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195 - Hancock (2008) w/ DeVaughn Taylor
57 Plays3 months ago
“Call me an @$$hole one more time…”
When life, uh, finds a way to keep you from discussing the Will Smith superhero movie during your Will Smith theme month, it’s better if it, uh, finds a way to let you have a stellar guest on when you do get to it! This week, we’re joined by DeVaughn Taylor of the Specter Cinema Club and The Pod & the Pendulum to discuss this film’s unrated extended cut and its effect on the film’s bad reputation, the Los Angeles-ness of Hancock, the collaborative history of director Peter Berg and Mark ‘Not Appearing In This Film’ Wahlberg, and the introduction of a project we’re calling ‘Hamil-cock’! You won’t want to miss this one!
Let DeVaughn know he did a ‘good job!’ in this ep and follow all the other great work he does in the following spaces:
- Check out DeVaughn on the Specter Cinema Club and The Pod & the Pendulum!
- Follow DeVaughn at @_daddydisco on Instagram, Letterboxd, and Xitter!
- Follow Specter Cinema Club at @spectercinema on Instagram and Xitter!
- Follow The Pod & the Pendulum at @pod_and_the_pendulum on Instagram and @podandpendulum on Xitter!
If you smell that liquor on our breath, it’s ‘cuz we been drinkin’, ฿!+¢#3$! Come find us on these social platforms:
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- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Banter
00:00:20
Speaker
I'll sing one for you There are heroes, there are superheroes, and then there's the disenfranchised podcast. What are we? Well, we're that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy, and joining me, as always, our resident asshole, it's Tucker. Hey, Tucker. Hi, Stephen. How's it going? Not too shabby, my friend. How are you? I don't know, but I think, look,
00:00:52
Speaker
Brett's going to have to step up and start being a more episodes because I'm going to steal his intro. I'm going to steal it. Do it. Do it now. I want it. All I want to do every time you say hello, I just want to be like, hello, Steve. He doesn't go that high with it, though.
00:01:08
Speaker
I know I'd have to make it my own. I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it. It'd be more like an homage than a ripoff. You know what I mean? Then let's use the next few episodes to workshop it. Let's let August be the month that you workshop that. I like that. I like that. And then you know what? When Brett comes back full time, he can have
Guest Introduction and Movie Talk
00:01:24
Speaker
it back.
00:01:24
Speaker
But until then, shit's mine. There it is. And speaking of Brett, he is for all we know, he's been causing a lot of ruckus out in LA these days, flying into buildings, creating all sorts of property damage, right? Yeah. It's been on the news. And our next guest knows all about it, because he is a resident of l LA ah from the Spectre Cinema Club, from the pod in the pendulum. It's Big Daddy Disco himself, Mr. Devon Taylor. Devon, welcome to Disenfranchised.
00:01:54
Speaker
Hello, hello, I am so happy to be here. Um, cause I was a little salty. Cause I haven't, I've been binging lately. And then I go, wow, all the pot and pendulum co-hosts have been on disenfranchised, huh? Huh?
00:02:08
Speaker
So that's why I had to had to insert myself. I had to fly in ah without but you know crash landing onto your podcast. And look, this has been a long time coming and I take full responsibility for how long it's been ah because you were actually supposed to be on um November 22. I had you on the schedule and then I had some health problems and had to like scrap all the guests for the end of the year. So that's all on me. And I just have been dragging my feet trying to reconcile getting everyone back. So you're here. We're thrilled to have you. oh I am here.
00:02:44
Speaker
Oh, you are making your presence well and truly known. and and And I picked a movie that wasn't my original choice, so that way I have to come back, because I got to make you guys do push at some point. push We're going to do push. Push is absolutely going to happen, and I'm not considering anyone else for that episode. You're on. whenever it happens We can schedule it at the end of this record, if you'd like. Here we go. Teasers, breadcrumbs for y'all.
00:03:09
Speaker
That's right. I mean, that's usually what we do with Ari. Ari's like, Oh, I want to come on for these episodes. And we're like, All right, we'll schedule them after and then we'll just write them all down. So I mean, that's yeah absolutely thrilled to have you again, we're we're completing our set of Pod and Pendulum co hosts now. Devon, welcome. You've picked a movie that we honestly we're gonna cover.
00:03:28
Speaker
It was on our schedule and life found a way as life tends to do. And you were like, hey, you need a guest. And I said, hell fucking yeah, we need a guest. And so here you are, Devon, to talk about what movie did you select this time? We are talking about the alternative superhero movie from 2008. Black Superman, who's an asshole.
Introduction to 'Hancock'
00:03:49
Speaker
It is Hancock. It is Hancock from 2008, directed by Peter Berg and written by Vince Gilligan. Yes, that Vince Gilligan and Vi Vincent Ngo and starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, ah Jason Bateman, Jay Head, Eddie Marsan,
00:04:09
Speaker
ah Johnny Galecki, Thomas Lennon, Mike Epps, Akiva Goldsman, Michael Mann. ah Nancy Grace has a cameo. ah Produced by Michael Mann as well. Yeah, I saw that and I was like, huh, random, but all right. He was he was originally attached, when like the first director attached to this project was Michael Mann. So, which I find really, and that would have been such a different movie.
00:04:33
Speaker
That would have been such an insanely different movie. um I don't know. The first time I saw this, Greg Kinnear was in the Jason Bateman role. So whatever timeline I was in the first time I saw it. Yeah. So I wonder who directed it that time around. A role, a role similar to, I mean, it, Greg Kinnear does tend to play a cuck from time to time. i that's all i don' jacob batman's doing here I don't want to say that they are interchangeable, but they do tend to play similar types of roles.
00:05:04
Speaker
I mean, Greg Kinnear has a little too much snark for this Jason Bateman role. Because Greg Kinnear, he's a nice guy. He's a good guy. But he has like a he has a little snark to him. And like this character could not have an ounce of snark. like Ray has to be like, very so i think I think Jason Bateman. ah Greg Kinnear, love him. But I don't know if he would have been right here.
00:05:24
Speaker
Bateman usually has some snark on him too. like this is This is early Bateman. This is early Bateman. Yeah, this is like Bateman resurgent, like first couple say of seasons of Arrested Development. Second Coming. Yeah. Because he'd been around since he wasn't on like Growing Pains or whatever, right? Silver Spoons. His sister was Growing Pains. Yeah. There you go. He was Silver Spoons. He and baby Alfonso Ribeiro were on Silver Spoons together.
00:05:48
Speaker
um but yeah he like a family with child actors because his sister Justine was in uh no it was family ties was the one she was in um that's the one the one the the show that gave us uh Alex P Keaton aka Michael Jackson. Stephen come on give us just a couple bars. What do we do baby?
00:06:14
Speaker
I bet I loved you for a thousand years. Yeah. Okay. There it is. Yeah. I need it just to taste. Thank you, Steve. My, my social contract is complete. I've done my, I've done my duty.
00:06:26
Speaker
So, Devon, what is it about Hancock that that made you step up and say that one? like You knew we were covering Will Smith. We'd recorded, I think, all but we only recorded, I think, one episode when you were like, hey, you need someone for Hancock. like What was it about Hancock? What's your relationship with this movie? What's your relationship with the Fresh Prince himself? like Lay a little bit of your your history on us.
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean, it was interesting because, yes, I was listening to, of course, the Wild Wild West episode just pining to be on that because I love that movie so fucking much. So I was like, all right, I was like, I was like, what other Will Smith movies might they cover? And I was like, they might do Hancock. I'm a because I love alternative superhero movies. And it was interesting, you know, watching this one now, because I mean, I hadn't watched
In-Depth 'Hancock' Analysis
00:07:14
Speaker
in like 12 years.
00:07:15
Speaker
And I'm not going to come on this podcast and be like, oh, Hancock's actually an underrated masterpiece. It is not. However, in our current era and state of superhero movies, I found this very refreshing, like surprisingly so. I thought it wasn't going to hold up. I thought it was going to be like cringy and cornier than I remembered. And there's still some of that there. But like this is a it's an actual movie this is not a comic book on your screen you know which of there's a place for that but this is a movie like about about people yeah one you know that just so happened to have superpowers and so that was like kind of refreshing and then of course like kind of the whole like oh what if superman was a dick uh is like you know it's a funny premise uh they are going to get a lot of mileage out of the
00:08:02
Speaker
ah asshole superhero thing. I kept track. ah By my count, they said asshole 27 times. um i'm ah in In the whole movie, but most of it's actually in the first half. There's an interesting thing. In the second half, they stop saying it. In the first half, they say it a shit ton. So it was very intentional.
00:08:21
Speaker
A lot of things are different from the first half to the second half of this movie. For sure. A lot of things. Yeah, I'll i'll say wellll we'll get to that because I don't think it's sounds I don't think it's a stark of a difference as people kind of give it. But and I mean, I've always been a big Will Smith fan. I mean, Men in Black is one of my all time favorite movies. I remember, ah you know, watching him punch an alien in the face and Independence Day while I was a kid and being i like, wow, this is one of the coolest guys to ever exist. And of course, like I said, like,
00:08:50
Speaker
Wild Wild West came out I was six at the time when I saw it so it was like it you know had and but I still love it to this day me and my friends will burst out into quoting Wild Wild West for like 20 minutes sometimes it's obnoxious ah but yeah I love Big Willy like I've always loved him it's always been fascinating kind of growing up and watching his career evolve because by the time I was like actually paying attention to who he was in movies like this was you know late 90s early 2000s and like you know late 90s is when he like really burst onto the scene you know so like watching his 2000s evolution uh throughout my life as I've been growing up has always been very fascinating to me
00:09:31
Speaker
What's your relationship with him now? I mean, I still, I still love Will Smith. Um, he is, he's not quite on the rock levels of this persona and kind of dialing in all the same movies and things like that. He's not quite there. He has a smidge of that, but he does still have his humanity. Like i he, you know, on Instagram, he just loves posting random videos that he finds, that he finds inspiring or he finds funny and like,
00:09:57
Speaker
you know, give some somebody a social media bump just because he feels like it's all like he does stuff like that. He he was ah what was the last movie he did where he was like showing up to the movies and like watching out with people like that was really fun. So like, you know, I still love Will Smith. um I mean, the the whole slap thing like that people like kind of that all of a sudden change people's views on Will Smith is just hilarious to me. It's stupid.
00:10:23
Speaker
You know, someone agrees with me finally. I mean, who hasn't smacked somebody? I've smacked people. Right. Again, I regret it. Yes. But I've grown as a human being and I'm better now and I'm sure he has to. That's just the kind of guy Will is. If anything, that slap reminded us that he is a person. He is not just Will Smith, the the celebrity, the movie star like of anything that moment reminded people like, hey, that's a human being. That is a just a regular guy that got pissed off that somebody i was talking made a joke about his wife. Whatever.
00:10:52
Speaker
um ah you know He hasn't made anything that's really done it for me in a minute. That is kind of the disappointing with Will Smith. um I didn't see King Richard, but like the last thing that I like remember him like really bringing something to was Focus ah with ah Margot Robbie.
00:11:08
Speaker
Oh, although I would say that was I would say that was like the last movie that I was like, OK, he's like he's he's you know, he's locked in. He's like he's trying to do something. um ah You know, so so current Will Smith, I mean, you know, I'm not going to give up on the guy because he's still a fucking movie star. He's still got the charisma. So like, you know, it'll you know, something or something will come around back to where that like reminds us of like, you know, peak late 90s, early 2000s Will Smith.
00:11:37
Speaker
Have you seen those new bad boys movies? Because Tucker loves those that's why his movies. yeah Yeah, that's what I was talking about. He was he was going and seeing bad boys for with people in the theaters and like talking to him afterwards. I've only seen one and two. I haven't seen three and four. I kind of fell off. They don't they don't do it for me. Like I don't care for a bad boys or like a lethal weapon or like those those those don't do it for me.
00:11:59
Speaker
that's fair cop guy na na Not really. Who is? Who is in 2024? Can i t sha should i tell you I tell you guys a tiny personal story that doesn't really have much to do with this, but it's really funny and I want to share it with somebody for really quick.
00:12:17
Speaker
Might as well. So um so i I work, where I work, I have another coworker and we either work opposing shifts or together. And so we're like BFF, the B F's of the F's.
00:12:32
Speaker
yeah And so we always whenever like something really crazy goes on at the campground, I like start spinning around in circles and I pretend to answer my phone and I say shit just got real. And so we we always do like like bad boys jokes. And so I'm always like.
00:12:51
Speaker
We camp host together. We die together. Bad boys for life. And last night, he called in and it was real busy. So it was just me and like 700 people in my fucking backyard. And so like as I went to do my quiet hours check at 10, 10 p.m., I was like, I can't post alone. I die alone.
00:13:13
Speaker
Bad boy for life. Yeah, bad boy. You were just the old bad boy. The singular bad boy. Yes. The baddest of boys. Just the worst boy. Just the absolute worst boy. That's me. Tucker, what is your history with Hancock? have you Have you seen this movie before? When did you see it? Where were you? What was going on? I understand the question, Steven. Thank you. um Well, let me tell you.
00:13:40
Speaker
Well, you all know how I feel about Will Smith, how we've been down since he's the DJ. I'm the rapper, basically. Speaking of, I did finally get a hint ah get my hands on a copy of and in this corner on vinyl. So that's a very good thing for me. It's another one I used to rent from the library all the time. I don't think anybody else got to get that from the library when I was a kid.
00:14:03
Speaker
ah But anyway, so you know, like I'm, I'm way into, to Will Smith from way back in the day. And so when this came out, I was ready. I was way, way into seeing it. And I saw it at the movie theater and I thought it was really cool. Um, but then I just hadn't watched it. Didn't watch it. I've always had a high opinion of it. And over the years, I think, um, I kind of wondered if maybe it was going to hold up.
00:14:33
Speaker
but I did watch it last night at work and uh... well it does hold up in fact it holds up really really well One thing I was thinking when I was watching this movie last night was, man, for a bad movie, this is real good. Because it is objectively bad. It's objectively not a good movie. What it all said and done is objectively not a good movie. But for a bad movie, it's real good.
00:15:10
Speaker
I guess real, real good. The stuff that works and it works so well. Yes, the stuff that works and it works so well and the stuff that doesn't work just stands on the shoulders of the stuff that does. And I just it's it's above above above average for me. It gets points for originality. It gets points for chemistries, chemistry and the lead actors.
00:15:34
Speaker
um There's just a lot of really cool stuff about it, and I really like it, and I'm glad I watched it again, but I'm not gonna keep my fingers crossed for a 4K release.
00:15:46
Speaker
You know in in my binging I was worried because I had I was I've been binging and now specifically I was like, let me see how they feel about these mid aughts early 2010s Comic book movies, you know, so i Most recently, I mean this is way better than Elektra, of course, right oh yeah No contest um But but ah so I was kind of worried on I was like I was like how how hard are we gonna be on this movie? But uh, yeah, I don't know like like I don't know if I would say it's a bad movie. That's really good. But it definitely there's some data. There's some very like glaring dated flaws, ah mainly the the gay jokes, obviously, like that's very 2008. And we got plenty of that going on.
00:16:33
Speaker
And even still, there's at points, it's not that bad because at one point Hancock's like, and then you drew the short stick, your head's going up my ass. I was like, wait, you want somebody's head up his ass? I was like, Hancock, queer ally? Question mark? I don't know. I'm not sure. That question mark's doing a lot of heavy lifting there. Hold on.
00:16:50
Speaker
you know so it's like even those like kind of really dated flaws like kind of didn't bother me as much um and then there was also things that we're seeing in this that yeah we've seen a bunch of now but in but
Themes and Unanswered Questions
00:17:03
Speaker
this is from 2008 like there were certain things like uh the the whole like uh the superhero that stands and lets a vehicle run into them and destroys it you know Like this is only like the second time that happened but after Smallville, ah you know, and then how many times have we seen that now? And, you know, so many superhero properties. So it's like you can be watching it and you can be like, oh, like, of course it has that trope. Oh, of course it has that one. But like.
00:17:28
Speaker
this being in 2008 it was skewering the tropes that weren't created yet like you know like at this point it was like i don't even know if um i kind of know this came out the same year as iron man no like i mean like yeah we had you know batman begins as far as like really good superhero stuff and the x-men movies and spider-man movies but like uh there still weren't as many tropes to really pull apart just yet so it's like we kind of watch this now and it's like oh they kind of predicted some stuff and like you know we're kind of leaning into that so it's like again it it was surprisingly like refreshing.
00:18:03
Speaker
The genre itself at this point has only really been going very strong for about eight years, because I would say it starts in earnest x-men hit and yeah in
00:18:13
Speaker
And there are still a lot of comic book movies that get made during that time, but most of them are fairly, I don't know, contemptuous, I would say, of the audience for comic book movies as kind of the attitude. i think Sam Raimi's Spider-Man is one of the few exceptions where they're not like just showing outward outright contempt for the comic book audience and like changing a bunch of stuff because it's got to be different for the movie like that's still being very true to the source material. um Of the three of us, I'm probably going to come down hardest on this movie and I still am pretty mid on it because you hate Will Smith. Not at all. Yeah, you do. No, how dare you? um
00:18:55
Speaker
How dare you, sir? No, i i saw and so I saw this movie in theaters and I have not seen it since. I saw it on a date. Perhaps the single most awkward date I've ever been on in my life. um She brought her sister to the date. Which is an immediately bad sign. The older sister or younger sister? Was it a babysitting sort of thing? No, it was definitely not a babysitting sort of thing.
00:19:23
Speaker
um So yeah, just awkward, awkward situation. It was kind of like one of those like, we'd gone out once before and the first date had gone, I thought had gone fairly well. So we asked her out again. We're like, let's get dinner. Let's go see Hancock. And, um and she's like, Oh yeah. And like I show up at the restaurant and she's like, Oh yeah, I brought my sister. I hope that's okay.
00:19:44
Speaker
that means the first date was good but she was skeptical she was like maybe this was too good i need to bring some backup to investigate or or or maybe uh maybe it was like i i need to figure out how to let this guy down easy maybe i need someone else's opinion on how to like to best well i will say there was no third date so Aw, man. I don't know if it was, I don't know if it was Hancock, I don't know if it was me, but there was no third dates. But I have not seen this- You got hand-cucked while watching her. I was gonna say, maybe it was, maybe she brought her sister because the implication of you taking her to a film called Handcock.
00:20:22
Speaker
She's like, there is no way I'm blowing this guy, you gotta come with me. yeah Under no circumstances. Um, and I mean, I bore out. So what do you know? Um, but yeah, no, that was, that was the last day and we had, uh, I think we had worked together. Uh, so yeah, it was kind of one of those like, well, I guess I'll see you Monday. Yeah.
00:20:47
Speaker
So ah but yeah, it didn't work out and have not so have not revisited this movie since it's kind of been on my radar ever since I know the the black men can't jump in Hollywood podcast reference it a lot. Their their whole ah is Hancock a good movie debate that rages to this day. i'm funny And and so I was like, well, let's let's engage with it. Is Hancock a good movie? And I think I came out of it going, it's okay.
00:21:14
Speaker
like spoilers, but I think it's okay. Yeah, I think it's it's the kind of movie that it's a very confusing movie in a lot of ways because it makes you feel lots of different things. And like I was saying before, like you see the ways in which it is bad. You can see them very clearly, but most of the time it just doesn't matter because like the other parts are so good. it's a fair It's the kind of movie you could base a whole podcast, years of weekly episodes of a podcast, just arguing whether this movie is good or not.
00:21:44
Speaker
well because i think what the debate comes down to and tucker's already mentioned is it's kind of a tale of two movies for a lot of people like there are two big storylines that are it's not even an a and a b plot like it's they are both a plots they just like kind of uh the way that they like kind of merge together and like on this rewatch i thought they did come together better than i remembered because like yes there is the rehabilitating the asshole, you know, guy with powers and trying to make him into a true hero, um which I think is like, yeah, that feels like that feels more like something we had seen before, like in line with like kind of some classic comic book stuff like, yeah, it's a subversion at the same time. Like we've seen this before. We've seen the anti hero become a true hero, you know, whatever. and And that stuff is like.
00:22:30
Speaker
you know, played for laughs and there's all sorts of humor and things like that elementmet in it. But then when you have the second part of it, which is like this, you know, ah you know, these gods that were paired together and like when they're together, they don't have powers and they can live lives. But if they are separated, then they can help humanity. So it's like,
00:22:52
Speaker
Do you wanna live a good life and be in love? Or do you you know follow this call to duty in a way? And I think that's an interesting way to take. ah superhero you know especially someone similar to Superman which like the big questions you know with his characters like yeah he has all these powers but like does he is he does that make him obligated to help you know and I think ah especially with this coming out two years after Batman or after Superman returns which is
00:23:24
Speaker
boring like it's not bad but it's very boring and they were trying to do this like homage to the Richard Donner ones and even to like just the even older comics and it just comes off very like it it was supposed to be nostalgic and romantic and it just came off very boring and just like uninspired. So I feel like this coming out two years, I feel like Peter Berg was like, I really fucking hated Superman return. you know and This is the antithesis to it. I think that is also kind of weird. So like,
00:23:57
Speaker
um but But you can tell he you know cares about the the character. um Again, like yeah they never say Superman in this, but like there's all these illusions like, oh, do you come from another planet? You're the only one of your kind, blah, blah, blah. So it's like obvious. you know But yeah, so I don't know I think the the exploration of just like, what are what is your purpose in life, you know, like, is it to connect and be with people and all these things or is it to, you know, or is it to do you have a greater purpose, and like when, and how do you decide.
00:24:30
Speaker
what to do. I think they actually come together better than I thought, but like the second half does take out a lot of humor. like The humor level like drops significantly and it's like it makes it more noticeable. I think if they would have kept a more consistent tone, then the two plots would merge together better.
00:24:50
Speaker
I think it's it's it's an easier, the the transition is an easier pill to swallow when you already know it's coming. So it's definitely it's definitely a better second watch than a first watch. And something it reminded me of this time was um those old movies that they put out like in the seventies and eighties where like they did a TV pilot and a couple episodes, but then nobody picked it up. So they just turned it into a movie.
00:25:18
Speaker
A TV movie. like You have like the first half is one story and the second half is a completely different story with the same characters. That's kind of what this reminded me of. And also, wait, I was going to say something about nope, I lost it. Sorry.
00:25:32
Speaker
No, I i agree. um the The original script was written by Vincent, by Vincent Ingo. um It was a spec script he wrote in 96 called Tonight He Comes. And it
Discussion on 'Hancock's Setting and Humor
00:25:45
Speaker
was like this very, very serious look at, you know, a suicidal superhero, basically, and kind of a deconstruction of really the superhero tropes that kind of came out of the late 80s early 90s with the Batman franchise in particular and is kind of an examination of those and and sort of a response I think as well to the the grittier superhero era of the comic books in the 1980s as a result of things like
00:26:15
Speaker
Watchmen in the Dark Knight returns. um Those comic books kind of leading to a much darker tone ah throughout the entire industry. And then it gets rewritten and just a ton of humor just gets infused into it because people are like, well, it's too dark. It's too dour. No one's gonna want to sit through this. Like in the early stages before a lot of that humor got infused, people we mentioned Michael Mann was originally attached. He decides he wants to direct Miami Vice instead because of course he does.
00:26:45
Speaker
That is the most Michael Mann movie that ever did Michael Mann. A future episode of this podcast, Miami Vice, because you pretty much can tell he wanted to make more of those, except for Colin Farrell was just on all the cocaine. Well, appropriately so for the right location of the film and the character. And the character, yes. And he is a fiend from Oh, he knows, lest we forget him and Al Pacino should get together on something just see who can get more coked out.
00:27:16
Speaker
How fantastic would that be? For all time's sake. For all time's sake. Come on out. For all time's for all time's sake, Al. Then Jonathan Mostow, he of Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines, U-571, and the fucking Kurt Russell masterpiece that is Breakdown. Hey, I love that movie. Breakdown fucking slaps. I love Breakdown. Oh, wow. So J.T. sake. Walsh, does the world miss J.T. Walsh as much as I do? Every fucking day we miss J.T. Walsh. Oh, every minute of every day.
00:27:46
Speaker
Golly, Duke. What a fucking legend, J2O. You stick that guy in any Stephen King adaptation, you got a winner. anything at all. Like he's amazing in Pleasantville. Like just playing like just this big over the top villain. And I'm just like, God, I love you, JT Walsh. In A Few Good Men, just shoots himself in the head. JT Walsh just committing suicide all over that movie. It happens in that movie. Yes. Spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen it. I mean, maybe they could handle the truth. So that's why we had to tell them.
00:28:18
Speaker
um But yeah, fucking JT Walsh. ah Jonathan Mostow is attached to direct. um Then Gabriel Muccino steps in in 2006. And then finally, late 2006, we get Peter Berg comes on board. The film is changed from the title Tonight He Comes, the original title, which, I mean, The Poor and Parody just writes itself.
00:28:40
Speaker
um To change the title don't have changed pretty much a blasted thing about the title now blasted And then it becomes John Hancock and then from there eventually just gets shortened to Hancock which again, the porn parody title writes itself, so. Yeah. in ah And for as many, again, cringy 2000s gay jokes this movie makes, they'd never make any about his name, not a once. Not a once, I was shocked. you would You would have, and here's the thing, I think in a, I don't know, maybe, I think earlier in the 2000s, I think someone would have. And maybe that was in the script and someone's like, maybe this isn't that movie.
00:29:25
Speaker
Or like maybe it's like ah a Jason Bateman riff and they're like, hmm. It almost feels like a Will Smith contract clause. I could see I could see him being like, hey, you can't make any jokes about his name. Like, no, no, I can make the jokes, but you can. No, I almost. But not not because I think because it would be too easy of a joke.
00:29:48
Speaker
Right. That's just it's too easy. It's already that like you're already making the joke in your head. They don't have to make it in the movie. really Right. I mean, it's all heard I mean, it's very funny that like, you know, it comes around that it's like, oh, because it's a very silly like somebody asked him for his John Hancock and he decided that was his name, you know, so it's like it's they they go the the opposite route. Right. Which works, um honestly, like that. I that explanation worked for me. I thought that was pretty fun.
00:30:18
Speaker
um And then there's always the part of me that whenever I hear someone say John Hancock, there's the part of me remembering Tommy Boy that goes, it's Herbie Hancock. But that's just you know me and my millennial baby mind and what it does.
00:30:34
Speaker
so do with that what you will. um But yeah, so we ultimate like the movie films in LA in mid 2007, July 2007 comes out a year later. um And it feels like a very LA movie, like Devon in the hierarchy and the pantheon of LA movies. where do you Where do you put this one? You being a resident of Los Angeles. Is it above or below run Ronnie run?
00:31:01
Speaker
, As far as like you know what makes a good LA movie, because this is great, because like on my podcast, we just did a bunch of LA-based horror. rob and So like i mean we get you know we get the different neighborhoods, because he goes to Hollywood. We see downtown. ah Ray and his family live in the Valley in Encino. So I'm like, OK, we're getting it. And like I love how the first set piece is him like you know stopping this chase, like destroying half of the 110.
00:31:42
Speaker
and like 101 and for those of you ah that live in l LA, it's that's literally the worst section of highway in in this city. It's like it's it's ridiculous. Very cathartic, you think? Huh? Very cathartic filmmaking, you think? So i was like I was like, this is great because now there's actually an excuse to why there would be this bad of traffic on the 110.
00:32:06
Speaker
Because it because like this section of highway in L.A., it never does not have traffic. Like it's the one section that no matter what time you drive it, it is just chunked up. It's ridiculous. So, yeah, it was cathartic. I was like, thank you, Hancock. I hate that place. It's the only thing worse than the loop, Steven. The only thing worse than the loop got the loop. so I don't know. There's there are stretches in Atlanta that make my blood boil. So yeah, that's true. That's true.
00:32:34
Speaker
I would have liked to have seen him like interact more with a because we do see like he like him in a what's-her-face fighting on like the Hollywood like Walk of Fame. He would have like blended in like so well with that culture. like i I thought they could have done it like an interesting thing. like He like uses his powers to like do like little like street performances like on a Hollywood Boulevard like with this like ah group because it's a very interesting community.
00:32:58
Speaker
So I think that's their one l LA missed opportunity that they like could have given his character. um But other than that, though, like, yeah, we see we see all sorts of stuff. I mean, it's all ah correct, for the most part, all geographically and everything. So yeah, pretty LA movie. Right on. Right on.
00:33:16
Speaker
So pretty pretty pretty high up in that hierarchy. I'm glad to hear that. i like and And also in the fact that in this world, people have no problem like calling this guy names and shit and like being upset and like it like I love that we're dropped in to where he's already. I mean, we find out later or he's super fucking old, but like he's been around L.A. already for a while to where people are not like, oh, it's like, oh, like Do you believe in the Hancock guy? Like, no, like everybody knows who fucking Hancock and now people are not even impressed anymore. They're over it already. um I think that's a very interesting. I'm like, you know, that is very la because you can really only do that in L.A. or or like New York or something. Right. Let's end up call him a punk bitch to his face, too.
00:34:03
Speaker
After he saves Jason Bateman, they don't care. They're like, you suck. They criticize. like I love that they're to the point to where they go, well, why didn't you fly the car up? They're trying to give him notes now, yeah to the point where they're with with this guy. the The whole first act of this movie feels very, or maybe the first half of the movie, feels very LA to me. like Someone had the idea, you know what would be really funny is if we give a superhero a publicist.
00:34:27
Speaker
Like, what if a superhero had a publicist and like, he was just such a shitty superhero, he needed someone to clean up his image. Like, that just feels like a very LA, a very Hollywood kind of thing, that someone in a boardroom is like, that's a funny idea, make that movie.
00:34:43
Speaker
In the and the social media era now, again, like I think that helped the movie in its favor and rewatching it because I was like, oh yeah, like because now it would be social media. like The only thing in this one he has to worry about is YouTube, which is a really great, but like ah but which they go to YouTube multiple times in this movie. They really do. I love that. um Because it was fairly new around this time. like YouTube only came out in 2005 or something like that. Still had the watermark.
00:35:08
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um but yeah, so like it would easily translate to today because I was like, Oh, I know exactly what this
Plot Summary and Extended Scenes
00:35:15
Speaker
would look like now. I mean, we've kind of seen a little bit of like social media and in the superhero world, but actually not really a ton.
00:35:22
Speaker
No, and I think that's something that feels very difficult for so Hollywood screenwriters to do well is social media. And I think the more like culturally ubiquitous social media has become, I think the more difficult time they have at really pinpointing or saying anything meaningful or profound about it. So the fact that it's fairly new and the comment isn't about social media, but it's what what the closest thing to social media that existed in that time is being used as kind of a backdrop for what the story actually is, I think works really well. And it's probably one of the better uses of the the social aspect of the internet that I've seen in a film probably since 2008, honestly. Word. Word. Yeah.
00:36:12
Speaker
Well, let's let's get into it, gentlemen. let's do Let's talk plot, shall we? Yes, we shall. This is the part of the show we call the plot in 60 seconds. This is where one of us, usually at the behest of the D6 of Destiny or the Coin of Justice, will recount the plot of the film we're watching, in this case, 2008's Hamilton Hancock, God, in 60 seconds or less.
00:36:39
Speaker
But ah can we put those two together. We see a mashup of those two pieces of fiction. This man was missing a musical number like ah for for all the like ah needle drops that we have in this. We could have gotten rid of a couple of those and getting some real musical numbers. I don't know how. but Here's what here's what we do. We don't need a film.
00:37:00
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. We don't need a film. We don't need a show. We need a record. It's Lin-Manuel Miranda and Will Smith. Hancock and the Fresh Prince. Hancock X Fresh Prince. Let's do it. Hamilton X Fresh Prince. I mean, like, the kind of rapping that they do in Hamilton is very similar to Will Smith's early style of, like, sort of the... The sort of talent. Yes, yes.
00:37:26
Speaker
I'm down for it. Lin-Manuel Miranda, you are a noted fan of the disenfranchised podcast. Well, and you know that he would be into it too. The kind of shit that that dude's into, he would jump at that chance, for sure. Oh yeah. For sure. Oh yeah. I'm excited for his Warriors concept album that's set to come out later this year.
00:37:43
Speaker
that space i'll tell you based on future that podcast the warriors If there's not a song called Come Out and Play, I'm going to be really pissed. Look, I love Lin-Manuel Miranda, but like sometimes I'm just like, man, I don't know, what dude. Is that the best you see your time? you know
00:38:01
Speaker
He seems like I really want to hang out with him, though, because we have very similar interests. It seems like just the coolest guy ever. Yeah. I mean, he's like you, a big Weird Al fan. So that's true. There's a video of him crying, listening to Weird Al do the Hamilton Polka. So yeah, dude. Which I mean, if if Weird Al did that to a number of your songs, I know you'd be bawling your eyes out, man. I would. um As I was saying, um anyway.
00:38:30
Speaker
Plot in 60 seconds, recounting the plot in 60 seconds. Our guest, the great Devon Taylor has graciously volunteered to deliver the plot. This is actually something that I've done a couple times on Spectre Cinema Club. So happy to finally be able to return the favor.
00:38:47
Speaker
Oh yeah, because I'm not even the one that does it on my show either. Because if it's if you don't have a guest, then Garrett does it. Like I'm the one that always gets the skirt out of this. So yeah, so the pressure's on. Pressure's on. All right. Well, I've got 60 seconds on the clock. I will give you the 30 and the 10 second warnings. And I will start the time whenever you start your synopsis.
00:39:09
Speaker
John Hancock is an asshole version of Superman. He's drunk, sad, and lonely, but he still fights a little crime here and there. ah The people don't like him. He saves the guys. So then the guy says, I want to repay the favor by ah making you a celebrity. I'm going to fix your image. I'm going to unasshole you ah is pretty much what he ah signs up to do. So he tries to rehab Hancock and then It starts to work, but ah there's something fishy going on with Hancock and his wife. um And then ah we find out dirty a little bit more lore and background that um that they have a lot more history behind them than much anticipated. And these kind of concepts come to a head. as Hancock has to grapple with? Does he want to be with the one person that doesn't make him feel lonely? Or does he need to be the hero of the world? And 10 seconds. ah Immortal Superman stuff. Hancock, I was gonna try and wrap it, but I couldn't come up with anything. All I came up with in my head is, ah Jan, John Hancock, you got to change your ways, or they're gonna put you in prison for 14 days. I mean, that works.
00:40:20
Speaker
Well, that's all I got for for my Hamilton's Hancock, Hamilton's Hancock, Hamcock, hecock Hamilcock. It sounds grosser that way. You know, it really does. It really does. Oh, God. Hey, did you guys see little little Michael Myers in this movie? Yeah. From the rat zombie one who is a soundcloud rapper now.
00:40:47
Speaker
Is he? Yes. Look him up. He is. He's like, a like, that's what he does now. He doesn't. I don't think I will. He hasn't acted in a while. ah But like, that's just like, you know, just look at a picture of him now. The picture of him now is just really great. I don't know how recent this picture. Oh, this is 2007. So no, it's not recent at all. But here's his his Wikipedia page. Apparently, he goes by the name Great Dague. Yeah. So, yeah, there he is. Looking all creepy.
00:41:17
Speaker
let's let's have a look at our date fish did we get ding so that's that's him when that's him when this movie came out now come on i mean he looked creepy as hell though uh you also get the little kid from the middle is uh the other yes yeah the the weird the weird looking kid with the big head and the squeaky voice and the one that's like hancock bad guy the first person in the movie me to call him an asshole yes and yes and also the first asshole yeah
00:41:48
Speaker
I was like wow this movie calls him an asshole twice in the first three minutes that's daring and then i but know everyone just calls him an asshole and then well we half of the asshole count came from the scene with dake fairs with uh with uh with their interaction half of like there's like 10 assholes uh in that one uh on the count alone he gets all marty mcfly about it yeah he does Which you must be a must be a trait that is shared amongst ah ah members of his species because homegirl ah gets pretty mad when somebody calls her crazy.
00:42:24
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, just a good rule of thumb. Just calling a woman crazy. That's always going to end well for you. But what if she's crazy? I've met legitimately crazy women, though. What am I supposed to know? You still can't. You still can't. And that's the thing. You still can't. But you you're allowed to call guys assholes because like guys that just have to know.
00:42:44
Speaker
And most of them are. So exactly. Exactly. Call it like you see it. So so I'm curious for you guys. So between the two main plot lines, which interests you more, which do you think works better in this with the rehab rehabilitated asshole hero or the ah the lonely immortal God that does not know what to do with themselves?
00:43:11
Speaker
I find the first half to be more entertaining, but I find the second half to be more stimulating to my brain as far as like interest. It's interesting. Like it's an it's a cool thing that I hadn't and like a plot point that I never would have thought of or that I haven't heard anything similar to it. Really, it seems like a pretty original idea, you know.
00:43:36
Speaker
So like it's kind of I'm kind of both for
Director Peter Berg's Career
00:43:39
Speaker
different reasons. like i can't really I don't think I could pick a favorite. My problem with the second half of this movie lies in the inconsistency of the rules and how they're applied.
00:43:52
Speaker
Because the notion is when they're together, they their powers are lessened. But they've theoretically been in the same city for a while. So is it like close proximity? But then even when they're in close proximity, he's flipping beds over and knocking people in. Well, it takes a while. Yeah, they say it happens over time, typically. And yeah even and she says, for this particular time, it's happening faster than usual.
00:44:18
Speaker
is what it is that it is noted but yeah it's it's a little wish washy but like but that's what gets my brain going about yes the ambiguity of it I think really the intrigue the mystery kind of adds to it yeah on that because i'm I'm right where Tucker is like yeah like even though maybe the first half is funny and it's entertaining and like and it still has some heart and pathos to it like you know there's a surprisingly really tender male friendship here that i'm like hey for 2008 this is pretty good like you know i love their chemistry and the drunk guy to ben taking his shoes off and like you know encouraging calling each other out i was like this is actually like a really like good written friendships like you even get that in the first half
00:45:03
Speaker
But then, yeah, as far as like my my ah my brain and my comic book nerdiness and things like that, like as I always say, I would hate to be immortal. I think that would fucking suck. yeah I'm trying to get out of here by like 75, 80 at the latest. Peace out. You had a good run. Yeah.
00:45:21
Speaker
Because I should I should be able to do it all. ah So like ah when people ask, like, would you rather rather be a werewolf or a vampire? I do not want to be a vampire. I'm not trying to live. um So which kind of ties in a movie. Have you guys seen ah Only Lovers Left Alive? Not yet. It's on my list, though. So it's yeah, it's about these very it's about these vampire lovers. They have been together for thousands of years. And ah Tom Hiddleston's character is ah having a a millennial ah crisis where he is just very sad about all the lives he's lived and everything he's seen and how he's just sad about what the world's becoming and he's just he's just very pooped out about it so he has to have his vampire girlfriend from a and then they like live separately and she's like okay i'm gonna come back and take care of you there's kind of something of that and this um where it's like you know like
00:46:17
Speaker
if they are together then it's like okay why don't you guys just want to be together and like because like that's what she wants she wants to like you know like grow old with somebody and then die um but they've been like kind of doing this so like with the rules of this i was like so have they been in just like this like comic book ultimate situationship where they kind of keep coming together on and off throughout these things because they have lived all these years. So that means that they have not stayed together. So they are literally the ultimate situation relationship where they come together. It's all passionate, but then before they lose their powers, Hancock always has to save them from danger. So that's why he is destined to be
00:47:03
Speaker
that he needs the power so that way he can be a hero. So the the the two things between them, I'm like, huh, that's a lot to think about in this movie. But then again, it is kind of more in the last 40 minutes of this are not even because I watched the extended version, the the theatrical version is like just under 90 minutes, but like there's an extra 10 minutes in the in the extended unrated that I watched.
00:47:30
Speaker
extended unrated and they still couldn't have the unedited version of the Ludacris song with Mystica. They're all like, move! Get out the way! You're like, move what? Who's moving, Ludacris? Chris, Mr. Luna, who is moving? Could it be a bitch? You said bitch though, right? You said bitch though, right? You said bitch? You said bitch? Okay.
00:47:57
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I know I I their relationship is one like my my impression is that they were together like together together. And then this thing happens in the 30s, the early 30s that it causes him to be injured in such a way that he loses his memory. And she realizes that she's the thing keeping him from healing. And so she leaves and so she takes it on herself then to depart in and basically breaks up the relationship for the good of him essentially. The good of humanity even. Right. You might say. Because like they they both want to help humanity but they both really like each other but every time they get together their powers go away and people try to kill them.
00:48:45
Speaker
And I think that's why she keeps her she takes powers under wraps is because if she goes public, they're gonna end up meeting, they're gonna end up doing the same thing all over again, and that's not good for anybody.
00:48:56
Speaker
Well, I think she takes that opportunity of him having the head injury because she talks about how like she he didn't know who she was and everything. Right. And she kind of takes that opportunity to save the world, essentially, by letting them both have their powers without him knowing that she even exists. And just by fucking the chance.
00:49:18
Speaker
Like what are the chances of luck? Like that's who he saves is her husband. like and Well, because it's like there is like also like some implied like magnetic like attraction even because like we see like in like the first like conversation like their hands like are literally moving towards each other and they're like not even realizing it. So it's like there's like.
00:49:39
Speaker
So I don't know if that has to do with the the fact that it was Rey that he is the one that saves. Yeah, I don't know. It is a very kind of happenstance. But then we also see that when they
Closing Thoughts on 'Hancock'
00:49:51
Speaker
fight a storm happens. um and So there's a lot of unexplained shit with ah the the lore and like what, you know, their abilities and what happens when they come together.
00:50:02
Speaker
the kind of thing you would typically delve into in a sequel, which yeah this movie obviously never got. And at this point, probably won't. Yeah, because I was thinking like they they definitely wanted a sequel, but then because I was thinking I was like, but so because I was like, she does want to grow old with Ray. So doesn't Hancock still have to? Like, so is he going to come back around so that way she age? it I was like, ah so many questions by the end of this. Well, I think the biggest question at the end of this movie that I would want answered in the sequel is who's asked as Mike Epps's head go up?
00:50:41
Speaker
that's like That's what I want the sequel to open up with, Mike Epps' head in somebody's ass. that That's how you open that sequel. We hometown boy Mike Epps. Indianapolis Indiana's own Mike Epps. It goes up James Morrison's ass. Red. Eddie Marsan, yeah. the villain can we ah Can we talk about how great he is? I love Eddie Marsan. I think this might in retrospect be the first thing I ever saw Eddie Marsan in. Really?
00:51:13
Speaker
um Yeah, I think this might actually be the first thing. I didn't know who he was at the time. Like since I've seen him in like Miami Vice and in, oh, what else was he in? World's End, which he's fucking amazing in. Like he's just, he's he's a great that guy actor. He's like, one of those guys will just show up and something and you're like, oh, fucking that guy, yeah. um But he is so funny in this.
00:51:38
Speaker
And like, as soon as he shows up, you're like, Oh, he's coming back later. Like he loses his hand. So he's got a gimmick now. Like he's, he's got like the hook for the hand. And then he loses his other hand, which is such a fucking amazing moment that you're like, this guy needs to come back in the next movie with like, pause.
00:51:59
Speaker
I love that he goes, you did not. Like he is so offended that he's like, no, you did that on purpose. You tried to go for both hands. Um, I mean, I like James Marsan. Um, I think the villain sucks. Like that's like one of the weak, very weak points of this, even though the end is meant to be like kind of an anti climax because it's like,
00:52:23
Speaker
You know, the whole thing is it's not he does the final showdown. It's like, no, he has to run away. It's like, I know that. So I'm like, I get it. But at the same time, like if we're going to have some sort of villain antagonist, and we could have did ah something, you know, with this. But then I guess it at the end of the day, he cocks his own villain. He does. And that's actual antagonist. And that's I think what they're ultimately trying to go for yeah is like it's a man versus himself thing. Absolutely. The problem is it's also a superhero movie. Like Ang Lee's Hulk does that as well. And I think I like that movie quite a bit. Me too. But like the Nick Nolte as the absorbing man thing is probably the part of it that works least well for me.
00:53:07
Speaker
um like just not a not a part of that movie that i'm particularly fond of um so like i think that's a difficult thing to do within the larger superhero context um is have like that man versus himself thing because we're so now our brains are so now hardwired for superhero super villain punch punch punch punch punch like that to do something different feels like a cheat in some ways. So you you have Eddie Marsan here just kind of as the throwaway generic villain, like ah like Paul Giamatti's The Rhino from Amazing Spider-Man 2, who just kind of shows up as this kind of disposable villain that the hero the hero can easily be. um
00:53:53
Speaker
But yeah, like I would have liked to see more of him. I would have liked to see him like gather together more of like the people that Hancock is kind of like drug through the mud along the way. I think that would be a good hook for a sequel is like the people versus Hancock. The heads versus the asses. You're muted, Devon.
00:54:12
Speaker
Oh, no, I thought I thought that was so funny that like, yeah, they do the thing in the prison where it's like, oh, I put you guys here. You're going to challenge me now. But like, did they what? Think that they put power dampeners on him or something? Like, did they not expect that to happen? Like, I thought that was so funny. But how do you step up to him like that? Like, you don't look up to Hancock like that. doesn't matter if you're in prison or not like like Hancock's not shackled or anything like so like I was very confused on like why they thought like something but um this movie does a funny thing that they get a lot of mileage at a tv exposition and like I love how uh Red's backstory is just like on on the tv with like Hancock just like walking around his apartment like not really like ri
00:54:55
Speaker
but it's like he had a he has a doctor's degree in psychology uh where he uh apparently radicalized his TAs and students uh into a crime syndicate which then led into these high like high stakes high violent robberies god like this is all on the tv in the background they know i know it's like no attention to like it's a It's a ridiculous amount of backstory for him. It's so funny. And that's like the ultimate tell-don't-show. Like, we're just like exposition dumping in the background. Like, it's not even important exposition. We're just gonna put this on in the background. It's just there. Yeah, it's not really important at all. In case you want to pay attention to it. In case you care. Here it is. And you might not, and that's okay. I do.
00:55:47
Speaker
But no, no, I fucking love Eddie Marsan. What a guy. yeah Um, speaking of stuff in the background in this movie that, that, uh, could maybe use a little more attention. Um, so I kept seeing Johnny Galecki and I think maybe he had a few lines, but.
00:56:04
Speaker
Well, what was he he was like, what was the movie we we're watching? And there was somebody in it that kept popping up in the background, a famous actor. And you just know that they had a bigger part. But it got cut out. I feel like that's I couldn't even tell you who Johnny Galecki's character is. And I just kept seeing him every once in a while. And you don't waste Galecki. I can say that ah in the extended, he does not get a bigger role.
00:56:28
Speaker
um Um, as far as, uh, like what was cut out of, uh, the theatrical version. But, uh, uh, one thing about giant get lucky being in this, every time he has no glasses, he looks so evil in any movie that I see him in without glasses. I'm like, ah he looks really evil, but he's just, uh, uh, he's like one of the like, uh, investor people, but he's like supposed to be like the young like bro investor type. I could, he had no, no identity. I didn't know who he was. So every time I saw him, I was just like, Ira, you are the man. And that, I mean, yeah, absolutely. That's, that's my, also my touch point for Johnny Galecki as well. Well, in Roseanne, obviously. Obviously.
00:57:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, but you might be surprised to hear this, Tucker. My parents didn't let me watch grow Roseanne as a child. I can't believe it! I know, right? Hard to believe, and yet here we are. um But like, you also get kind of a similar like, friends of the director kind of thing, like Akiva Goldsman and Michael Mann, who are producers on this movie.
00:57:31
Speaker
are like just in the boardroom scene. They're just there, yeah. Just like at the tables, hanging out. Like, why? Because they're producers and they were like there for the day, I guess. And they look good in suits. They look good in suits, man. and so Yeah, absolutely. Yes.
00:57:47
Speaker
So like it's just kind of one it it feels like i doing a favor for our friend, the director of this movie kind of a thing. um And the Johnny Galecki cameo feels very much of a piece with that as well. um thomas Thomas Lennon at least has some lines. Yes, he says things. And I'm like, wait, is that Thomas Lennon? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, it's that Thomas Lennon too.
00:58:09
Speaker
Like, and we love to see it. Anytime he pops up, I'm always just like, that guy, I love that guy. Lieutenant Dangle, we love to see him. hes um I love to watch things, interviews with him and beside behind the scenes stuff with him because he's just the most fun dude. Like being around him has got to be like super fun. I think that's why he gets so many small roles in movies. Cause people, they're like, well, I don't know where we're going to put him in this movie, but we really need him on set.
00:58:36
Speaker
Exactly. That's the kind of energy we want. right yeah Just to keep everything loose. and like I would say anyone in that kind of like David Wayne like circle of people, um like that like those guys just all seem like a really fun hang. like i If I could hang out with like one cast, it would probably be the cast of Wet Hot American Summer.
00:58:55
Speaker
like that just That just seems like a fun time. Let's just hang out with those dudes. But I prefer H. John Benjamin be in human form if possible instead of a can of peas. Right. Like he is in what Hot American Summer, the first day of camp. Yes. Right. I i consider them all one thing. They kind of are. Yeah.
00:59:18
Speaker
Oh, God, Wet Hot American Summer. Fucking love it. um So good. Yo, can I just sidetrack real quick, Steven? If you love Wet Hot American Summer, please tell me you've seen They Came Together. Not yet. Oh, boy. So like, nobody knows about this movie, but it is. It's the romantic comedy version. I know about it. Of Wet Hot American Summer. It's i just all the same. Basically the same cast. It's like Paul. Is it is that like Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler? Right. Yeah.
00:59:47
Speaker
This is the exact same kind of humor as What a Hot American Summer. A majority of the same cast, everybody behind the scenes is most of the same. I think David Wayne directed it too. Yes he did. And it is hilarious. I like David Wayne. I wasn't a big fan of role models, but looking at the cast of this movie,
01:00:06
Speaker
um'm I'm I'm going to dig this. I feel like role models was kind of his attempt at a mainstream breakthrough, which is why I think a lot of the choices in that film that seem a little bit off for him seem a little bit off. but I still think it comes together in the end as a a good and funny film. I would love to do it just to complete David Wayne watch through. I think that would be a worthwhile endeavor. Let's do it together as friends, Steven. I love that idea. for I love that for us. I really do. I also do. Devon, you in?
01:00:34
Speaker
I'm in. Hell, yes. Hell, yeah. um what What else what else to say about Hancock? Like, so I did want to because I was I was pulling up the differences between the the PG-13 theatrical cut and the unrated extended cut. um I mean, it is it is 10 minutes longer. And so I'm looking at the things because you guys both watch the regular version, correct? I am fairly confident that I did. and I watched, uh, I rented it and the version I watched was about an hour and 45 hour and 48, but it didn't say it was a director's cutter. in oh that that That is the extended upgraded version. Yeah. Cause the original ah version I've never seen.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, because the ah theatrical is only 92 minutes. um And so Tucker, you saw more of the relationship stuff, because that is what ah allowed the stuff that is cut out of the theatrical one. ah Because Stephen, you didn't get to see the the sex bit, right?
01:01:37
Speaker
No, well, that at the beginning, at the beginning with the, with the bar gal. So no, definitely didn't. Yeah. So what you, so what you missed was this gal hits on Hancock at the bar and is all excited because he's a superhero. He takes her back to his trailer.
01:01:55
Speaker
And it's so like, it's, it's a weird scene. um Um, but fantastic. It's dumb, but like, then there is like kind of a sadness to it afterwards. So he's like, she's all drunk and like wanting to fuck and he's just like, okay, Hey, but listen, I got to warn you when it's time for me to come, like you got to get far away. Like he's like talking about mountain tops and it's like all very awkward and stuff.
01:02:18
Speaker
And and and then so they're they're fucking and they don't show it. They just showed the trailer like shaking, you know, all violently and whatever. And then he's trying to yell for her to stop and they has to throw her away. And then he jizzes bullets essentially through the ceiling or the roof. They're like, boom, boom, boom, boom.
01:02:38
Speaker
ah but the cos middle super man where does it land And then but then she's like all weirded out and like all like about it and like, oh, wait, and and it's like, girl, you want to fuck the superhero? That's what that's what happened, apparently. And she was like, got all weird about it. And it's like sad and because he's like, hey, I like I tried to warn you like and like, You can tell when he's trying to be hes wants to be all nice and stuff after. Yeah, he wants to have some kind of actual human connection. And now that that's out of the way, he thinks maybe now that we did the thing, maybe we can actually connect as humans. But no, she doesn't want she doesn't want fuck all to do with them after that. She leaves through the bathroom window and drives away.
01:03:15
Speaker
so yeah so this is like so you do see that like he is like you know lonely and yearns for this like romantic connection stuff so that plays into more and then the ah the other significant like extended part is between him and Charlize Theron after they go to dinner and everything ah in the theatrical they just like almost kiss and then he like they she flies away or or like rides a thing or whatever ah in the ah in the extended like it's and they actually make out like they like their hands like like
01:03:47
Speaker
are almost touching and then they notice the bruise and they like full-on make out it's not just like a like oh like will they won't they like type deal so like they lean into that stuff that makes that second half a little bit more interesting and the and the lore and the mortal stuff it makes it a little bit more interesting and that may be why you guys are a little more positive on the second yeah because you actually got to see a fuller version of it than I did yes that makes a lot of sense Well, it and speaking of ah the scene with the the gal that he takes home from the bar, I think that that, for me, that makes his willingness to ah befriend Jason Bateman's character make more sense because he's really, he's just looking for any kind of human connection at this point, you know? And then when he when Jason Bateman defends him in that crowd, right takes him home, feeds him dinner,
01:04:42
Speaker
And he kind of sees that that this might be a friendship that he could have, like a normal human interaction that he could have. And I think that's why he starts to kind of clean himself up is so that he can have this, at least this relationship with this guy that actually wants to be his friend and wants to help him, you know?
01:04:59
Speaker
Well, and I think the child is a big part of that too, like the son, Aaron. Yeah, because he's always nice to the kid. And the kid idolizes him. like yeah Particularly after he finds out that, oh, this this this guy saved my dad. like yeah And hanco like when they visit him in prison, he leaves him his action figure, and like that's my best one, and I'm leaving it here for you. The kid fucking loves him and adores him.
01:05:24
Speaker
and just idolizes him. And I think he realizes in that moment that whether he likes it or not or wants to be or not, he is a role model. And that gives him, I think, an an extra reason, an extra level to kind of step up his game and maybe clean up his act a little bit.
01:05:40
Speaker
green Yeah, there's there's again like it like I was like again like whenever I went back to this I was like kind of shocked and that like that I was like oh these like these like actual like you know pathos moments like actually are there like cuz like yes like so much of the humor is that this irreverent, and just like, Oh, like, you know, all these, you know, what if, you know, things about Hancock being the the asshole hero. But like, there is like a very much a human thing. I kind of, because I didn't realize like before rewatch, I was like, Oh, Peter Berg did this, the guy that is kidnapped Mark Wahlberg into doing all these emotional action, epic dramas or whatever. Like, little like
01:06:21
Speaker
the gung ho America shit. Like let let's look at let's look at his last several little films. He's done. I believe it's five the past five films, it's five or six films. All Mark Wahlberg. ah Spencer Confidential was like a like action comedy. So he was like kind of getting back to some of the stuff he did before. future episode of this podcast, Spencer Confidential with Winston Duke. I mean, this has got a different friday night lights though, you know? It's like, it's kind of crazy that, you know, Hancock was two films after this. and He's had such a weird career. He really has. Like this is his first big budget movie, but before that he's made, like his first film is the the the late 90s, like bad boy movie, Very Bad Things.
01:07:08
Speaker
which is like a bachelor party in Vegas that goes wrong. I think it's got like. Cameron Diaz, Jon Favreau. Yeah. Christian Slater, Jeremy. Christian Slater, Daniel Stern. Yeah. Just to give you an idea of what kind of movie that is. Gene Triple Horn's in there as well. Like, it's got a good cast, but I don't remember it being very good. It's like a hooker dies in a bedroom kind of a thing. His second movie is The Rundown. The Rock, the Dwayne the Rock Johnson film, The Rundown. Pretty good.
01:07:36
Speaker
Right? Yeah. Then he does Friday Night Lights in 2004, The Kingdom with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner in 2007. That's like his Miami Vice, but not. Right. And then down to the Jamie Foxx casting. And then Hancock comes right after that. After that, he does a couple of episodes of the Friday Night Lights series. He does future episodes of this podcast, Battleship.
01:08:03
Speaker
And then he gets into the America Yay stuff, he does Lone Survivor, he does ah Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day, future episode of this podcast, Mile 22, and future episode of this podcast, Spencer Confidential. like Look, we got a lot of movies to cover, so we might not get to it, but we could, is what I'm saying.
01:08:23
Speaker
Say hi to America for me. You just have to do a Peter Berg month. That sounds like ah can we we have to he has enough, it seems. Yeah, we are. Honestly, we could we could fold a Peter Berg month and a Mark Wahlberg month in on each other, honestly. And because there's two Mark Wahlberg Peter Berg collaborations that we could cover, Mile 22 and Spencer Confidential. And then there's just battleship just kind of hanging out.
01:08:51
Speaker
can could we if If we did Mark Wahlberg as well, like separate from him, would we be able to do fear? Would that count? I don't know, I haven't seen Fear. So, ah Fear is Marky Mark's best performance. That's what I've heard. Much like in in a straight up, um what's the Scorsese movie? Departed. Much like in The Departed, he's pretty much playing himself. He's a psychotic boyfriend that stalks his girlfriend and and tries to physically assault her several times. It's very scary. That's one of the scariest movies I've ever seen in my life.
01:09:27
Speaker
OK, it is terrifying and Marky Mark is terrifying and I'm scared of him because of that movie. Like I want to talk shit to him to his face because of that movie. That's why you that's why you I'll do it on the podcast. i Fuck that motherfucker. Sure. Yeah. But like if we were face to face, I'd be like, oh, say hi to your mother for me. He ain't never going to listen to this show. Are you kidding me? He's got all. That's the main reason I don't ever say my exact location, just in case Mark Wahlberg hears this podcast.
01:09:56
Speaker
I don't want that man walking around New Hampshire looking for me. Dang. Good thing Peter Berg just got him under under control. He's got him right. Yeah, he's got him right. We have. We've already covered saving me. We've already covered three Mark Wahlberg movies on this podcast. I think the ones we have yet to cover, ah four brothers.
01:10:18
Speaker
Oh, I like that. No, I mean, Max Payne, three stacks is in that. Yeah, Max Payne is not good. The other guys look good. Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's great. Right. It's all right. I mean, you know, and then Mile 22 and Spencer Confidential and school. So this is probably infinite and uncharted. There's eight. There's eight Mark Wahlberg movies we get to potentially cover on this.
01:10:45
Speaker
ah So speaking of Mark Wahlberg and this doesn't have to do with Hancock but ties back into Peter Berg though. um but You know how ah AMC does those ah screen unseen screenings on ah Mondays or Tuesdays where it's like you can like see a new movie like a few weeks early but you don't know what it is they just like say it's a movie eagle does that too it's yeah monday like movie yeah they like give you the rating and like and then sometimes like they'll like specifically sometimes they're horror sometimes they're not um ah but so i went to one of those and uh it ended up being ah arthur the king
01:11:22
Speaker
that Mark Wahlberg movie, and I thought that it was a Peter Berg movie. I was like, oh, it's that guy doing another Mark Wahlberg, doing one of those movies again. He's forgiven for thinking so. And then and then so I left. um ah i went saw I went and saw future episodes. Actually, no, I don't think you can. I went and saw Madam Webb instead.
01:11:46
Speaker
No, we're definitely covering Madam Web. No, that's the New Year's episode, right? Oh, no. that We do at the end of the year. We normally do. a I think we're covering that in conjunction with another episode for for Venom three. How nice. Well, even the hunter, maybe one of those two. but So I i thought i I said to myself, I would watch rather watch Madam Web than one of the Peter Berg Mark Wahlberg things, even though Peter Berg did not do Arthur the King. I just thought he did. Well, we'll have you back to talk Madam Web then.
01:12:16
Speaker
into it. I still haven't seen it and I'm not looking into it. oh Her web connects us all. i'll be um All right, last call for Hancock thoughts, gentlemen.
01:12:29
Speaker
Uh, Mike Epps. I really like Mike Epps. I wish you were in this movie more, that's all. I do too. God, yeah, this movie this movie needs more Mike Epps. Most movies need more Mike Epps, honestly. i could I could find a spot for him in most movies, yeah. I'd be like, oh, that's where you put Mike Epps, right there. The only movies that don't need more Mike Epps are the movies starring Mike Epps. Usually, yeah, strangely. It's weird.
01:12:53
Speaker
A little bit goes a long way, you know?
Actor Utilization and Box Office Success
01:12:55
Speaker
But most people don't use them enough. But then the people that use them enough use them too much. Like, you know, i i like a movie he's in that I think he should be in more ah than ah the hangover. Like he's in that for like three scenes. He needs to be in more scenes of the hangover. He was great as Richard Pryor, too. And yeah.
01:13:14
Speaker
I got a I got a question because I mean, I guess I think it is obvious now because I did. Again, I didn't realize that this was produced by Michael Mann. ah Was that ah ah that bank shootout? Was that him giving a shout out to heat? Because like that's like Hancock's like first like heroic moment in his in his suit and everything. Yes. We got heat to right there. Can we handcock can we get a Hancock cameo in the upcoming movie Heat 2? That would be crazy. How rad would that be? Or at least let's put any a handless Eddie Marsan on the team. Like, just. Yeah. Yeah. That would be some kind of very subtle crossover. Like in E2, we just see Eddie Marsan walk in. We see the hook or we see the double hook hands. People are like, oh, shit. Oh, shit. It's red.
01:14:08
Speaker
Oh, please, Michael, man, if you have any any love for your fans, just do that for us, please. If you have any integrity as an artist, you'll go for us. Hey, I think he's on the line. I think he's a fan of Hancock because I did not realize ah how well this did at the box office, which I know we're going to talk about.
01:14:23
Speaker
We are, yeah, no, this movie, and again, it's kind of one of those things like, well, if this movie does as well as we're projecting, we'll absolutely do a sequel. And then no sequel materialized, even though it did really fucking well. So it opens number one at the box office. It opens July 4th weekend, because of course it does. That's Will Smith, baby. yeah That's right. This is like his last big 4th of July opening too, if I'm remembering correctly. Will Dependence Day, that's why we need to start celebrating. Mm. Into Princeton's day? No, yours is better. Yours is better.
01:15:00
Speaker
um So yeah, this movie opens number 162.6 million in its opening weekend. It's total cross ah total gross across the entire weekend because it opens on ah on Tuesday the first. Its entire gross across the entire weekend 103.9 million in its opening weekend. That's a big deal. Now, in terms of a multiplier,
01:15:24
Speaker
not great, at least not domestically, um but it opens at number one. it ah Ultimately, domestically, it's going to accumulate 227.9 million domestic- Still nothing to sneeze at. No, not at all. like There are blockbusters today that would love to make that.
01:15:41
Speaker
And then internationally, it makes no wished it made that right internationally it makes another.3 million, dollars ah bringing us to a worldwide box office of $624.2 million. dollars That's over half a billion, Steven. A big ass hit is what we call this movie. That's crazy. I remember I remember seeing this in theaters. I saw it with my dad. It was a ah classic ah get, you know, get off, get out of school. And he's like, hey, we should go see a movie. I'm like, tell you yeah, let's go do it. ah So, ah yeah, I remember and ah definitely getting to the years to see this. And then I think I maybe saw it one more time after that and then until ah like yesterday. Right on.
01:16:29
Speaker
look i want to buy the four k because there is a four k i just looked it up but it's the theatrical version there's no option to get the and i like that extra stuff i don't think i could watch the theatrical again Yeah, at least i don't want to own it i could watch it i don't want to own the theatrical i want to own the yeahs that's kind of tough, because I wonder what the 4K would look like, because I was going to say for 2008, the effects are pretty good. Yeah, it doesn yeah it doesn't look too bad. like if they're not doing the If Michael Mann had made this movie, it'd be like all digital like all digital filmmaking stuff, like like he did on Collateral. and Now, Michael Mann actually... good Here's the thing, Michael Mann will make digital filmmaking look fucking amazing.
01:17:09
Speaker
But not every filmmaker is going to like do the work necessary to make that happen. like Collateral looks good. Miami Vice looks good. like Those movies are incredible, but they're shot digitally at a time when people don't know how to shoot digitally. ah This was shot on film.
01:17:24
Speaker
Yes. This was shot on film, so I'm assuming it'll probably look good on a 4K, but you might get some film grain, I would assume. Which actually would lean into, I forget how much they kind of lean into the Western vibes in this movie. They do like a little Western motif with him. A little bit. A little bit. Which, you know, coming from the star of World Wild West, we'd love to see it. It's a drunk, sad cowboy. We've seen that guy. Absolutely. And I mean, really, superheroes are just, you know, the modern cowboy.
01:17:54
Speaker
In a way. In a way. You can argue. So Hancock, number one at the box office, number two at the box office in its second week is Wally having made $127 million in its two weekends. You believe they got a criterion of that? You believe Disney let them criterion it? That was Andrew. Literally, or Andrew Stanton, like, wrote a letter to criterion saying, please put my movie in the collection. And they're like, all right. OK.
01:18:21
Speaker
but but look Sure. A very, very popular Disney Pixar movie. Sure. Yes. Let's put that the criteria and why the fuck it is. No, no. Eternal sunshine. Where is that criterion? You got to talk to focus features, man. Like they're kind of do their own boutique stuff. You know, they don't go through Keno Lorber umbrella. Like they just like focus is like, we got this. It's cool. We don't need you guys. But do you, though, focus? But do you?
01:18:49
Speaker
Well, usually the rogue releases, you know, their their horror offshoot and focus are usually pretty packed with good shit. Like all of the the two cornetto, the two cornetto trilogy movies they did. I don't remember if they did World's End. But Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, both of those DVDs. Holy crap. That was a bunch of
Critical Reception and Audience Reactions
01:19:09
Speaker
crap on that. I love those DVDs. I own both of them. They're great. Yeah, dude. So good. So good. In third place, another comic book adaptation Wanted.
01:19:18
Speaker
Not one of my favorites. I saw that one in theaters, too. I like Wanted. I like Wanted. I was eating good in this year. Yeah, I was going to say, this is Devon's prime right here. In fourth place, Get Smart. Future episode of the podcast, Get Smart.
01:19:35
Speaker
Um, Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart with Dwayne The Rock Johnson, Alan Arkin and Anne Hathaway in that movie. Bill Murray, I think has a cameo in there too. Oh shit. I didn't know Alan Arkin was in it. Now I have to see it. He plays the chief. Are you kidding me? You know, that's my main dude. I know. Even by my main dude. You love Alan Arkin. It started with the Rocketeer and it's just grown since I was a child. You know what movie I love Alan Arkin in? I always forget he's in it. Wait until dark. So I married an axe murderer.
01:20:08
Speaker
He's the police chief. He's the police chief. And he's hilarious in that movie. He's got like two scenes, but he's so fucking good in it. He will be missed. He will. And in fifth place, cut all that out. I'll do it again. We'll fix it in post. In fifth place, Kung Fu Panda, a movie we will never cover on this podcast because there's no way to do it. It's gotten five sequels. It's ridiculous.
01:20:36
Speaker
um But yeah, Kung Fu Panda in in five weeks has earned almost $200 million. Good for it. an even An even bigger hit than Hancock. And then rounding out the top 10, you've got past episode of this podcast, The Incredible Hulk in sixth place. Hey.
01:20:52
Speaker
another movie where there's an actor. Right. Yeah. Another movie where there's an actor that shows up very notably and you're like, isn't that Michael Kenneth Williams? And it turns out he had like a whole scene that Edward Norton insisted be in the movie that Disney just went, nah, we're cutting this. No, sorry. Universal, but nah, we're just gonna cut this. We don't need this. In seventh place, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Word.
01:21:17
Speaker
in 8th place future episode of this podcast, Kick Kick Ridge, an American girl opening wide this week. What the fuck is that? It's the American girl movie. Okay. All right. I guess I'll find out when we do an episode. i'm so I didn't mean to be so loud. It's just, I have literally never heard any of those words that lie together. Was that like Barbie before Barbie? Like you're talking American girl, the dolls, right? Right. Yeah.
01:21:44
Speaker
My sister was a big fan of the book series, and so I knew who all the American girls were growing up. I had a kid sister who was very into all that stuff, so. That's one of my go-tos in karaoke, too, and I always shout out Silence of the Lambs. There you go. In ninth place, Sex and the City in this economy. Oh, both in the same movie? In the same movie. You can't do both. You gotta have Sex or the City. That's gonna be the movie I make. Sex may or the City. Make um off your choice.
01:22:14
Speaker
Decide. And then in 10th place, um a movie that I think is honestly very underrated, speaking of Adam Sandler, you don't mess with the Zoham. You keep saying that. You make me want to watch it. And I'm going to watch it one of these days, Steven. It's going to be your fault. it is I like it.
01:22:30
Speaker
It's an it's an underrated movie, but I and I almost was going to make a tweet one day about it being a very underrated movie. But then I said, oh, yeah, in this climate right now, I don't know if I need to put this movie on the map anymore. That needs to be right. So I so I held my tweets. But yes, you don't mess with Zohan is an underrated damn Sandler movie. It's so stupid. But it's not a big Adam Sandler guy. But I like that movie.
01:22:59
Speaker
So do with that information what you will. um to watch it The Tomatometer score on Hancock is a 42%. The critic's consensus, though it begins with promise, Hancock suffers from a flimsy narrative and poor execution.
01:23:15
Speaker
You suffer from a thin flimsy narrative. yeah see This theatrical cut it is significant is one of these cases. It actually is like significantly different. Yeah. And again, that's the version I saw, which is why I think i'm I'm weaker on this movie than the two of you who didn't see the version that I saw. The um Metacritic score is 49 based on mixed or average reviews from 37 critics. And Tucker, you want to take a stab at the letterbox score for Hancock.
01:23:42
Speaker
I'm going to say that the audience is going to be a little kinder to this one, especially the meme scape that is letterboxed, where there aren't any actual film reviews. It's all just l LOLs and jokes. um I'm going to say this one gets a somewhere between 2.8 and 3.2. In the immortal words of Maxwell Smart, missed it by that much. It's a 2.7. Oh.
01:24:11
Speaker
Okay, all right, yeah. It's a 2.7. Just, yeah. Jokes on jokes on jokes. Jokes on jokes on jokes. Why would you review, actually review a movie on a movie review website? Why would you actually do that? That sounds so stupid. Tucker, you're asking questions I don't think you want to know the answer to. It's true. Devon, out of five stars, how are you rating 2008's Peter Berg classic, Han Kha? Classic.
01:24:36
Speaker
You know, I don't know. I was feeling generous with this because, again, like, I don't know if it is just my kind of ah apathy for superhero movies at the moment, which is ah disappointing because I love superhero movies and comics, but I'm just like so just like whatever about it right now. So I watched this and I like again, I was like surprisingly like, huh, this is like this holds up a lot better. And again, like,
01:25:01
Speaker
like can't stress enough this like ah like this director's got like is again like like noticing like what actually they took out I was like oh like yeah like if you keep all that stuff in it fixes not all the problems that people have with the back end but I think it it makes it a little bit more smoother uh the pacing feels a little bit more even in that way um and so I gave this a four out of five that was uh I was feeling pretty generous about this I was like you know Like, I was like, this was a very I was like, I was very happy. I was I was I was trepidatious going in thinking like I was going to hate it, but I did not run on that at all. Tucker, what about you? Well. I think I think especially since I've seen this version now um that is objectively better than the theatrical version,
01:25:54
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to give this a 3.5 and rising, which means by the next time I watch it, it might be a four i at some point. It might even go further than that. You know how I get when I started getting obsessed about a movie and I'm like, I gotta watch this five times in one day. I sure do. And that's going to happen at some point because I feel, I feel it. ah I really want that. I'm so mad that 4k doesn't at least have both versions. Like normally in this day, when you have an older film,
01:26:24
Speaker
I know it's not even 20 years old yet, but I mean, old enough to where you have a director's cut, you have a theatrical cut, they were released separately, now there's a 4K, you put them both on the disc. Yeah. You just put them, that's just common practice. Well, that's what you do for the Steelbook. I can put the framers Blu-ray, both versions. Fuck a Steelbook, man. Just give me the content. I don't give a fuck what it looks like. Like, you can just give me a disc with no label on it. As long as there's good shit on there, give me that commentary. Give me that making up. Give me both versions of the movie.
Future Collaborations and Personal Updates
01:26:52
Speaker
Give me more deleted and extended scenes.
01:26:54
Speaker
You go hunting for the for the bootleg 4k shit No, I don't do that shit. You don't do that shit
01:27:04
Speaker
It's a 2.5 for me, because again, I did not see the apparently vastly superior um the director's cut or extended cut. And I kind of want to, after hearing you guys talk about it, because it sounds like a much better movie than the one I watch, which again, it's it's not as bad as I remember it being when I saw it in the theater low these many years ago.
01:27:25
Speaker
um And and ah and its there's there is something about this era of superhero filmmaking that I remember kind of looking back on disdainfully, but then when I go back to revisit them, I'm like, I don't know if it's just because everything now is exactly the same, but like, this is better than I remember it being. Like, and I think it has to do with kind of the homogeneity and the samey-samey-ness of the superhero landscape these days. It's become the dominant cultural like push. And so it's all kind of ah even the best of it is aggressively mediocre. And so it makes something like this, it's actually trying to do something regardless of whether or not it does it well, like
01:28:07
Speaker
You kind of have to respect it and I kind of do. I mean, I kind of I mean, I don't know if this is I mean, it's different, but I'm going to kind of lump them together. ah It's like kind of why I go back and I watch the extended edition of Daredevil. I'm like, yes, like this might not be the comic book Daredevil that you want, but as a movie itself,
01:28:31
Speaker
And a take on Daredevil, I'm like, and especially like the extent that fills in a lot of those gaps and like things that people complain about that theatrical come like, this is like a pretty decent movie, especially again, compared to kind of the stuff that we're getting today. Like when you look back, and it's like, oh, again, that was a movie, you know, that wasn't a comic on the screen. That was a movie. Right.
01:28:55
Speaker
I think there's there's such a a stark difference between those two versions of that film to like the theatrical cut for me is damn near unwatchable. But I love the directors. I fucking love the director's cut of Daredevil. It's so good. And when we cover it on the show, Daredevil. Yes, we were. I would like to ah request that we watch the director's cut because I do not want to watch the actual version. Granted, I don't even want to think about it.
01:29:25
Speaker
request granted. Yes. This movie is the same ending as Daredevil to the jumping off the building free dive before he flies away. ah lo well Yeah. Are you coming back for a Daredevil director's director's cut? It sounds like I am because okay good I did formal invitation because I didn't realize that you guys hadn't done it yet. I thought that yet is this like a save for like ah a big numbered episode. I feel.
01:29:50
Speaker
Well, we're saving Daredevil for I think when Daredevil born again comes out is is kind of when we're wanting to correlate the release. So I don't know when that's scheduled. I think I feel like they're filming it now or have recently finished filming it. So whenever Disney puts that on a schedule, we'll have a release date for that episode. So.
01:30:08
Speaker
And I will be there. And Devon will be there. Fucking A. um You heard it here first, folks, but not last. Devon, thank you so much for being on this episode, man. I am sorry it took us so long to get you on here, but I am. Look, we're going to make up for lost time. I have a feeling you're going to be coming back quite a bit ah to cover some pretty great movies and maybe some not great movies. I don't know. We'll see.
01:30:33
Speaker
um But tell the tell the folks where we can find you, what you're working on, what's coming up on Spectre Cinema Club. like Just plug, man. Plug, plug, plug. Thank you so much. I appreciate having me. ah This was so much fun and excited ah for for more. ah If you want to hear more of me, you can ah check out my podcast, Spectre Cinema Club, with my buddy, Garrett McDowell.
01:30:55
Speaker
ah We ah check out a different sub-genre of horror every month. ah We are ah currently, though, going through a franchise. We are doing the Alien series in, like, double feature form. um And so, you know, Alien and Aliens just dropped, and then we'll be kind of doing those throughout the month. um And then next month, we'll be doing Tim Burton stuff. And he yeah in honor of...
01:31:21
Speaker
ah in honor of Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. And I believe, Steven, you expressed interest in coming on for Batman Returns. So ah Tucker, ah you can ah be looped in on that as well if you'd like. Fucking A. Hell yeah. thats sounds So you can ah find us ah new episodes every Tuesday at Spectre Cinema on all social medias. And yeah, of course, i go check out Pod and Pendulum ah wrapping up the VHS series, going to the Fly series. It's going to be a fun one.
01:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's a good great time. And did you say where we can find you on the socials? Oh, and you can find me at all the usual places, app underscore daddy disco. Hell yeah. And Devon is a great follow. The Spectacinema Club is a blast. I've been on twice and always a good time. And of course, you know how we feel about the Pot in the Pendulum over here. So i shout out Wolf. Steven came on ah ah recently for that one. And that was a fun episode.
01:32:17
Speaker
god such a fun episode and such a great movie i will stand by wolf i love that movie um i'm that weird guy who likes that um but we have been the disenfranchised podcast you can find us on those forms of social media at disenfranch pod shoot us an email disenfranchpod at gmail dot.com and hear your words echoed by my voice on this very podcast While you're actually out on the internet swing by wherever you get your podcast particularly if that's Apple podcasts or Spotify Leave us a five-star rating and a review that'll go a long way to helping us find more listeners like yourselves You can also head over to patreon dot.com slash disenfranch pod
01:32:56
Speaker
where you can join at the free level and basically join the official conversation. ah When new episodes drop, you can leave comments ah right on the episodes and Tucker and I will usually respond to them and in some order or other. um But yeah, it's a good chance to talk with us directly because our social media presence is spotty at best lately.
01:33:16
Speaker
um So you can find us there and if you want to throw five bucks a month our way Well, then you get access to just hours and hours of content behind the paywall including episodes of our Well, it used to be fairly regular, but now it's semi-regular at best ah show. What are we watching where we talk about the media? We've been consuming Tucker and might understand new episodes of that show will be dropping soon.
01:33:40
Speaker
Oh, I'm sorry. What were you saying? what What show? What are we watching? What are we watching? I i don't know that. I don't know. I've heard of that. What's that? Is that is that a new thing someone's been doing? No, I mean, this was your baby, so I would hope you would have something about it.
01:33:56
Speaker
What are we watching? And we ah you have put the wrong emphasis on a different syllable, so I didn't know which one you're talking about. Yes. But what are we watching? It's it's coming back. It's just that ah your boy has been a bit busy lately. It's that time of year where I'm working during the day and I'm working during the night and I'm working during the day and then during the night. And there's not really any time for sleep. And when there's no time for sleep, there's no time for anything else.
01:34:24
Speaker
You got to do the Mark Wahlberg route. You got to, ah what, put three days in one day? What does he say? Oh, his his thing, he starts his day at two a.m. Oh, God.
01:34:40
Speaker
fuck call so Fuck hustle culture. That's all I have to say about that. Yeah. um But hopefully we I have been told by Tucker that there will be some episodes of what are we watching dropping soon.
01:34:53
Speaker
Hopefully, I hope so. I'm sorry. I know I made that into a bit, but I really was not paying attention because I've just been... I've just been informed that I will be working alone again tonight. So I was kind of in the... And it's Saturday. So you really are a bad boy for life. Bad boy. So it's just gonna be worse than last night, which was real, real bad.
01:35:19
Speaker
But I'm gonna be okay, you guys. I'm gonna be fine. I'm gonna find time to take a shower at some point. That's gonna happen. Unnecessary. It's It's gonna happen. I am your host, Stephen Fox, or you can find me on a few forms of social media at Chewy Walrus. I'll let you figure out which ones I'm using these days. I'll give you a hint. It's not a lot of them.
01:35:42
Speaker
um Tucker, where can we find you on socials these days? You can find me on Instagram and YouTube at ice 909. That's I C E N I N E the number zero and the number dog. I've been I'm still going through my records alphabetically finally got over that Billy Joel hump.
01:36:08
Speaker
It was a long time coming, but we got there. And now we're it was wild because like I finished up the Billy Joel and there was an Elton John record and Ricky Lee Jones. So it was all kind of sticking with sort of that same sort of deal. And then immediately it went to like three records that I.
01:36:28
Speaker
found out about in 2003 that were very modern at the time so even though it's alphabetical it's kind of autobiographical too the way that that it's playing out so that's kind of rad I'm in the I just started the my little I have a little John Mellencamp branch of my record collection not very many in the LP Uh, part, but in my five, have a lot of 45s, but I'm excited to get through that when I can, because I really like, look, look John Mellencamp made three perfect albums between 1983 and 1987. And we're going to listen to all three of them. say More Indiana's own John Mellencamp hometown boy, him and Mike Epps should do a collaboration. The hundred percent should. I'd listen to that or watch it. John Mellencamp, the actor. I feel like he's acted before.
01:37:19
Speaker
I may be making that up, but I feel like that's the thing that's happened. um All right. And Tuckmugs? No? Yes? Yeah, tuck mugs, that's tuck underscore mugs also on Instagram ah where you will soon be seeing my new Lincoln Square mug and spoilers, they changed the shape. And also you will be soon soon be seeing if Jimmy ever gets off of his ass and sends it to me, a ah grand voodoo band tuck mugs crossover where we're gonna be featuring
01:37:51
Speaker
the very mug that is shown in Jimmy's new music video for his new single, you're making me nervous in parentheses, I don't care, which just dropped on the 26th. And if you all haven't heard it, or seen the video, check it out on your streaming service of choice and watch that video on YouTube because the boy The boy did his homework cinematically and I think he he did a pretty good job of ah showing you what what he was watching and getting into when he was making that video. so um as The man as a visual artist continues to surprise and and and excite me.
01:38:30
Speaker
So, good stuff over there. Not only is he my BFF, but also one of the most talented dudes I know. So, ah even though he's not on the podcast right now, go check out Grand Voodoo Band, wherever you do music stuff, or even social media stuff. But yes, tuck mugs, tuck, underscore, mugs. Be there! Yeah.
01:38:50
Speaker
And just to follow up on a thread that we were just tugging, um in in film and film roles where he has not played himself, there are three movies in which John Mellencamp has acted. ah The first is the 2001 film After Image, where he plays Joe McCormick. ah The second, also in 2001, a movie called Madison, where he plays the voice of someone called adult Mike McCormick.
01:39:14
Speaker
And then he's in a movie called Lone Star State of Mind, where he plays Wayne. There's no last name listed, but I'm assuming it's McCormick. Go Wayne McCormick. All right, and that...
01:39:28
Speaker
is our episode. By Steven's book! By Steven's book, though. Send me my little fucking book, Steven. It's on its way, bastard. Anyway, by Steven's book. By my book. I'd like to say it's good, but I don't know. It's called Check In Check Out. Well, I mean, that's just because you wanted me to autograph it first, dude. I mean, I could have autographed it later, like next time we meet up because you know it's going to happen around Christmas time anyway.
01:39:52
Speaker
You probably won't. You probably, instead of sending it to me, you probably hand it to me at Christmas time and I'll be like, that wastes my time. That sounds like something I would do. Um. Anyway, ah it's called Check In, Check Out. It's available on ebook or physicalmediaatamazon.com. I'd say wherever you get your books, but it's just Amazon. um And that has been our episode on Hancock. Devon, once again, thank you so much for being here. It has been an absolute pleasure having you. And again, this is the first but not the last time you will be on this podcast, for sure. Of course, thank you. and Thank you once again. Of course. And four, I'm your host, Stephen Fox, really, four.
01:40:30
Speaker
my co-host Tucker, the absent Brett Wright, and the great Devon Taylor. Until next time, oh, you want to go down? Because we're really great at down.
01:41:00
Speaker
you