. What a cast. nice student everybody there and What a picture. Oh, yeah.
00:10:11
Speaker
Oh yeah. Frank Miller is weird. Like everything that he does, it's literally either hit or miss. There's no in between with Frank Miller. It's either brilliant or it's shit. And he hasn't had a hit in a hot minute. Honestly. I mean, like you compare the because the Dark Knight Returns had a sequel and Dark Knight Returns was brilliant. Mm hmm. Sequel was shit.
00:10:35
Speaker
Even though the sequel did have my favorite comic book superhero of all time in it, Frank Miller doesn't know how to write it. Plastic man. Plastic man, my boy. Plastic man. Exactly. You know who does know how to write it? And I'm just going to keep pushing you to this until you watch it. The writers, Batman, Brave and the Bold. OK.
Origins & Impact of 'The Spirit' Comic
00:10:52
Speaker
They know how to write Plastic Man. That's your Plastic Man show, dude, because he shows up several times in each season. i I have a VHS tape, a pirated VHS tape that a friend of mine may or may not have ah procured from The Comic Carnival, the other comic bookstore in Indianapolis. Yes, too. Of bootleg Plastic Man episodes. Oh, nice. From the Plastic Man Comedy Adventure Hour from the 80s.
00:11:21
Speaker
That's Comet carnival had all those bootlegs back in the day like if it weren't it wasn't available commercially Like that's how I first saw the clerks animated series as I bought a bootleg from comic carnival But you best believe as soon as it came out commercially my ass bought her acts I've purchased that motherfucker thrice now, so I hope Kevin Smith is happy with my money i cause I bought on VHS and I bought it twice on DVD because I borrowed that shit out and somebody did not return it those bitches I am actually going to look up and see if the Plastic Man show is available on DVD, because if it is, I will add it to my chart. I didn't even know that there was a Plastic Man show. When did that come about? I think it was the 80s, honestly. The complete collection, it's 5463 on DVD. That is a little rich for my blood. I know. And you don't even have a CRT. So like why even buy a DVD? I mean. And because it's Plastic Man and he's my favorite TV, my favorite comic book superhero. Watch it on your computer. That would probably be your best bet. He's instead of Woozie Wings, his his perennial comic book sidekick, he's got a guy called Hula Hula, who is a Hawaiian gentleman, as you might imagine, whose superpower is that he has perennially bad luck.
00:12:41
Speaker
You know, his weird, goofy, old, short man sidekick shows up in Batman Brave in the Bowl. Just saying. He's there. Put some respect on it. Full effect. Full effect. I'm just saying, Boozy Wings. I'm just saying that if you are a true plastic man fan, Steven, that you really need to get on that Brave in the Bowl. First of all, how the fuck dare you?
00:13:04
Speaker
You have no idea how much you're going to and you're going to love the shit out of that. You're you're you're right. I probably will. But there's a lot of TV and I love it. I'm so busy these days, man. Dude, they they draw from everything so much that they they bring in villains like from the the Adam West TV show like King Tut shows up. Oh, that's and fucking what's the hypnotizing guy?
00:13:30
Speaker
ah No, Egghead. Yeah, from thehead shows ah the original cartoon or the original and ah the live action show with Adam West. Yes. Biff Powell. Yes. i ah All the ones that I can remember that are that specifically were created for the 66 TV series show up. Does Maxi Zeus show up? I think so. Because that's a pull, man. Maxi Zeus. I think so.
00:13:58
Speaker
it's It's really great because they pull from all of the the Golden Age comics, all the weird shit. and all the modern shit and everything in between. Every incarnation of Batman is represented in some way, and it's it's really fantastic. That's cool. I do have my favorite incarnation of Batman, and it's the one that Neil Adams drew, because Neil Adams knew how to do it. Gets a special thanks in this movie, Neil Adams does. I'm sure he shows up when Batmite is just like cycling through. Oh, I'm sure. There's a moment where he's just like cycling through different Batmans,
00:14:36
Speaker
Though I think the best moment on the series is when Batmite explains like the the making of the series. There's a scene where Batmite is at Comic Con and he's explaining to the fans like why the show is good.
00:14:52
Speaker
There is one of my favorite comics I ever got. It was an Evan Dorkin comic. It was written by Evan Dorkin, he of milk and cheese fame. And he wrote it was it was Batman versus Mr. Mxyzptlk. And it was called World's Funnest. And they basically cycle through every different like so many different versions of the DC universe and just like end up destroying the multiverse. And it's like Frank Miller draws a couple panel or a couple pages like they just farm out pages to like every artist out there and Alex Ross does a couple like they end up in the kingdom come universe like it's
00:15:32
Speaker
It's so fun and i've i that's one I bought twice. I bought that comic twice too because it is one of my favorites. I had to sell off all my comics when I was poor in the early aughts or I guess early 2010s. I had to sell off all my comics and and I had to re-bought rebought that one because that one is just one of my favorites.
00:15:52
Speaker
nice I need to I need to if I weren't in the middle of moving I would find it and reread it cuz damn it that book is fun Actually, you know what I have access to DC infinite. I might see if I can find gar read it Check it out. Yeah, dude. That book is that's fun as hell. And I highly recommend it to everyone listening. More than I recommend the movie we're supposed to be talking about today. Fuck that movie. The Spirits. Yeah, so this is a movie that I saw in the movie theater that e' be bitten the day it came out. I saw this movie on Christmas Day, 2008.
00:16:30
Speaker
Woof. Yep. i um I was actually very excited for this movie before it came out because I was a big fan of ah older comics and I was looking for an excuse to get into The Spirit. So I bought, DC actually released ahead of the release of this film, a trade paperback of like the the essential issues of The Spirit.
00:16:54
Speaker
ah Because most of them were one offs. And it featured characters like sans serif and the octopus and silken floss like all the characters plaster of Paris was in it like every all the characters you see in this movie are were featured in the various issues there.
00:17:12
Speaker
um The difference between the comics and the movie ah is that the comics were fucking good. um Will Eisner is one of the like early standout comic illustrators and writers because he is Like he's the guy who was really infusing, people like him and Jack Cole, the creator of Plastic Man, are the guys who were really kind of infusing those early comics with like a lot of creativity. They weren't just interested in sticking to the panels. They were doing these really
00:17:48
Speaker
very ambitious and crazy splash pages and stuff like that and really kind of pushing the medium forward in a way that few people were in the 40s and 50s. Which is... Well, of course he's a big deal. He's got an award named after him. Right. Not everybody gets an award named after them. Exactly. That's how you know he is a big deal. Like... Will Eisner and Dr. Dre. Like, there's not many. And Victor Hugo.
00:18:14
Speaker
That too, yeah, and Rondo Hatton. There you go. So, you know, there's a Rondo award. Exactly. and So that's kind
Critique of Film Adaptation
00:18:22
Speaker
of where we're at, like in terms of the level that this guy's operating at. um And I would say he's probably the most influential artist in comics, like everybody that's drawn comics is influenced by someone who's influenced by Will Eisner.
00:18:39
Speaker
um And I mean, Eisner isiser was a really big deal. He, like so many other comic book creators in the early 40s, is a young Jewish man um who is able to to write these stories about these heroes and basically create like Jerry Siegel and Joel Schuster, like Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, create basically Jewish wish fulfillment.
00:19:05
Speaker
um Like he always used to say the spirit is a Jew. ah That's why he wears a mask so no one could tell he's Jewish like that was the joke. um And in his mind, this is just, again, another area of wish fulfillment for him in the same way that it was for Siegel and Schuster. I think it was Jerry Siegel who saw his father shot and ended up creating a man who could repel bullets. Like it's it's that kind of wish fulfillment that you see. Like Jack Kirby basically creates a big rock monster and and basically makes it himself. Like he's the guy out there just slugging Nazis in the face. Like this is why we love Jack Kirby. um and And Eisner is is one of those guys. He's just this great
00:19:51
Speaker
Jewish comic book writer like so many of these young men at the time, and writes these these funny book characters and the spirit has kind of been one of those that's been lost to time. um Especially after this movie, everyone kind of wanted to forget the character, but it's a really good character that ends up inspiring a lot of you know, just your street level comic book superheroes in in a very real way. Like Frank Miller, the director of this, is ah is a huge Will Eisner fan. In cinema circles, there is the book Hitchcock Truffaut, which is a conversations between Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock.
00:20:32
Speaker
um And then there's also, this is Orson Welles, conversations between Peter Bogdanovich and Orson Welles. I think Peter Bogdanovich did one with John Ford as well. ah So there are these great like conversation pieces between great filmmakers. And Frank Miller and Will Eisner actually sat down and and wrote one called Eisner Miller, um which is, ah ah again, just a very kind of, in terms of of comics, it's kind of totemic conversation between these great Illustrators, like Miller himself is and really influential in that street level hero thing he does. Like his run on Daredevil is unimpeachable. Like the everything that is baked into the character of Daredevil now comes from that Frank Miller run. mean He created Elektra for Crying in the Mud. Exactly. um i remember i remember i like I prefer his version visually.
00:21:28
Speaker
of Electra. I love the way Frank Miller draws Electra because I like the way he draws hair. yeah And her hair is fantastic. It's like everybody's Norman Osborn in Frank Miller comics. They all got that kinky hair and boy, it just looks fantastic. It does. It looks really good. like he is He's an incredible visual stylist. He's an incredible graphic artist. His political views leave a lot to be desired.
00:21:56
Speaker
um He's after 9-11, he wrote this really awful comic. I'm trying to remember the name of it. I read it and I was kind of disgusted. um I think I think Frank Miller, there's there's a lot of people like this, and I would consider Kanye West to be very similar. There are a lot of geniuses that are various levels of mentally ill. Mm hmm.
00:22:24
Speaker
And I think there's gotta be a little bit of that. There and because I've seen interviews with Frank Miller and he's smart as a whip, but he's fucking nuts, dude. Yeah. Frank Miller is not. Holy. Love him to death was the name of the. But he's nuts. Yeah. Oh, boy. Holy terror. ah ah He and then then he also did All Star Batman and Robin, which was. Oh, God. Really fucked up. um It involves the goddamn Batman guy. That's the one. Oh.
00:22:56
Speaker
Boy, I bought one issue of that, and I was like, no. Meanwhile, you've got great. Why is this Batman so mean? Right. Well, because that's an asshole. That's Frank Miller's Batman. Like the Batman that made sense to him is Batman as a madman. Like Batman. Like I get it. hey I get it in Batman. They're in The Dark Knight Returns because he's old and so much has happened to him. So that makes sense that he would just be completely out of his mind at that point. Right. But like I think when he's doing that Batman and Robin shit where it's younger Batman. No, dude, that's not Batman. Fuck that. Right. It doesn't it doesn't work like it worked for that one. And I would argue that the Dark Knight Returns is maybe one of the most, if not the quintessential Batman story.
00:23:51
Speaker
Like, it's the one. Like, if you're going to read a Batman book, that's the one to read. It's such an incredible story. Very well. The animated version is really good, too. I've not seen it. And it is rated R, so don't worry. Right. And that's the one Peter Weller is Batman. You do? You like that guy. Cool. Boy, do I ever.
00:24:13
Speaker
Gosh, I like him so much. Speaking of Peter Weller, Frank Miller also wrote some of the scripts for Robocop's two and three, which did not feature Peter Weller, but or I guess two. did Well, two did. Yeah, three did not. His his Robocop three script got a comic book, though. OK. Many years later, they they did a comic book version of his Robocop three script. I'm not sure if he did art on it or anything, but.
00:24:40
Speaker
But basically Frank Miller kind of rises to fame through through the Dark Knight Returns and Daredevil. And then he does, he writes Batman Year One, which is again another kind of quintessential Batman story. Like Frank Miller writes two of the best Batman stories ever written, which is why he kind of deserves a lot of the acclaim that he gets. um yeah And then from there, he goes on to create Sin City. um He writes the the graphic novel 300, which is later turned into a Zack Snyder movie. And if you want to know what his visual style is like, watch this movie, watch Sin City, watch 300. They basically say watch 300, too. Yeah, like Zack Snyder captures it. Like, I don't like that movie because I don't give a fuck about anything happening in it. But like it is.
00:25:31
Speaker
like frank both Frank Miller and Zack Steider. really really captured the feel of a Frank Miller comic book. I'm not sure that the spirit does. I think but maybe the spirit does too much. that's that's I think he's trying to make it too much of a comic book. like you're You're in a different format, Frank. like You have to adapt. You don't just push the comic book onto the screen. He's not just adept. It's not just that he's trying to make it look like a comic book. He's trying to make it look like a Frank Miller comic book.
00:26:04
Speaker
Which, the spirit is not a Frank Miller character. Like, I would have no idea. Please tell me all about everything you know about the spirit, Steven. The spirit fucking rules. Like, again, Will Eisner is just a fucking master of the form. let's i just I just want to make that abundantly clear. ah He is created in the in the early 40s.
00:26:27
Speaker
um And basically it was it ran in in the newspapers, a newspaper strip, and then it was eventually maybe it eventually became a comic. I was a comic strip. I thought it might have been a radio play, a radio show at some point, because it kind of has the.
00:26:46
Speaker
bones of a radio drama, because I listen to a lot of that shit more than I probably should. He's got really like the shadow and the whistler and suspense. It's got that feel for sure. um The the spirit is Denny Colt. He's he's a PI a criminologist based in Central City and um basically trying to capture a villain gets ah placed in suspended animation is basically.
00:27:18
Speaker
ah What's what's the word? um Declared dead. yeah Declared dead. And um yeah they bury him and he basically comes out of suspended animation. And so everyone's like, oh, well, he came back to life. So he ba and it's it's similar to what we see here without the,
Character & Aesthetic Analysis
00:27:38
Speaker
you know, the the formula from the octopus and all of that. Like that's I think if if it wasn't something that was added from the comics later, it was created for the film.
00:27:48
Speaker
um But he basically is, he's kind of a ah friendly outlaw is kind of the way that he was described in the comics. And he would basically work as a vigilante. um And he he was stationed at his headquarters was in Wildwood Cemetery. And he, again, you can tell Will Eisner was probably kind of a horny young guy, because the femme fatales are all over the place in the spirit comics.
00:28:16
Speaker
Like that's that's that that is very true to the comics. It's very overdone in this film, almost comical how he interacts almost every woman, almost comical, almost comical. If handled slightly differently, it would have been funny. Yeah. But no, this is this is the look. I don't like this movie, but this is the perfect comic book movie because it is a comic book.
00:28:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm on your TV. Yeah, it's an shit I would go as far as to say I would read this comic book I would read this comic book if Frank Miller made this into a comic book and drew it himself I would read it and I would probably love it I would probably love it. But you can yeah like I said, you have to adapt, Frank. You have to adapt. You don't just put the comic on the screen. Certain things work in cinema. Certain things don't. And I'm all for breaking those rules. But if you don't know what the fuck you're doing, you have no business trying to break those rules. And there have been a few examples of like putting a comic on the screen that have worked really well. like um I think Ang Lee's Hulk is really kind of a fun way. Absolutely.
00:29:31
Speaker
trying to combine those media. um And I think honestly, I think the original Sin City does a really good job of that as well. you need I really like that movie. That's a fantastic movie. And like I say, 300 is a good movie. I do like I am not a Snyder bro, but I do love Zack Snyder. Right. I like his filmmaking style. I think it works more often than it doesn't for me, at least. There are some I have no interest in this Red Nine, whatever the shit he's doing on Netflix. I have no interest in that. Right.
00:30:01
Speaker
But like I do think he's a talented filmmaker. He has his lane and he tends to stay in it, which I think is good for him. ah But 300 is fantastic. I don't like it because my brain doesn't like the color palette. Mm hmm. I wish I did because there's some fantastic stuff in there. And like I said before, I think he really captures Frank Miller style and really adapts it.
00:30:25
Speaker
to fill, adapts, straight up adapts. Here's the thing, he is adapting. He's adapting the the you know the lush, vibrant panels of Will Eisner and he's adapting them as a Frank Miller comic, basically. Yeah, but not as a Frank Miller movie. but And again, that's the thing. This is to date, and I think rightly so, the only solo Frank Miller film Everything else he's directed, he it was are basically the c Sin City movies alongside Robert Rodriguez. Well, and the only reason he didn't get a credit for the first one is because he wasn't part of the director's guild. Correct. That's the only reason because he participated as much in the first one as he did in the second. Correct. um But he's also got a co-director. He's also got a competent director alongside him, kind of showing him the ropes. And here he's kind of i left on his own.
00:31:20
Speaker
Do you think that if Robert Rodriguez would to have specifically Robert Rodriguez would have directed this with him that it would have been better? I have no doubt. I have no doubt because it also leads it also reads like a Frank Miller comic. and And my Frank Miller is he's a lot of things, but subtle is not one of them.
00:31:48
Speaker
The man does not know how to nuance anything. and it's really frustrating. Like it works okay in comic books because particularly like something like Sin City where everything is very blunt and direct and to the point, but something like this. And again, this is a comic that came out of the 40s and 50s. So it's it's got a lot of that kind of flowery,
00:32:19
Speaker
my my brain is just not tonight. um It's got kind of a lot of that flowery, noir-esque prose like you would see in like ah like a dime novel or a penny, not a penny dreadful, ah you know, ah the fucking pulp magazine. That's what I'm looking for. Yeah. um It have a lot of that kind of dialogue to it. um And here, everything is it's you can tell they're trying for that, but it's very blunt. It's very direct.
00:32:45
Speaker
Um, there's a lot of, of entendre, but it's, it's barely double. It's, it's like single and a half entendre. Uh, the way Frank Miller does it, because again, he's just so blunt and so direct and he's writing this and directing this all on his own. And so we're just kind of like.
00:33:05
Speaker
It hurts, honestly. Yeah. Yeah. It sucks because there's so many there's so many setups and there's so many shots in this movie that I want to work. I thought the idea behind um the shot early in the film where he's running and he almost looks like he's floating. I was like, oh, man, that would look fantastic as a comic book panel. Yeah.
00:33:34
Speaker
It looks like shit right now, but if we paused it and just sat on it for a second, it'd probably be really awesome. And that's and i think I think comics, the thing that's great about comics is that you have a visual like you would a movie, but you still have to imagine things like you would a regular ass book. right Like the story exists between the panels.
00:33:57
Speaker
you know and you You can fill that in with what works as best as it does for you with the guide of what's happening on the panels. But in a movie like this, where he's literally pasting a com animating a comic book, essentially, with real people and CGI,
00:34:16
Speaker
there's no he it's just very it's not as fluid. It feels very stagnant and it just sits there. right it and it I mean, there are things, there there are elements of Miller style that I think work really well here. Like the scene where denny Denny Colt dies for the first time, where he gets shot and you get that shot where he's being like shot in the chest and he kind of spins around and the blood kind of starts flying everywhere. Like that is a perfect Frank Miller panel come to life.
00:34:48
Speaker
um the elements where everything is done in shadow. like those are that That is Frank Miller's style perfectly executed. But then everything is completely in black and white, which I'm usually a fan of black and white photography in film, except here it just feels like it's being done that way because that's how Frank Miller would draw the comic. Like, the original Spirit comics are really colorful. Like, the Spirit is wearing a blue suit. You wouldn't know it to look to watch this movie, but the Spirit is decked out in a blue suit. The hat, the suit, the gloves, the shoes, even even the mask are all blue.
00:35:33
Speaker
in the comments. Steven, did we watch different versions of this movie because my movie had color in it? I mean, there are like most of it is pretty muted. It is a color film for sure. I would say barely. I mean, the version I watched was functionally black and white. Are there different versions? I don't think so. Even the Nazi stuff at the end was black and white for you? That shit wasn't red and everything?
00:36:01
Speaker
Now, see, now I'm now i and I may be I just watch this movie, too. Because how little because I here's the thing. I noticed it. I watched it today, too. And I remember when he's first suiting up and he gets he's got his tie. It's Sin City red. Yeah. Like in the Sin City movies where it sticks out. But the more he gets into the world, the more color kind of I guess. Then, like I said, they're all very muted. And I noticed it. I was like, this is this was like Sin City for a minute, but now it's only kind of like that No, i'm I'm looking at the stills and I guess you're right. i and i'm this This is just an a and instance of me misremembering a lot of this. But yeah, no, it but again, everything is so muted. And he's not in a blue suit here. Like he's in a completely black suit with the exception of the tie.
00:36:50
Speaker
um But i mean I hate this movie. It's so bad. It's so bad. Sorry. No, it just made me think of how like, from the credits, like the credits, the opening credits, I was like, Oh, this fucking sucks. And then like, it kept sucking. And then you know, the moment Steven the moment I knew that this is one of the worst movies I ever saw.
00:37:12
Speaker
is when after jumping into the water to get the case or whatever the fuck he was going for, Sam Jackson rises up with that big fucking hat still on. Yep. and I know it's like no movie. No. Nope. No. Oh, man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to derail you, but you made me think of that scene. You're fine.
00:37:39
Speaker
Oh, man. so December 25, 2008, I had a really good friend of mine, an ex of mine, we had dated previously, and and we had started hanging out again. And um i was she was asking for comic book recommendations. And I was like, well,
00:37:59
Speaker
the spirit is coming out, we should go see it when it comes out on Christmas Day. And here, let me and I bought her that trade paperback of the spirit. car I bought one for me, I bought one for her. And so we were like reading it together. And she was like she was excited too, because it was just this, you know, cool comic book. And so we went see and I think she like brought her roommate with her too. So I remember there were a few of us there.
00:38:21
Speaker
Um, that went to see it and I was the one spearheading the whole thing. I'm like, yeah, let's go see it. We should go see it. Oh, no. It looks so good. And we're all just kind of sitting there just like dumbfounded. And I swear if if it wouldn't have absolutely mortified and embarrassed me to do so and I weren't there with other people, I would have just said, we can go. Like, let's just go. Yeah. Like, let's go.
00:38:46
Speaker
And um like I saw, it I've seen a Tyler Perry movie in theaters, Tucker, and this is the closest I've come to walking out of a movie in a theater. Like I just, I was just like, and it was all, well once it finished, we were all just kind of like, well,
00:39:03
Speaker
And I think I looked over at them and I just apologized. It's like, I'm so sorry, you guys. I'm so sorry. I really thought it was going to be good. There's no reason why this shouldn't be good. On paper? Since City 2 hasn't even come out yet, this should be good. On paper, there's nothing in this movie that should have been bad. Since City was great,
00:39:20
Speaker
Frank Miller is a comic book creator that I enjoy. Holy Terror, I think yeah didn't come out until like 2010 2011. So even that's written some of the best stuff. Exactly. for Sure. Like his run on Daredevil is unimpeachable. He's written two of the best Batman stories ever conceived. Like, there's no reason this should be bad. It's based on an iconic comic book character. And it's the cast is with the exception of the lead, undeniably stacked.
00:39:49
Speaker
Do you not like that guy? Because I didn't even know that guy existed. And then like while I was watching the movie, I was on my phone. Of course you were. Which I never do. Right. You're not that guy. I am that guy. You're not that guy.
00:40:03
Speaker
I had to because like I was just embarrassed for this movie the whole time. yeah I was still watching it. I did that. I made sure to stay in it while I was still kind of scrolling. I made a conscious effort to do that. And I did. So like I caught all of it, but I was scrolling a bit. I mean, look, I had to take multiple breaks. I'm in the process of moving. So I was like pausing, packing boxes. I'd pack boxes while I was watching the movie. At one point, I went out to go make myself a drink and come back. like Here's here's what I did. I read I read headlines. And then I tried to read the articles while the commercials were on. Gotcha. That's how I so i was still in it. I would not like focus on an article, but I would skim head headlines.
00:40:48
Speaker
and open multiple tabs of things I wanna read while the commercials are on. I mean, this guy, Gabriel Macht is probably best known at this point for suits.
00:40:59
Speaker
Yes, the reason I brought it up is because I was scrolling through articles while I was watching this movie and his name popped up, something about suits. And it's like the it's like that car brand, like when you buy a car of a certain brand, you start if you buy a Jeep, you start noticing a lot of jeeps. Right. You know, it was just instant gratification. I'm like, who the fuck is this guy? And then two seconds later, oh, wait, there's an article about him on my newsfeed. That's wild. Yeah. But like this is, I think if I'm if I'm reading his IMDB page correctly this is like his first lead in a movie like I don't know if I've ever seen him in anything he's I mean in that and that's just it like he's in ah you remember that movie with ah Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins called Bad Company
00:41:45
Speaker
I remember it because I worked at the video store and it came out, but I did not take that one home for research. He's he's in that one. ah He's in a movie I saw in theaters in 2001 when my dad came to visit me during my freshman year of college with Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson called Behind Enemy Lines. Would I remember him in it? No, I would not. Wait, with was that the one with Jude Law? No, that's the one with Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson.
00:42:14
Speaker
Enemy at the Gates, I'm thinking of is Jude Law. I was going to say Owen Wilson, but I was like, wait, is it the, yeah, I liked that one. I don't remember anything about it, but I saw that the movie theater with my dad and we liked it. Here's what I remember about that movie. So I was watching that one in college and I watched it with my friends and we were watching it on my buddy's computer. Like he just turned his monitor around and he had AOL instant messenger up.
00:42:39
Speaker
And he had a sound effect when people would log in to instant messenger. It was just like a cow mooing. And he didn't we didn't turn it off when we were watching a movie, because that would have just made sense. um Yeah, it's like when you when when you get the aux cord, you turn off your notifications. like Come on, man. We know that now. In 2001, we did not know that.
00:43:02
Speaker
Common etiquette. So we're watching that movie and the sex scene starts and everyone decides to log into AOL and instant messenger during the sex scene. So they're they're having sex and it's just cows going nuts. That is what I remember. Right. It's amazing. We were laughing so hard. um I love that. Right. ah He was in The Good Shepherd, the the the Matt Damon Robert De Niro movie.
00:43:27
Speaker
ah du I didn't see that one either. I saw that one in theaters, but I would be hard pressed to tell you anything about it. um I have seen a movie he was in, though. I've seen Whiteout. OK. Yeah, from 2009. Another comic book adaptation. That's got Kate Beckinsale in it, and it's not the one where she can't.
00:43:46
Speaker
She she has face blindness. It's not that one. Right. But the the posters are very similar. But this one, yeah, I maybe this one, this was the movie that really drove home like how fast cold temperatures can like fuck somebody up because that was kind of like the whole point of the movie is it was so cold where they were that if they went outside for more than like 30 seconds, they were going to have a really fucking bad time. Yeah. And that was kind of the whole deal. That was like the gimmick in this movie. And there's like a serial killer and Yeah, it's wild. It's really good. I don't I don't remember much about it, but I remember really enjoy. I remember a Kate Beckinsale like holding on to a rope to get to like a different door because like the snow is so bad they had to have like lead ropes so that you could get to where you needed to go if you needed to go outside. Like in the thing.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yes, like that, actually. This is a really good movie. I might see it again. I saw Love and Other Drugs, which is apparently something he's in also. Yeah, I don't know that one. But pretty much his career since, I would say, 2011 has basically been devoted to suits.
00:44:52
Speaker
Like I feel like in like most of what he's played since then has just been that character. It's kind of one of them. It's a big deal, though. yeah People like that show. It's a big show, right? It apparently. Yeah. um But he's played that character in like other shows. There's a spin off of that show coming out crawls overs wow called well, called Suits LA.
00:45:15
Speaker
Is his suits character going to show up on Abbott Elementary? um I mean, that's the way you know you've made it if your character shows up on Abbott Elementary. Yo, I'm really I'm really ah excited about the always sunny version of their crossover episode being the premiere episode of the next season. That's fun. Yeah, I haven't seen the I've not watched Abbott Elementary, so I wonder if I could watch that that episode in isolation and still be. a I mean, ah like, here's the deal. I would before you go that to that extreme, I would start it and watch three episodes and see how you feel. OK.
00:45:55
Speaker
um Because it's worth the watch through and it does make that episode that much better. I've heard it's like, I think now when I, I had, it had been on my list for a while, Abbott Elementary, um but I just hadn't pulled the trigger on it. But then like when they announced that crossover, I was like, Oh shit, I should probably get into gear on this.
00:46:16
Speaker
I think it took me about two months. It was my lunchtime show for about two months. Okay. And I finally caught up and it was no shit the week before the crossover episode. I was like, yeah, I did it in perfect time. Nice. Yeah, it's good, though. It's definitely worth it. It was that was the thing I was asking you when I was telling you that I started Schitt's Creek. Mm hmm. But then I got derailed because something I liked better. I started watching and that was Abbott Elementary. I have.
00:46:46
Speaker
I have been. Schitt's Creek is my current lunchtime show, and I'm about four episodes into season three. Are you are you still enjoying it or? Yeah, yeah, okay absolutely. See, I liked it before. It's just Abbott Elementary was just like. It's. It's I don't know if it's better, but I like it better, and that's not to diminish Schitt's Creek because I like it enough to watch it every day when I eat lunch, right obviously. why So and I love David Levy, I think he's fantastic. Not David, his character's name is David. Dan Levy, yeah. Yeah, yeah he's he's great. And David is, ew, David, such a great, such a great character. And I watched Schitt's Creek after I saw Kevin can go fuck himself. Okay. So that was a weird, like that gal who plays- Annie Murphy. In both of those shows. Yeah, she's so different. Mm-hmm.
00:47:43
Speaker
to a point I mean, to a point to where it's impressive. Have you seen her Black Mirror episode? I don't think so. You should watch her Black Mirror episode. It's so good. I kind of think she could do anything and I'm excited for her to kind of grow. I want to see her in some i want to see you in some independent films, Steven. That's what I want. Okay. That's what I want. Well, has she done any independent films? I don't know. Maybe. Straight up, maybe.
00:48:11
Speaker
Let me let me find out. I'm gonna find out. She had doesn't have much of a resume. Actually, before. Before, if she hadn't gotten Schitt's Creek, she was going to quit acting. Was the whole deal, but she's done so much since then, like that really pushed her into the into the business right proper. She's a voice in Ruby Gilman Teenage Kraken, which I did not know that kind of makes me want to watch that show.
00:48:41
Speaker
um She's in a few episodes of Russian Doll. I love that show. Yeah, she was that no, she was one of the younger versions of the hippie gals from the retirement home. Did you watch that show? I watched ah the first season. I did i didn't get to the second season. Second season hasn't come out yet, dude. We're still waiting, homie. No, second season's out.
00:49:02
Speaker
If it's out, then we're ending right now so that I can go watch it. Because what the fuck, no. Second season isn't out, you silly person. There's no way. What the hell are you... Yeah. Yeah, the second season... We're talking about Poker Face? No, not Poker Face, Russian Doll. Oh, it's because...
00:49:25
Speaker
They're both Natasha Lyonne shows. Yes. But they're thats very different premises. I never I never saw ah Russian dolls. I heard that it was a time loop show. It is. And it's very fun. i You know, I forgot about it until you just mentioned it, actually. It was on my list for a while, but it kind of dropped off. Maybe I should look at it. ah But no, Poker Face is great. But Russian Doll season one also very great.
00:49:54
Speaker
Fantastic. I mean, we're not going to get poker face season two until probably sometime after um it's coming. The the next season or the next Knives Out film comes out. Wake up. day That's coming, too. They're both. I mean, they're both kind of it's there. I I I see those titles mentioned places. So they're kind of happening sort of the same time. And I just can't wait because, you know, I love Ryan Johnson.
00:50:24
Speaker
Yeah, fan we know you do. From the beginning. from it Yes, you were with him when? You know, I do. I do need to see the brothers bloom again. It's been so long since I've seen that, that I don't even remember what it's about, really. It's about a pair of Kahneman brothers. I have the D. I have the Blu-ray. Played by Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo.
00:50:50
Speaker
It's on my voodoo. I have no excuse. Rachel Weis in there as well. You know, one of those times that I was watching Brick, I probably should have watched, and you know, I haven't watched Looper in a while. I think I burned myself out on out on that because it was so good. Like I watched it so many times when it first came out. You got to. It's so mind blowing. You got to ease yourself into that one for sure. Oh, yeah. I feel like I'm ready to come back to it, though. I'm going to watch that and listen to a Hollywood Divorce by Outcast. There you go.
00:51:21
Speaker
because that's the song that i that's the song that made me realize that I do that with stuff. I'll get too excited about it and watch it too many times and end up hating it. That's what happened with me and Johnny Cash. i don't I don't like listening to Johnny Cash because I just really burned myself out on him when I was a kid. Which is a big old bummer, honestly. It's a big old bummer, but it didn't happen until after he died, so it's not like I missed anything. Fair.
00:51:48
Speaker
And I mean, there was all that shit there was a time when he was ubiquitous enough that you kind of couldn't avoid him. So, I mean, it makes sense. i think I think the only time that I listen to Johnny Cash anymore is Tennessee Stud on the Jackie Brown soundtrack. oh I really love his covers of um ah Hurt,
00:52:10
Speaker
obviously, and Personal Jesus. Yo, bridge over troubled water though with Fiona Apple. Come on, dude. Okay. I mean, sure. Come on, dude. I'm just saying, like, i those are the ones I tend to grab. It's hurt and personal business. His cover of Rusty Jane, dude. Again, Soundgarden. He's great. Look, Johnny Cash is great. For the one who's. Solitary man, Neil Diamond, dude.
00:52:35
Speaker
For the one who's burned out on him, you're quite a expressive on pushing him. Tom Petty's, I won't back down, dude. And Tom Petty's on the song with him. He's there, dude. Man. Not since Dobie Gray and Uncle Cracker has an original artist returned for a cover. Not not since ah fucking Victoria Williams and Pearl Jam in that one song. What's that called?
00:53:04
Speaker
run Down road, tall paper shark. What's that called? I'll pass it down. Pass it around. It's called fucking. Look, if I look up, victor you don't know that song. I don't. Victoria Williams. um Yes, ah her big song was, come on.
00:53:28
Speaker
You know what? I'm sorry, I don't mean to hijack this, but there's no way you don't know what I'm talking about. Not based on what you just wrote. It's Crazy Mary. Crazy Mary. OK. Wow, that's crazy, Mary. But it was a Victoria Williams song before then, and Pearl Jam really did it.
00:53:50
Speaker
for Vitalogy, but they never, they was a B-side, they never put it on it, but they released it. And um she sings background vocals on it. And it's really rad, because I dig both versions of that song. Sorry, Hijack Over, the spirit. The spirit. Look, one thing we can all be grateful for, as bad as this movie is, it at least does not include a character that Will Eisner ill-advised wrote into the original a comic called Ebony White. Oh, what now? it Yes, a character named Ebony White, who was ah the spirit's black sidekick. And he was drawn as stereotypically as you might imagine. Oh, no. Will Eisner, know well no. no.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yes, tragically. Tragically, yes. ah But again, that was written out a while ago and mercifully was not put into this movie for all the things Frank Miller did wrong. He did that right.
00:54:58
Speaker
um But yes, we've got um and again, all the femme fatales. This is maybe the the horniest, least sexy movie ever.
00:55:10
Speaker
This movie is so horny and not at all sexy. That is, yeah, which first those things are very true. A movie star, a movie with Eva Mendez, Stana Caddick, Paz Vega, and Scarlett Johansson.
00:55:25
Speaker
um to To not be sexy. is wild. But again, it's big and i get I think this is the Frank Miller thing. It's just so aggressively horny. um This is another movie that had been in development hell for decades. like I believe it. Was Frank Miller always attached? No.
00:55:46
Speaker
Like, William Friedkin got the rights in the 70s and was going to make it – he actually asked Eisner to write the comic, and Eisner's like, I don't want to, but, you know, you should talk to the other most cantankerous man in the 70s, Harlan Ellison. and Oh, I was like, Alan Moore? What? No, he he wasn't he wasn't cantankerous until the 80s once DC and Marvel both screwed him over. um Oh, boy. Yeah. Well, I mean, that'll do it. um But no, Harlan Ellison, the the, you know, the the biggest crank in in sci fi.
00:56:19
Speaker
Well, I was like, you should let, you know, my buddy Harlan write it. And so he did. He wrote a ah two hour live action script for ah for Friedkin. And of course, Friedkin also being just an incredibly abrasive individual. The two of them had some argument or other and the whole project fell apart. um Wait, Steven, you love that guy. I do. William Friedkin is one of my guys. but you' That's your guy. He is. And listen to listen to the episode I did recently with Pot in the Pendulum on ah The Exercises. The Hunted. Oh, OK. No, no. Although can we can we do that with those, Stephen? I'll put it on a straight up if I have to. You might actually. Just for you, dude. Just for you. If I had my own version of Straight Up, we'd be watching Sorcerer, dude, like Sorcerer is one of the best movies in the 70s, man. I fucking love that movie.
00:57:08
Speaker
Look, in a couple years when I start running out of movies, every once in a while you can hijack straight up and like do a freaking movie. I'm way into that idea. Like, if you have not seen Sorcerer, like, fucking go watch Sorcerer, Tucker. Seriously, that movie is- I haven't. I don't- It's a fucking masterpiece. I don't know what that is. Are you familiar with the film- Is it a sorcery business? No. Are you familiar with the movie Wages of Fear?
00:57:34
Speaker
No, dude, but I like that title. I want to name like I want to be in a black metal group and that is going to be one of our record titles. So Wages of Fear is this French film about these ah these men driving trucks full of nitroglycerin through the jungle. We and ah William Friedkin watches that movie and goes, well, actually, he reads the novel. It's based on and goes, fuck, I'm going to adapt this. And so after the double like box office bonanzas that are the French connection and the exorcist he's like i like those movies I'm gonna do ah I'm gonna do another adaptation of wages of fear Except I'm gonna like put actual people at risk in the jungle. We're actually gonna be driving semis across like rope bridges um And I'm gonna make Roy Scheider's life a living hell
00:58:28
Speaker
Um, and he does and it's called Sorcerer and it's his fucking masterpiece. It's like the best movie he's done. The only downside is it comes out the same year as this little movie called Star Wars and no one's interested by wages of what wages of fear wages of fear. It's a French film. I would say I would show you my criterion DVD copy. I'd run and get it, but I just packed it earlier today. I'm going to watch the movie and then I want to I want to do a speed metal song called wages of fear. There you go.
00:58:58
Speaker
And the breakdown is going to be like wages of fear better than that, for you i'm writing all this stuff but yeah so friedkin was goingnna do a version in the seventy s there was another version they were kicking around in the ninety s hang on let me let me check and see who would have been involved in that
00:59:28
Speaker
All the way back from the 80s, really? Yeah. I missed that when you first said that's wild. No, like, yeah, Friedkin wanted to do it in the 70s. Brad Bird apparently wanted to do an animated version in the 80s. Pixar's Brad Bird? Yes. Tomorrowland's Brad Bird? Tomorrowland's Brad Bird, yes. Totally underrated movie. Can't wait to do an episode on that. The Iron Giant's Brad Bird.
00:59:52
Speaker
Oh Vin Diesel in the 90s, they wanted to try to do a live action version. um But ah basically no one really. um No one really got it. No one really got the character. They kept trying to make him like supernatural.
01:00:09
Speaker
um And then in the early early aughts, they were kicking it around. But like Eisner really didn't want it to happen at that point. So after Eisner died, ah Michael Uslan, the producer ah that had the film rights, basically came up to Frank Miller and was like, would you do that? And Miller's like, I don't know.
01:00:31
Speaker
but then ultimately just decided, you know yeah yeah, he's quoted it as saying, the only thought in my mind was it's too big, I can't possibly do it, and I refused. And about three minutes later, as I was at the doorway, I turned around and said, nobody else can touch this, and I agreed to do the job on the spot. So basically, doing it as a way to honor his late friends.
Directorial Choices & Performances
01:00:55
Speaker
Which, again, after watching this movie feels weird, because ah I don't get the spirit of Eisner's spirit in this movie. Yeah, I've never experienced the original spirit, but I sure as hell don't like this one. Yeah, you should you should check. your If you can get it in your hands on them, I would recommend checking out the comics.
01:01:16
Speaker
Uh, cause I normally, I usually get trades from the library. That's how I read comics because whenever I invest in comics, they get destroyed or stolen. understood So I just read the trades from the library. And if it's good enough, I'll, I have a so i've a small tiny shelf on my bookshelf of graphic novels. Don't have a lot. I have pride of Baghdad.
01:01:40
Speaker
That's kind of- Interesting. It makes me feel very intellectual. Right. To own that comic. Sure. Makes sense. Oh, that giraffe though. Oh, that's so sad. That's a sad book, dude. You you've brought that one up before. I mean, and we do love Brian Cave-On. We stan Brian Cave-On. I have ah have Ultimate Iron Man. I have that entire run. Oh, really?
01:02:04
Speaker
Yeah, I thought I really enjoyed that. And I understand why nobody else does. Right? Yeah. It's the Tucker movie of comic books. I buy it. I buy it. Yeah. Like, I get it. I get it. now But I really, really like it. As long as you understand.
01:02:20
Speaker
Got a couple sagas, never finished that, unfortunately. I feel like enough time has to pass. I want to get back into saga. I should get back into saga. About halfway through it, I stopped buying comics and all my comics got destroyed. So I gave up on all of my comics. And so I just haven't gone back to it. But I think enough time has passed to where I could reread it.
01:02:43
Speaker
Like, you know, when you fall asleep during a movie and you're like, well, I don't want to start it over, but I don't really remember what happened. It's kind of like that with saga. Like I don't want to start it over because it was too fresh, but now I feel like time enough time has passed. I could probably get an omnibus or something from the library.
01:03:00
Speaker
I got about halfway through that run. I feel that way about fables. That was a book that I started and really liked. And then I i had all the trades up to like a certain point. And then I gave them to that same ex that I saw the spirit with. And then I never saw them again. I have a surprisingly complete trade piper rack collection of spider girl, like the M2 universe spider girl. Oh, oh, God. Yeah. M2. That's no one remembers M2.
01:03:30
Speaker
I remember him too motherfucker because spider girl dude she started out she was a what if yeah she was the last issue of that run of what if and it got spun off it was Romita Romita jr who did all the art for those the original ones not a big Romita jr fan I look he got so much better it's so wild to like look at his early style and see how his more recent stuff is it uses the same bones. Like he's still like very horizontal line oriented, obviously. right But it looks so much better. He knows how to use it now. and And about halfway through his work on Spider Girl is I feel like when he learned how to use that. That's why it's such a fun run to read.
01:04:19
Speaker
ah Like she existed. She had her own series. I think it was just called Spider Girl. And then there was a revival series a couple of years later called Spectacular Spider Girl. And then she showed up in Spider-Man Family and Spider-Verse, of course, ah which I really wish they had shown more of her in that initial Spider-Verse comic book.
01:04:43
Speaker
a storyline, but she was there. I just really like that character because she, she felt like the Spider-Man reboot that they've been trying to do every five or 10 years, you know, like every time there's a new show, it's like, Oh, he's in high school. See, see how's he's in high school. He's always in high school again. But I think the Mayday Parker works as a fresh take on Spider-Man in high school.
01:05:11
Speaker
um But it's modern. Well, it's late 90s, modern. Yeah. But I don't know if that really counts as modern anymore. Yeah, spider girls, my shit. Like I've contemplated getting a spider girl tattoo many, many times. I've never pulled the trigger. OK. Fucking spider girl. Let me let me know when you get there. My girl made a partner. There you go. Anyway, the spirit.
01:05:37
Speaker
um but Spider-Girl. I don't know, this movie sucks. Sorry. And again, I really wanted this movie to be good. i ah and here's For me, I'm just gonna say this, the most egregious part of this movie um is Louis Lombardi as all of the henchmen. and It's just, honestly, it's kind of embarrassing.
01:06:09
Speaker
Yeah, he's really bad. He is. In a film full of shitty performances, his is the worst. I think the only actor that really deserves any credit in this movie is the dude that played the spirit.
01:06:27
Speaker
because he wasn't bad. He wasn't good, but he wasn't as bad as everybody else. Like he rose above everybody else in that fucking movie. And here's the thing. This hitchman guy is the worst. He's the worst part. And like every line out of his mouth is so jokey and goofy. And I mean, this man was on the Sopranos like he was in the movie Suicide Kings. Like this is a guy who has done good work.
01:06:57
Speaker
I like Suicide Kings. Of course you do. He was one of the he was the guy with Ray Romano's brother in Suicide Kings. They were they were the guys that were trying to. But then they end up and it's kind of sad because I liked them. I mean, they could have taken out Dennis Miller instead. Not Dennis Miller. um ah Dennis Leary. Dennis Leary, thank you. Though I do like his deal with the Basket. That is a classic. Give me the Basket. Give me the Basket. Give me the busket the fucking Basket.
01:07:27
Speaker
I mean, he's an usual suspects. The only move by must not be an named that I really love. He is not a bad actor. No, but he acts badly in this movie. And here's the thing. I feel that way about Sam Jack in this movie, too. and And Sam Jack's one of those guys, you're like, Wednesday bad. And then you watch the spirit and you're like, oh, here.
01:07:47
Speaker
He's bad, but he's having a good time. he's having That was the thing about his performance is like I this movie sucks, but gosh, I'm glad Sam Jackson had fun. This is he clearly did. This is a movie. I remember after seeing this and and having seen him be really not great in the Star Wars prequels, I just came up like i this. I had can and did in my head like Samuel Jackson is the kind of guy he's an amazing actor, but he needs a strong director.
01:08:15
Speaker
Like, because I think when he's left to his own devices, which it feels like he kind of was here, he has some good ideas, but he needs someone to check him with ah with the kind of stuff that he's doing to kind of be like, I don't know how I feel about this. Like, because I kind of feel the same way about his performance in Kingsman a little bit, too. Like, he just feels too goofy. And again, he's having fun, but that just doesn't feel like the right performance for that movie, like with the lisp and whatever the hell he's doing in that movie. like So I after this movie, I was just like, Sam Jack needs a good director. He needs like a Spike Lee or a Quentin Tarantino, or someone who can kind of be like, ah Can we try something different? And Frank Miller is too novice to really know how to do that. Yeah. Yeah, dude.
01:09:04
Speaker
And I mean, like Eva Mendez wanted, like, she like called him before even seeing a script Frank Miller and was like, Hey, I want to work with you. I like Sin City. And I'm like, yeah Oh, Eva, sweetie. No. But.
01:09:21
Speaker
I mean like her in Hitch. I like her in Hitch. I love her in fat Too Fast, Too Furious. um Yeah. She's great in that. She does lots of stuff. Yeah. I like her. She's generally a fan. Yeah. I would love to see her work more. She's right now busy being married to Ryan Gosling.
01:09:39
Speaker
um that's probably a whole thing right i'm sure uh like two incredibly hot people married to each other like okay i get it um but yeah like she's um yeah i want to see her work more because again i think she is a really phenomenal talent today. We were talking about before this started it about We Own the Night, a movie that I thought she was really good at kind of a retelling of The Prodigal Son with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg and Robert Duvall. That's just really phenomenal. ah She's in another superhero movie that we unfortunately cannot cover called Ghost Rider, because they made a second one of those.
01:10:20
Speaker
You know, there's there's some ah there's some discussion about the how connected those two films are, though. And honestly, I would just based on that, I wouldn't mind doing them both because, look, ah spoilers. I kind of really like that second one. Yeah. And the first one's not bad either. I was going to say we can cover the second one on unenfranchised.
01:10:46
Speaker
I think we could honestly we could cover them both on. and french She's apparently in the movie Holy Motors, which I have heard is really phenomenal, but I have not seen the Leo Leos Carax film. But um but yeah, i've I've heard that one's really good. And apparently she's in that. um So, you know, yet another reason to see that movie, I guess. um And a place beyond the place beyond the pines, which I have not seen that probably might be where she ran of Ryan Gosling Gosling, right?
01:11:13
Speaker
That's on my voodoo. Check it out. It's good as hell, Steven. It's good as hell. She's also she's done an episode of Bluey. Nice. and And I love that shit. like Yeah. And here's the thing. She stopped acting in 2014. And then ah the only know that the only thing she's done since then is an episode of Bluey and something called Bluey Bookreads. So apparently the only thing she's done since 2014 is Bluey.
01:11:41
Speaker
ah But yeah, she more or less stopped acting in 2014, which again, big old bummer. But, you know, a lot of times actresses will retire when they hit a certain age or when they start to have children. Well, yeah. And like it's not like she needs to go make money. Right. She's married to Ryan Gosling. And I can imagine she had a significant career in her own right that she's probably still getting paid residuals on.
01:12:09
Speaker
But Steven, I can only imagine what it's like for a woman in Hollywood and especially when you reach a certain age. And I don't blame her. I'd dip, too. I'd be like, fuck that. Like I've done this long enough. I don't have to do it anymore. I could blame him be in plays and shit. And like Hollywood's a fucked up place, Steven. It is. And um I mean, it it happened with another of my favorite actresses, Phoebe Cates, did the same thing. Eventually just kind of pieced out, um got married to Kevin Kline and was just like, you know what? Don't need this. Bye.
01:12:46
Speaker
um And i don't blame her pretty much the only things that she's returned to do since the 90s Have been a film directed by her friends the anniversary party by Jennifer Jason Lee and Alan Cumming and Then she was in Lego dimensions as her character from gremlins She didn't make a do a guest voice on that shitty Hulu show.
01:13:09
Speaker
ah Well, the the HBO Max show is that's all. Yeah. Let's say a prequel like a. I understand. But but what's his nuts? Did a voice in it. Zach, gall Zach Galligan, Zach Galligan. Well, that yeah. But what else is he doing? I'm saying, but he didn't play. but He didn't play. beauty He was some he was some other character, but he was there. And that was the point. So I thought maybe she I'm sure if Dick Miller were still alive, he would have done a voice for it, man.
01:13:39
Speaker
Dick Miller. I miss that guy. Me too. Did I tell you I met Dick Miller?
Personal Anecdotes & Reflections
01:13:44
Speaker
No. What a guy. What a guy. I met him and his wife. Yeah, they were fantastic. I don't think he really wanted to be there, but he was still really nice, like really nice and like kind of like Ernie Hudson, where he was just very accommodating. He's a sweet old dude. Yeah. I have to imagine Dick Miller was just a cool guy.
01:14:06
Speaker
Uh, I'm, I'm looking at the, uh, the Gremlin secret of the Mogwai, uh, uh, IMDB page. And, uh, Zach Galligan apparently played a character called henchmen number two. Yeah. And he was in five episodes as henchmen number two. Does Corey Feldman do a voice? I doubt it, man. Oh. Yeah. Feldman's in the spot. I'm hoping, you know, I'm,
01:14:36
Speaker
Look, I've got I've I really want to see him have a big redemption arc because like I hate to see people on the Internet making fun of him for shit, just knowing like how shitty it was for him coming up in Hollywood and the shit he had to go through. And the reason he is that I've met him, too. And he's a fucked up dude, like a really awkward, fucked up dude. Yeah.
01:15:01
Speaker
And I just, I want him to be okay because I feel bad for him. I just want him to be okay, Steven. I would also like for him to be okay. I feel like he's going to have to get a lot of therapy though to get to that point. Yeah.
01:15:17
Speaker
man But yeah, I don't know the spirit, man. That movie sucks. um It really does. And it's a shame because, again, I love the comics. i would I would strongly advise anyone to go read the comics because the comics are phenomenal, ah which I think is part of. Oh, another person in this movie that I didn't mention before, Eric Balfour is in this movie. I i feel like Eric Balfour is probably one of your guys. Are you are you an Eric Balfour fan?
01:15:45
Speaker
Let me see who he is. He plays the the most recent husband of sans serif, but he's in so he's in like. What is she named after a font? What is that all about that again? it Look, so in the in the early days of comics, all of your characters, with the exception of maybe your hero, had very gimmicky and or punny names like they we understand that, but it's
01:16:16
Speaker
And it want stephen im mean sorry also, all of these characters in the comics at least are pretty racially insensitive. um I can imagine. There's a lot of that. I mean, you you see glimpses of it in this movie, um but, you know, it's it's not as anywhere as overt as it was in the comics.
01:16:34
Speaker
um But yeah, Eric Balfour is, I mean, he's so he's been in all sorts of shit. He's in a lot of stuff that I keep meaning to watch. Okay. That I ah have not watched, which is crazy because there's so many things that have been on my list for years sure that he's in. But I would have seen him in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which I don't remember very well.
01:16:59
Speaker
um ah Can't hardly wait which I don't remember him in that at all clueless. I don't remember him in that I don't remember him in the Buffy television series um There was something more recently. What was it?
01:17:16
Speaker
Oh, I wanted to, I keep meaning to watch the offer. I really want to watch the offer. It's been on my list forever, but I keep forgetting about it. Um, I'll tell you, he's very good in six feet under. Um, I, I, that was the first thing I saw him in. Then I was like, Oh, I kind of like this guy. I don't know, man. Yeah. The offer I've wanted to watch for a while. Um.
01:17:42
Speaker
What was it? I was like I said, Ray Donovan, he was an episode of that. That's on my list. I guess I would have seen him in Inland Empire, but I don't. Well, that's that's that's not the David Lynch film. Oh, it's not. That's ah that's why is it called that? It's a TV movie that came out a few years later. He directed it, actually. Oh, so it's kind of like Mahalan Drive, where there's a TV pilot and a feature length film, I guess.
01:18:10
Speaker
Like David Lynch had directed, Eric Balfour directed it. Oh, okay. I was going to say, because this description doesn't sound like, I'm sure David Lynch could direct anything, but right this doesn't sound like a David Lynch movie. No, this is Eric Andre's in it. like Yeah. He was in Abbott Elementary last week, week before last. Okay.
01:18:32
Speaker
which made me very happy. Yeah, because I like Eric Andre. He was in and in the show Haven based on a Stephen King novel. ah That was yeah pretty fun. um Yeah, I don't know why I just he seems like one of those guys that would probably be like if you saw more of his stuff would probably be one of your guys. Maybe he should be in cooler stuff that I've seen. Or maybe you should just seek and seek out his stuff, man.
01:18:57
Speaker
Hey, man, I can only watch so much. Plus, I'm trying to like not watch so much because we still have to do that. Where are we watching episode? Yeah. Gosh, that list has gotten low. Mm hmm. That's going to be a marathon right there. That might be three or four hour episode. It might be. we We might have to really dedicate some time for that one. Dude, the like Steven, I texted you during. ah But I totally watched.
01:19:25
Speaker
ah Six degrees of separation you get sort of straight up six degrees of separation and steel magnolias back-to-back Mm-hmm because they're both Plays where people just talk all the time. Mm-hmm, and they're the kind of movie watching the overhead light on You know, I know that sounds kind of weird, but normally I have just like a lamp on, a couple lamps on in the room, just some ah ambient lighting. But when I watch movies like that, I just I just turn the overhead light on and watch it. Like you do. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Boy, I sure did cry during Steel Magnolias. Yeah, I cried. I cried because I knew I was going to have to watch The Spirit again. ah No, man, when Julia Roberts died and her kid is like,
01:20:14
Speaker
Spoilers. Fuck. It's the whole movies about it. Like the first time you see her, you're like, oh, yeah, she's she's probably going to die. So get ready for that. I've seen the movie and the whole movies about it. I saw the play too, man. And I saw it at a theater conference. I went to my senior year of high school and it was put on by high schoolers. And wow, they really knocked it out of the park. I was up in Muncie for some kind of theater conference. Muncie?
01:20:41
Speaker
Yeah, do more like state be fun. See, am I right? I like Muncie. Yeah, that's a good campus. It's a really nice campus. That's where they shot ah close encounters of the third kind. You know, when you push the button for the crosswalk. Mm hmm. When you do it on campus, it chirps as well as it's counting down because they're tired and they chirp, chirp. Yeah. Chirp, chirp. It's bird time.
01:21:11
Speaker
ah So state the spirit came out on December 25th, Christmas Day in the year of our Lord, 2008.
01:21:22
Speaker
um what ah What a time to be alive was Christmas. um The weekend box office, it opened at number nine that week. um Wow. Not the big Christmas release. There were actually four other new releases that opened ahead of it. ah the The first of which was Marley and Me, speaking of Owen Wilson. That's that dog movie. Yeah, and with that dog and and and also Owen Wilson. Christmas 2008, you say? Yeah.
01:21:58
Speaker
Christmas Day. Mm hmm. Can I tell you, this is very strange, but I thought about it briefly, and I remember exactly where I was when I was doing Christmas Day of 2008. I was watching The Spirit in theaters at the. Yes. the this The theater that Brett actually probably worked at at the time, the ah the A.M. or I guess it's it's an AMC now. It wasn't that it was the Karasotes 13 down in Greenwood.
01:22:27
Speaker
Yes, dude, I was in Missoula, Montana. And I got yes, he was he was born there. Yes, I lived there for about six months with my the first spouse. Hmm. My ex-wife, we had just gotten married in July and we immediately moved to Montana because we felt like it. Mm hmm. Sounds like the kind of you guys would do. In those days, yes.
01:22:57
Speaker
in those days. ah But yeah, it was Christmas and we were just two people and we didn't have like anything to do on Christmas, but hang out. And so we went down the street to the Sinclair station because the Sinclair station had a casino and a bar in back of it. And so we gambled on those slot machines and sang karaoke at the bar on Christmas Day 2008.
01:23:25
Speaker
I went with friends to see Frank Miller's Will Eisner's The Spirit. And the only reason I make a big deal out of it and mention it is I couldn't tell you like, like I was at, I was at my sister's this Christmas and last Christmas and the Christmas before and the Christmas before that, you know, but that was a very, that was a unique one. That was a unique one. Drinking and gambling. Like you do. On a Christmas day in the morning.
Other Movie Discussions
01:23:52
Speaker
And number two, ah Walt Disney's bedtime stories. What the fuck is that? It's it's a movie with Adam Sandler and Kerry Russell Guy Pierce, Russell Brand, Richard Griffiths, Jonathan Price, Courtney Cox, Lucy Lawless. OK, Aisha Tyler. Cool, like that sounds cool. A new adventure comedy in which Skeeter Bronson, a hotel handyman, has his life changed forever. When the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true.
01:24:22
Speaker
When he tries to dominate, is it animated? It is not. It is a live action film. There's no animation at all. There's no like Mary Poppins sort of like live action with animation. man i I've never seen this shit. I mean, either that's why I'm asking you about it because I would never you haven't even heard of this. I was. You know what, though? I was living in Montana in 2008.
01:24:43
Speaker
like in basically in the wilderness. Here's the thing. It's probably animated in like the way that every movie now is is half animated. And that like it's a bunch of CGI animation shit. Dude, yeah. I mean, it looks like there's some really good costume work in this movie.
01:25:06
Speaker
Should I see it? Should I put it on my list? I cannot recommend it. Is it a Christmas movie? It came out Christmas Day, so in that respect, yes. Well, I mean, is it about Christmas? Probably not. Well, Adam Sandler, he does. He only does Hanukkah movies anyway. He did those eight crazy nights. He he did that eight crazy nights. Yeah. Now that was animated. Correct. No denying that.
01:25:33
Speaker
In third place. I've seen the poster. Opening in third place. Future Academy Award-nominated film. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That's one of the few Fincher films I have not seen. I own it. It's good. I own the Criterion. Benjamin Button. PPD, actually. Yeah, it's a good movie. Nice. In fourth place is the Tom Cruise Let's Kill Hitler movie Valkyrie.
01:26:04
Speaker
Another movie, been on my list for a long time, still have not seen it. Directed by He Who Must Not Be Named Himself. um In fifth place, in its second weekend, Jim Carrey's Yes Man. Oh, I like that one. What if Jim Carrey was a Yes Man?
01:26:22
Speaker
Oh, you know, which one was better was I Love You, Philip Morris. I feel like that came out around the same time. And I liked that one. That was so that movie came out the same year as I Love You, man, with Jason Siegel and Paul Rudd. And I Love You, Beth Cooper. All two of those films I've seen and enjoyed, right? But yeah, three, three movies in which it came out the next year, 2009.
01:26:48
Speaker
In fact, I can't believe that with the kind of chemistry that Paul Rudd and Jason Siegel had, and I love you, man, that they haven't done. They didn't do like a series of they weren't like the new comedic buddy duo because I don't like the movies not great did really well, though. I think that's why. But it's it's part of the culture, though. There are parts of that movie that whether you know it's from that movie or not, you quote all the time. All the time.
01:27:21
Speaker
Are you not familiar? Have you seen I Love You Man? I have. It's been a number of years. Slapping the bass. That's the only part of that movie I remember. That's not well. ah But look, that movie is not great. It's good. It's fine. But Paul Rudd and Jason Segal's chemistry in that movie, just just based on how well they play off each other, I'm really surprised that they didn't do more co-starring movies.
01:27:51
Speaker
super surprised, actually. I mean, they were ah Jason Segal was the only other character besides Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd to be in This is 40. I didn't see that one. You're not missing. It's it's the second worst Apatow movie.
01:28:09
Speaker
I watched the one with Adam Sandler and I kind of liked that one. That one's honestly, we watched through the Judd Apatow films last year. I think that might be his best one. Funny people. Funny people. Is that what it's called? Yeah. OK. I saw that one in theaters and I wasn't very impressed, but like now revisiting it, I'm like, this is a lot better than I remember it being. So I think I like Apatow as a creative collaborator because it's usually the movies like Walk Hard and The Cable Guy that he closely collaborated as a producer with the writer and director that I think have sort of his, his you can see his style in it, but it's not overpowering, which a lot of his his directorial efforts for me kind of are. They're just a little too much.
01:29:03
Speaker
you know, I really like his first three 40 year old virgin knocked up and um fuck the the other one, the one we just talked about funny people. Like those are his first three movies. And after that, like and I also liked Like, this is 40, not great. Trainwreck is fun. I like trainwreck a lot. then I mean, i I get it, but I quite enjoyed it. And then the King of Staten Island, I was kind of mixed on. It's just didn't see that way too long. And then the bubble can just fuck right off. That movie is the worst. That movie is and toxic.
01:29:45
Speaker
um straight up there it's It's better than The Spirit, but not much.
01:29:52
Speaker
um Rounding out the top ten, we've got Seven Pounds, The Tale of Despero, The Scott Derrickson, Day of the Earth Stood Still, at number nine, The Spirit, and then finally Doubt at number five, a future Academy Award-nominated film, Doubt.
01:30:10
Speaker
What if there was a doubt? What if what if what if Meryl Streep had doubts? Something were doubted. What if what if there were doubts? um That movie is really good, actually. the i I saw the play before I saw the movie, and I think a word both are phenomenal. Yeah, but it's a John Patrick Shanley play. So word.
01:30:30
Speaker
Um, the Tomatometer score for the spirit is a 14% critics consensus though its visuals are unique. The spirits plot is almost incomprehensible. The dialogue is ludicrously mannered and the characters are unmemorable. Correct. Absolutely correct. Notice I didn't like try to remind you about the plot in 60 seconds on this. Nope. Because I don't, I don't fucking know what happened in this movie, man. No one does. One thing. and then and the mud and then there was cats and then there was minus one cat. Basically there is this thing that the MacGuffin of the movie is the blood of Heracles which
01:31:11
Speaker
because of the serum that both he and the spirit are injected with the octopus wants to get a hold of because if he drinks it he'll become like more powerful than a god which for like hand wavy reasons like drinking it will affect his genetic makeup for some reason rather than like you know Injecting it into his bloodstream or something like you would expect makes a little more sense. Yeah. Yeah, whatever. Fuck this. Speaking of cats, though, bringing it back to bodied. Steven, did you notice the black cat that was like in every scene embodied? No. Really? I didn't notice it until like my third watch through and I was like, holy shit, there's a black cat roaming around in every scene in this movie. Sometimes it's very obviously CGI, but it's
01:32:03
Speaker
it's kind of fun because I still haven't figured out why it's there. Anyway, check out our ah last week straight up episode on body Lord knows we need you to because it's ah been our no one has watched it on YouTube, and the numbers are very low across podcatchers. So if you haven't watched that episode um or listened to it, please do. yeah Jimmy is there. It's a good app, honestly. Straight up good app.
01:32:35
Speaker
It is held. The meta score for The Spirit is 30 based on generally unfavorable reviews from 24 critics. Tucker, would you care to take a stab at the letterbox score? Now, this is a hard one because this is the perfect movie for someone to do a five star meme review on. The perfect movie to do it.
01:33:03
Speaker
and show how clever they are by like pretending to like things because of this made up reason that sounds smart. So I'm going to trend up, but not much. This is going to be my first dip into the ones. This is going to be in between a 1.8 and a 2.4. It's a 2.1. Yes. Yes.
01:33:34
Speaker
I'm on a streak, dude. You're honest you're not doing too bad lately. ah So now I have to ask you, Tucker, out of out of five stars, how many are you giving to the spirit? Zero stars. Zero.
01:33:49
Speaker
yeahars It's a half for me, just because of Bill Pope, honestly. Okay, all right. Bill Pope, like cinematography in this movie is is pretty good. for For all its flaws, there are parts of this movie that don't look too bad. and Like Bill Pope's- The editing ruins it. Unfortunately- The editing ruins it every fucking time. but Every time I'm like, oh, that's a nice, oh, why'd they do that? But still, every time i'm I'm gonna give props to my main man, Bill Pope. Yeah, fuck yeah. im go give The half star for this movie is for Bill Pope.
01:34:18
Speaker
um But yeah, that's fuck this movie again. This this is one I've been dreading returning to. And but you know what? Here's here's the bright side. Here's a silver lining of that dark cloud, Tucker. I never have to fuck with this movie again. You know, it's better than this movie, Stephen Marmaduke. Do you think Food Fight is better than this movie, Stephen?
01:34:42
Speaker
No. This is better than Food Fight. This is actually a movie. If someone said, Steven, you could only watch one of these two movies, either Food Fight or 2008's The Spirit, El Spirito. Yeah. Or Das Spirit, as they say in other places. Well, I guess the answer to that question would depend on if anyone else is watching it with me and how much I hate that person. OK.
01:35:11
Speaker
Because if I really hate that person, we're watching food fight because. But it but why would you watch a movie with someone you hate hostage situation? I was going to say if they're the ones forcing me to watch it. OK, if they're trying to torture me. Yeah, but they're going to be in the room watching it with me, then fuck, it's food fight because that that that is that food fight isn't even a movie like it's a movie in the strictest sense. But it's like the spirit is actually a movie.
01:35:41
Speaker
Like it came out in theaters and it exists. Food fight ah is not done.
01:35:49
Speaker
We don't know what it is. I don't know what it is. Cause I haven't seen it. I still need to see it though. I feel like I like, but I don't want to just watch it randomly because our schedules are all so weird. I want to be able to do some sort of content, whether it be on the Patreon or on the main feed about my experience.
01:36:08
Speaker
with the food fights. And does that mean you guys have to watch it again? I'm not watching it again. Also, so many questions. I'm not watching it again. I've done my time. When is the soundtrack going to release on vinyl? That's what I want to know. It's not going to. Can I get Food Fight on Laserdisc? No. Damn. I don't even think you can get it on DVD anymore.
01:36:31
Speaker
ah But it was printed at one point. It was. I remember seeing it in like red red box. Is that what that thing was? Yeah. When's when's Kino Lorber going to drop that 4K food fight? if If if if God is merciful, never. Do you think anyone would buy it like just as a joke? Obviously, that should be one of those artsy fartsy of boutique labels for their April Fool's social media joke should announce a Food Fight 4K, but like be completely serious about it. So Tucker, I am loath to tell you this. There's a 4K. No, there is a d it's only it's not gotten past DVD. However, OK, you can purchase the DVD right now on Amazon dot.com. For less than seven dollars. Holy shit. That might look. That might look that's cheap, right? Yeah, but.
01:37:31
Speaker
Buses and people aren't going to be buying this. People aren't going to be buying this. You know, I hate I hate. It's actually gone up in price, according to my Microsoft shopping extension. It's got all gone up 41 percent. Oh, geez. And the last week it used to be four eighty eight. Now it's six eighty eight. Oh, we we slept on it too long. That's what I'm saying, man. It's going to it's going to be a whole deal, dude.
01:37:57
Speaker
Nobody's gonna buy this and then like years from now, some YouTuber is gonna be like, hey, what's this food fight thing? And the prices on that DVD are gonna skyrocket. So you might as well buy it now while the buying is good, dude. No, that's specifically why I'm not gonna buy it because I do not support the collector mentality. I think that it ruins everything for everyone. So I will not.
Social Media & Censorship
01:38:21
Speaker
very I just wanted to point that, I just wanted to lull you into a sense of,
01:38:25
Speaker
of of confidence that that's what I would do. You bastard, man. You took the bait, Steven. Ha! Foiled again. Damn you, Trebek. So yeah, we finished talking about the spirit. God, I hope it was worth it for you guys. The things we do for you people. Our people? Damn, Steven. Our listeners. What's that supposed to mean? Our listeners. Should I time stamp this?
01:38:57
Speaker
No, the only reason you would need to timestamp it is if I said, motherfu I thought you were going to reference the, or yeah, or or, or, or speak, speak ill of Nazis on my own podcast. Apparently that gets me censored. I am going to censor myself saying, but nothing. and obviously obviously thing else and now you have to do it again because you said so as well yeah i know it's so no every time that we reference twice which i will not believe twice um i have to believe it all right it's another it's another thing i have to do see and i'm i'm i'm i'm on record as being against
01:39:45
Speaker
Yeah, I know, but it's a joke now the lambasting of Nazis because fuck Nazis. um Well, look, as long as we don't say it, what Stephen's talking about is in real time, as of this recording, a couple of weeks ago during the inauguration of a certain president that if you check out when this episode comes out, you'll know who we're talking about, um gave a Nazi salute twice. Yeah.
01:40:12
Speaker
And that's what we're talking about, but I will never not bleep one of us saying.
01:40:21
Speaker
I will never not bleep. I referenced it a a couple of weeks back and Tucker bleeped it. And I, ah you know, I just I just thought it was in bad taste to censor the, ah you know, being being rude to Nazis. I just, you know, well, I didn't. Well, if I could explain to you, Stephen, I didn't see it as censoring, but I actually listened to that whole episode as I edited it.
01:40:42
Speaker
And in in the moment while we're recording it and upon further listening, it just really, it took me out of the episode and like just made me mad about... There's another beep. It just took me out of it and it made me mad and it didn't belong in the episode. Just like when it came up. It was very weird and awkward and off-putting and I just thought maybe we could start a new bleep joke with it.
01:41:13
Speaker
You know, I thought that would be better than like bringing down the episode. It wasn't your fault like you. I set you up for it. Yeah, I didn't mean to, but I set you up for it. You know, it's not your fault. I would have probably said the same thing.
01:41:29
Speaker
But and upon reflection on on all my social platforms now, my my profile picture is G.I. Robot, the Nazi killing robot from James Spino's Creature Commandos. And my banner is Captain America. Sock and Hitler right on the jaw, because that's how I feel about Nazis. Like, yeah, do you even be in the Captain America movie, the one ah directed by the rocketeer guy, Joe, Joe Johnson? Yes. Maybe when they did that shot and it was cool. Yeah.
01:41:59
Speaker
And, uh, speaking of Captain America, we might be talking about him later this month. Oh, I can't wait. That's the guy from Space Mutiny, Steven. Yes. Matt Salinger, son of Beef McLarchuge. Yes. Son of JD Salinger. Slab bulk chest. Looking forward to you doing all these jokes again next week. Um.
01:42:20
Speaker
No, I would never. You would have you would have you will. Absolutely. I'm not even I would want to, but I want to know your want is there. You're gonna you're gonna. um So, yeah, this has been our episode on the spirit. ah Check out our social platforms. i'm I'm getting us off a meta. Fuck meta. ah So it's yeah at this point, it's YouTube. It's blue sky and it's letterbox. Find us there.
01:42:48
Speaker
um And Patreon, come on. Okay, yeah, patreon.com slash disenfranchpod. You can join at either the free level and get access to our main feed episodes and join the official conversation of the disenfranchised podcast. Or for just five bucks a month, you get access to just weeks of extra content, including but not limited to the promised forthcoming eternal episode of What Are We Watching.
01:43:18
Speaker
Uh, because I've been watching movies since last June and we haven't recorded an episode where I get to talk about what I've been watching movie wise. Uh, so it's going to be a while. It's going to take a while. Yeah. Yeah, dude. I've watched movies multiple times in that, in that timeframe. As have I actually. Yeah. You might be surprised to hear which ones, um,
01:43:42
Speaker
But yeah, that that is exciting. I want to do that soon. We should commit to that soon. We should. We should definitely try because look, we used to back in the day, like last winter, we would do not not, you know, like winter 2023 there.
01:44:00
Speaker
um We would do an episode of where are we watching and a main episode in one night. Yeah. What happened to those guys?
01:44:11
Speaker
I, they, y'all got busy. Here's what I'm saying. We got to get together, purge this shit so that we can, you know, I feel like we just need to get back on track that it won't be as hard because like right now it's like looming over us. Yeah. Because it's so much. Yeah. It's a lot. And like, I'm excited about it, but also I am kind of like, man, that's going to be a time suck. And like,
01:44:38
Speaker
Golly, but we'll do it for the patrons because- If it's a long enough episode, we could even break it up into parts and release them separately so it's like more content coming out. That's true. And I would like to thank all the people who forgot that they were paying us every month. Thank you so much. Because without you people- You really have a lot- What do you mean you people? What? Our patrons, Steven! Oh, how the tables have turned.
01:45:08
Speaker
Yes, sir. What's good for the goose is, in fact, good for the gander for the grouse. Yeah, you're a grouse. Anyway, how dare you? Good job, everybody. Also, ah you could email us as well if you wanted to. Yeah. What's that email address? Drop us a line. That's a disenfranch pod at Gmail dot com. That's great. And you can you can email us about anything. Yeah. Like if you want to talk to us about something that we said on the show, if you want to send us like like fan mail being like, we think I think that you're cool and good job. You could do that, too. We'll probably read it if we get it. If we get it, we'll read it. You can send us you can send us fan art also. And not to not to bury the lead for later. But if you're on that tuck mug shit, that's one way of sending us a ah ah straight up ah what you call that guest mug. Yeah. Which again, I don't know how
01:46:05
Speaker
much longer tuck mugs will be a thing, but I just hate to... I i just love it. It's an institution at this point. To 38 people, Steven, it's an institution. That's it. that's That's right. It is a veritable institution. Here's the thing. You can move those but you could move it over to Blue Sky, and and I hear Blue Sky might be coming out with their own kind of version of Instagram soon, and if that's the case,
01:46:30
Speaker
You know, we we might, we might start posting there. So, but yeah, I'm kind of done just with meta, so I'm not really going to be updating the Instagram or the Facebooks or any of that. Dude, I just, I think I have to get off of all social media and I have to do, I'm just putting it off. I have to get off all social media though, because I really truly think that all, ah Many of the big negative things that are happening to us as a society, as a people, as human beings is mostly due to social media. Yeah, you're probably very true. Right. Correct. And even I was listening to an interview with Bill Gates today on NPR.
01:47:12
Speaker
um wow What a weird dude. But he was talking about that. He was talking about how social media just kind of blindsided us. Like yeah he was like, yo, like when the internet started, like we were thinking of all the possibilities and we never thought something like this, something like social networking would be such a disease and like a cancer to society.
01:47:39
Speaker
And it truly, truly is no matter how, like even blue sky, I don't have anything against blue sky. I'm sure it's a fantastic platform, but still it's there and it's just going to end up doing the same thing as all of them do. Yeah. And it makes me not want to do any of it. Um, yeah. Sorry. Should I believe all that?
01:48:02
Speaker
and So that kind of brought it down, right? A little bit. It's up to you, man. You're the one editing. I'm sure you'll figure out a way to make it not seem like it's, you know, completely. um Big downer, big fucking downer. yeah Big fucking downer. Anyway, you can find me on social media. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. I'm on Letterboxed Blue Sky. And yeah, that's it. Letterboxed Blue Sky these days at Chewy Walrus.
01:48:31
Speaker
Oh yeah, and leave us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, thanks. Tucker, what what social medias are you on these days? What social medias are you trying to get off of these days? I'm trying to get off of ah Instagram. Yeah? That's for sure, yeah. um But I am on YouTube, which I don't really consider social media. It does have some social media aspects to it, but you can very those can very easily be ignored.
Creative Collaborations & Future Projects
01:49:03
Speaker
So I am on YouTube and I will stay on YouTube mainly because that's where I put my music. And that's where I put all the records that I'm trying to preserve digitally. So I don't think I'll ever leave YouTube. And if I do, I won't take any of that stuff down. But at the moment, you can find me on Instagram and YouTube, excuse me, at ice 909. That's I C E N I N E the number zero.
01:49:31
Speaker
And the number nine. Also, Tuckmugs is still a thing. I don't know what I want to do with it, like I said before, because I don't want to shutter it. But I also don't... What if we did a zine, Steven? Should we do a zine? Hmm. Like, because then we wouldn't be bowing to any corporate entity. Like, we'd just be making a thing ourselves, like a piece of physical media. Tuckmugs the book?
01:49:58
Speaker
Tuck mugs the book, the coffee table book. Tuck mugs the breakfast cereal. Let's start with the book, Steven. Tuck mugs the flamethrower. I think we could make a coffee table book. The kids will love it. Like, there's a couple YouTubers who have made, like, sort of translated their videos into books that are not as good of an idea as Tuck Mugs, and they're successful.
01:50:28
Speaker
i'm I'm looking at you horror timelines, like, love you, but that there's no way that shit's interesting as a book. um
01:50:37
Speaker
So I think maybe Tuck mugs the book. Tuck mugs the book. The coffee table book. with All those guest mugs have to get permission. That's true. Have to get some people to sign waivers.
01:50:54
Speaker
Most of them are people I know. I think that I've I've made JP like enough money that he'd probably let me use his book. I'm sure he would sign off on them. I'm his cash cow, Steven.
01:51:09
Speaker
No, I thought you probably are. I don't know. Maybe both of us. It's probably you and me. I was going to say we're we're we're we're I think probably two of his more reliable collaborators.
01:51:20
Speaker
Well, in the Halloween special, it's my roommate, but right. She fucking kills it in that. That's the murders. It. Yeah. I directed that, by the way. I look at I directed that session. Yes, because Joe and I are so in sync. We've been working together since middle school. I know. I know what he wants. I know what he wants.
01:51:41
Speaker
He's got he just ah messaged texted me the other days. Yeah, I got some projects for you coming up. So I was like, all right, cool. Well, so I'm going to probably start recording things within the next couple of months for him. So I have ah spoilers. He asked me to do a Patreon call, Circle City Supernatural call. And um if you are a fan of the character, I was just referencing that my roommate plays. What's that character's name?
01:52:09
Speaker
um The Big Bad Gal. Yeah. It's a weird name, too. It is. Hang on. i I was actually just listening to the sassy gal that he bleeps all the time. Yeah. If you're familiar with the podcast. Basically the only character that cusses in any of his shit. So much. And she does it so much. Fantastically. Well, this woman, but I tell you what. Your roommate's pretty awesome. I'm just going to throw that out there.
01:52:39
Speaker
He's got he's got some stuff for so like that character is not done. I hope that's not too much of a spoiler. Like she didn't die or anything in the Halloween special or even like Troxel. There's no yeah, Troxel. There's no mystery to whether like she's still alive. So like the fact that she's coming back isn't a huge spoiler, but right. I don't know when I don't know when some point, but yeah, sometimes soon.
01:53:04
Speaker
So yeah, also this might be, you know, maybe segue into a plug for the elsewhere worlds. Like we were in that straight up movie, dude. and And then I heard there's another one coming out there. I mean, I filmed my part for it. Have you, you're, you, you haven't filmed your part. March, smart late March is what I'm going to do that. yeah So yeah, I mean, we're, we're both going to be in it. Fantastic. It's going to be good. And I will tell you, my segment is really fun.
01:53:32
Speaker
I saw the. You saw the rough cut. I saw the special effect. Oh, yeah, that is going to star with me in my portion. Oh, cool. Even remind me after we're off my. Yes, I want to hear about it. Only I don't want to mention anything next time in town and all of his place and see him so that he can show me all the rough cuts and like walk me through all the props that he's built. And you can see his creature workshop, dude.
01:54:01
Speaker
That's always that's always fun, like looking at what I started. When I started collaborating with this boy, like I said, back in middle school, I never like it was never I never envisioned him being like. Basically, a special effects guy. Because like the writing, I get it, the directing, I get all that, I get it, but the special effects and the prop building that came out of fucking left field and the first one he did was the rover. You know the little, with the wheels and the camera? Oh, I know. That dates way back. I know. Like he showed me all those original films and then like the one that you really cut. That fucking rover, man. Yeah. I'm in all of those. You are? And I'm pretty all right. You're okay. You do okay. I do okay. I do a serviceable job. You do.
01:54:58
Speaker
I am. Yes. But no, ah did you see the the creatures that that my character is fighting in the new in the sequel? I have not. Oh, I have not. No, I wasn't able to go. Usually we meet for ah brunch, but then also come to his house and hang out. And I didn't have time for the latter this last trip, so I didn't get to see anything or watch any.
01:55:23
Speaker
Any bits of the movie. I probably in March, I'll probably because I'll be there. Yeah, he'll probably have a lot of it at his house. by So we'll probably watch it. That's what happened last time is I watched the entire movie minus my segment because we had just filmed it. Yeah. Yeah. And that's I mean, when I went over there, he showed me like the three that he had filmed up to that point when I went over to do my vote voice recording for the for the first one. Julie do hers yet. I don't know. I think.
01:55:53
Speaker
I just don't want to say anything. I don't want to say any spoilers. Yeah. Well, you know what? Let's end it now so that we don't get tempted. Yes, end it so we can talk about this. All right.
Conclusion
01:56:01
Speaker
Quick. So yeah, that is our episode on the spirit. Join us next time for our very special Valentine's Day episode where our perennial Valentine, Mike Snunian, is scheduled to return to talk about um and a true American hero. ah So until next time, I'm your host, Steven Foxworthy, for my co-host Tucker, and the absent Brett Wright, who's just trying to stop the city from screaming. um Until next time, ah just motherfuck this movie. It's the city's always grumpy when it wakes up, Steven. That's why Brett's having so much trouble. Right. It's a fucking stupid movie. Oh, it's so dumb. i I hate it so much. I'm glad it's over.
01:56:43
Speaker
me too.