It’s old school day in the Binge Media Podcast offices. That means Moreno and Law kick the shit with just the two of them reminiscing about the old way of things and dropping all their sounders from yesteryear. They even break out their very first show together and review it from beginning to cringe-worthy end.
The boys also drunk dial some listeners, battle TV Round-Up (Better Call Saul, Girls, Vinyl, Banshee, Game of Thrones, Full Frontal, and more), listen to some Google Voice, and discuss What They Watched this week (Midnight Special, Lemmy, The Jungle Book).
0:00:00-Make up some tacos, son. It’s Bingecast time.
0:02:11-Moreno and Law are your hosts, throwback style! Alright alright alright! Sass his making his way through the Binge roster, visiting all the cocksuckers. Recap of last’s weeks show, of course. Memories of a certain “old show” flood this one. Law’s voice back then was pretty sultry. Like white chocolate. Good goddamn.
0:27:29-TV ROUND UP. Banshee is first in line. #TeamLaw and #TeamMoreno alliances have been formed for Game of Thrones. Law has got more behind him (just how he likes it), and Moreno could not give a fuck. HBO’s Sunday Night Schedule is detailed, which leads to a discussion of Vinyl. Inside Amy Schumer, Last Week Tonight, Samantha Bee: Full Frontal, The Daily Show…it’s all here. Law actually liked this season of Girls. What?! Season finale of Better Saul Call is dissected by Moreno. Commentary history is debated between the two, because they like wasting our time.
1:17:12-The boys drunk dial a listener.
1:31:49-GUUGLE VOICE.
2:01:34-Call from a certain intern.
2:35:34-GOOGLE VOICE presses on.
2:43:47-Shit from old show. Also Movie Homework is delayed a week. Watch either Tremors or Beavis and Butthead Do America. Or watch both. You aren’t do anything important, right?
3:02:12-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Moreno tangents with stories of Sass Quatch. He then moves on to his only watch of the week, titled Lemmy, a documentary about Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. Law then grabs the mic and fifes all over The Jungle Book. He also gives his thoughts on Midnight Special. BMFL bullshit.
3:25:41-SMARTER OR DUMBER. The hosts pay a little tribute to the recently passed amazing artist Prince. RIP.
Even more old show stuff after Then they peace out. That’s all, fucks.
Ammon and Episode IV join Law as they find their way through so much nonsense. Almost too much nonsense. Things kick off with Valley’s obsession with our ole Big Foot buddy, Sass Quatch. That quickly becomes a delirious rant about Garrett Collins’ remarks about the ROUGE ONE trailer from last week. One or more of us immaturely lose our shit over this.
Then it’s on to Google Voice where our wonderful fans call in to yell at us, demean us in foreign languages, sing us filthy songs, and then yell at us some more.
Somewhere in here there`s a Literally Literary conversation. I think it`s here.
Movie Homework is ELECTION and it’s glorious.
TV Round-Up starts but is interrupted not once but twice by Dead Jax calling us for some reason and long time listener, El Mariachi calls in to leave a voicemail and gets the real deal. Other than those clowns, we talk about Banshee, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, The Family, Vinyl, The Larry Sanders Show, and more.
What Did You Watch is all about KRAMPUS, ALL THINGS MUST PASS, and THE INVITATION.
Before we go we play a stupid round of Stupid Comments. It’s stupid. Then we go.
Surprise! Here we are again, Bingers. The time has come for another Binge Movie Aftertaste, and in tow, I once again have the one and only lovely Jason Morris. Not only has he been working deep into his own projects, he also has not been feeling well as of late. Plus, with me doing retrospectives and putting together interviews long in the making, it’s been tough to be in the same place at the same time. Yet, here we stand, working on another project of our own (maybe to be further discussed at a later date) and sitting down for another Aftertaste.
And boy, did Jason pick a good week to come back. This week, we are joined by none other than friend and fellow film lover Chris Papps. Somehow finding his way into film premieres and celebrity run-ins, Papps is not short on entertaining stories to share. We also delve into (our last one, I swear) a review of Batman V Superman. Also on tap, reviews of Deadpool (Jason likes it, we don’t), Midnight Special, Everybody Wants Some, Lobster, and way more in this action packed edition of the Binge Movie Aftertaste!
By the time this article posts, varied opinions of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will have been discussed on these very airwaves, and people will either say they feel vindicated at what a hunk of junk they had just seen or praise it due to the way Zack Snyder apes panels for the sake of visual flare. No matter what you feel, chances are you will either disagree with my feelings (likely) or run with the one way of thinking you have had since the movie was announced.
Let’s examine that last sentence, shall we? As I have outlined in our character retrospectives leading up to this release, in the years most people my age have grown up in, there have been dreams made about it, action figures displaying it, and halted attempts at getting it made. I bet even people in the 60s, people who were watching Adam West Plunk and Pow Cesar Romero’s mustached Joker on a weekly basis, were also reading Superman comics, imagining what would have happened if the two collided. This was a movie sixty plus years in the making. So why the hell has it been met with such a huge backlash ever since the team-up was finally announced back at 2013’s Comic Con?
Well first off, some people outside the business I talk to just cannot wrap their heads around how the hell Batman has a chance against a seemingly impenetrable alien from Krypton. Before people start calling out all the ways this is possible, let me get to the next bit of contention. Just who was behind the film to begin with.
Man of Steel is a love it or hate it movie for most people. It is also the movie that sent Christopher Nolan to a place where he still hasn’t crawled out from. Apparently, if stories from that film’s making are to be believed, it was Nolan who was dead set against setting up Superman as a sort of misunderstood Earth destruction hazard. Enter director Zack Snyder and writer David S Goyer. Two people who are certainly contentious amongst those who follow the behind the scenes aspect of film, they pushed and pushed for the end of Man of Steel to happen the way it did, as they were convinced they could pay it off. What they did not count on -and what Nolan was right about all along- is for people to not go for the ending as a means to justify what they were setting up. So automatically, they were up against a wall. Should moviegoers have at least given the film a chance? Even after a generally well received Comic Con panel a couple years ago, which revealed the ‘do you bleed’ line, and ‘Batfleck’ eventually warming the public up to his side, the aura of hate surrounding it could not be ignored. Even Moreno, during a podcast where we showed him the first Batman V Superman teaser trailer for the first time, said ‘I almost feel bad for DC in a way, because they just cannot seem to get it right.’
What is it about film that makes us have such knee jerk reactions to it? I know, it is an odd question for someone like me to ask, as I have been on a pretty recent tear about the new Rogue One teaser, which was released last week. But what I want to make clear is that my issues with this particular film have nothing to do with wanting to bash it. I just see a piece of media calling itself Star Wars and yes, there are some of those walkers we know all about. But each and every archetype on display in the trailer almost sickened me. As unjustifiable as that may seem, Star Wars being turned into a yearly commercial commodity instead of a magical experience without any (or too much) quality control makes me feel like I have a viable reason to not like it. But again, is that hate? I sure as hell do not bash the trailer with that intention. I just do not like being pandered to.
I do not want to act like I am writing something and then pretend I am practicing what I preach. The types of hate inflicted on a weekly barrage of trailers for movies which sometimes do not come out for at least a year after their initial release is a trend which is unfortunately not going away. People have their own methods of madness, as in their heads they justify their stance by ‘knowing’ how and where to approach a film’s making. But unless we have the status of a Nolan, a Snyder, or even a (gulp) Goyer, we unfortunately have no say in how it plays out. A backlash against Man of Steel‘s ending may have been what created Batman V Superman to begin with. But the excuse of ‘this is a whole new Superman for a whole new generation’ is not going to hold any water for people wanting to hate you to begin with. And yes, this goes for me and Rogue One as well.
How does one deal with the absence of our resident dildo maker? Easy, you call Garrett “4 on 10” Collins and a Supka’d Ammon to fight, review shit, and listen to people call into Google Voice drunk.
Garrett and Ammon fight over the Star Wars: Rogue One trailer in Trailer Round Up while Moreno sits back stroking his villainy beard. The Force is not strong this one, according to 4 on 10.
Google Voice has us contemplating Batman V. Superman, a suggestion for Bingeapalooza 2016 in Tijuana, and a Sass Quatch sounder is played, sent in by Sass himself. Hmm. The plot thickens.
TV Round Up features Horace & Pete, Banshee and 11/22/63 finale. What Did You Watch This Week has a brand spankin’ new review of The Jungle Book, Pee Wee’s Big Holiday, White God, and Harry Potter. We finish things off with a Seagal Homework, in which we review Seagal’s A Good Man, which can be found on Netflix.
0:00:00-Shut up and listen
0:02:07-Moreno is joined by Garrett Collins and host of the Ammon show, Ammon Gilbert. Collins has been busy-he’s got some shit coming to the site so stay tuned. Where the fuck is Law? The boys discuss the possibilities.
0:08:46-TRAILER ROUND UP. Ammon and Garrett battle over the Rogue One trailer. Also there’s some BMFL in here too, you cocksucker.
0:20:31-GOOGLE VOICE. At 57:15, there’s a sounder by good ol’ Sass Quatch.
1:10:24-TV ROUND UP. Ammon gives his thoughts on the finales for 11.22.63 and The People vs. O.J. Simpson. Garrett talks about the latter as well. Better Saul Call is up next. Banshee talk. Garrett gives some info on Vinyl. Horace and Pete finale is discussed, and will have more coverage on the next Monday Morning Moreno. Walking Dead’s bullshit finale is mentioned.
1:45:04-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Moreno begins with Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday. Ammon pulls out his magic wand with a revisit of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Collins checked out White God (it’s a fucking foreign film), Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon, and caught a screening of THe Jungle Book. He also revisited Bad News Bears
2:07:57-STEVEN SEGAL HOMEWORK. Because Movie Homework was a fucking bust, Ammon and Moreno watched A Good Man. Now you be a good man and get the hell out of here.
This will likely have spoilers, so Binge reader be warned. To preface all of this, I was hardly excited for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. I just wasn’t into it. I love Batman. I honestly hate Superman. Anyone else that was going to be in that movie was only going to be a stepping stone to where we all want it to go. The trailers didn’t make me giddy. The TV spots didn’t have me counting how many weeks until the movie came out. I simply was uninterested in anything this movie had to offer. I wasn’t hateful towards it. I didn’t have any reason to be angry they made it. Zack Snyder was not a concern, though recently he hasn’t been at the strength I once recall. I didn’t think the story was going to be stupid, or that Jesse Eisenberg was going to be awful. I had absolutely zero commitment towards any stance on this movie. Now, I’ve seen it twice, once during each of the last two weekends. I came out of the movie the first time having enjoyed it, but not enough to rave about it. Then I saw it again this past weekend, and I’m completely at a loss to where the hatred for this movie comes from. The following is what I truly believe to be the problem with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Upon a second viewing, I saw this movie as I feel any fan of anything in this movie should, with joy. There was something mysteriously present in Batman V Superman that I didn’t notice the first time. It is the dream of so many people to see these two on screen together, and its finally happened. This equates to expectations of the highest level, which is where this movie first begins to fail its viewers. This goes to show what the main issue with this movie is, and that is the viewer themselves. It’s hard not to enjoy this movie, simply for what it is. All plot points and weirdness aside, this movie was a good time at the theater on premiere weekend. I had a laundry list of issues including Batman’s sudden befriending of Superman, the Kryptonite spear dilemma, Superman in general, and Ben Affleck as Batman. There were so many things to complain about, yet somehow it couldn’t suck this movie to lifelessness as some suggest it is. Nothing about this movie changes the way critics react and what viewers will do or say following. People simply see movies in different lights and viewers will have their minds made up about this one. Nothing is going to change that, and I’m not here to try.
What Batman V Superman has though is tons of awesome. Wonder Woman couldn’t have been any more excellent, as she was totally captivating on screen. I don’t know who Gal Gadot is, but she was cool as all hell in that role and she fit it for me. I’ve never been a particularly die-hard Wonder Woman fan. I like when she shows up in comics and uses her tools to take down villains that the others can’t. She has a pretty decent running title right now and has been exploring some darker characters. After this movie, I want everything Wonder Woman and especially Gal Gadot’s. I’m obsessed with this character, and I am so insanely excited for the solo movie now, which I didn’t even know existed. The fact that she got to show up and kick Doomsday’s ass for the most part, and use her lasso on him was epic. She was done so damn well in this movie, I almost didn’t care about all of its faults. The second time she was no less entertaining, and I found myself seeking out Wonder Woman merchandise. God, she was so great on both sides of the character. And this is where I really saw what about this movie had me in high spirits, and that was what it meant to me as a child at heart.
This movie makes me want to get out the old action figures and make Batman and Superman fight like they did here. Each character had some tremendous scenes in this movie. Batman took a stand against many of the largest foes we have seen him face on screen. Bruce Wayne was faced with age and loss like we’ve never seen before. Superman actually lost hope in himself and society as a whole. Clark Kent was enraged by the potential harm of his mother that was out of even his control. Batman and Superman bantering over mothers and female coworkers was nothing short of hysterical. Superman losing his shit on the rooftop with Lex Luthor was one of the most intense comic book scenes in the DCU. Even when Superman had to admit to himself that he was like anyone else and would have to give up his golden boy reputation, I was on the verge of losing control. Everyone was upset by Superman’s death, but seeing him truly struggle with society’s reactions towards him was outstanding. Seeing an infallible character suffer at the hand of life and deal with that emotionally was just unprecedented for me. It’s something many rarely are able to touch on with Superman to make him a great character to enjoy.
This brings to another thing I ended up loving about this movie, and that was Superman. I enjoyed Man of Steel much more than I thought I would as well. It has a much different take on the character, something that sort of resembled a Superman: Earth One comic or something. A darker approach, but a true cinematic experience was Man of Steel. Then this movie comes along and delivers on several great Superman scenes. The rooftop scene with Lex was the turning point of the film and served as the top of the hill in this roller coaster. The dream sequence showing Superman stalking into Batman was terrifying, knowing how powerful and unhinged a lost Superman can be from Injustice, which is what the Knightmare sequence reminded me of. Then lastly, that touching scene where Super Clark finds Lois and tells her that he has to change Batman’s mind. He acknowledges that he could truly have become corrupted, that even he and his golden heart were susceptible to disgraceful actions. For me to even like anything Superman astounds me, and I thought he far out-shined his counterpart here.
Batfleck was exactly what I thought he would be. A serviceable Bruce Wayne that is not the worst as some claim, nor is he the best, though it’s hard to argue with who is better. His Batman worked for me, and it was really cool to see an older Batman for once. We’ve seen him so many times, getting this fresh take on it and in a different time in his career was cool to see. Robin is dead, not just waiting to show up. Joker has come and gone to ruin the life of Bruce Wayne. Alfred is like a nagging old grandfather begging for a grandchild to replace the void of his loss in Robin as well. There was so much to like about this take on Batman, as I felt it was probably the closest any of them have come to being like an Animated Series style and tone character. This movie is the closest a DC movie has brought me to a childlike sense of wonderment. Star Wars recently did this for me, but nothing has ever quite touched this in the superhero genre like the original X-Men or Spider-Man. I’ve been amazed by Marvel for years now, through the good and bad, which is where the hatred for this flick starts. But for me, it serves as the launching point for DC’s care of their characters, like realized long ago. DC fan service has begun, and if Batman V Superman didn’t give you a Batarang-sized Binge brain boner then I don’t know what will. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was the best DC movie outside of Nolan’s trilogy and either movie based on the works of the legend Alan Moore. Just think about it when you go back to watch it again, because you know you will…
Welcome to the Ammon Show – a real thing that just happened. Ammon takes control of the show as him and his guest co-hosts review THE WITCH, THE RUNNING MAN, OPEN RANGE, take some delightful new Google Voice in, have a stab at Trailer Round-Up with THE NICE GUYS, fire through TV Round-Up with Better Call Saul, 11/22/63, The People vs. O.J. Simpson, and Banshee.
Finally, we have the special guest of all special guests as Ammon sits down with Bigfoot himself. Prepare to soil yourself.
0:00:00-The beginning of a whole lotta bullshit
0:00:24-This is the Ammon Show, you cocksuckers! He’s joined by Moreno and Law. Speaking of Law, he talks about some comedy shows he checked out and how he dug them. There’s a hard and soft shell taco debate. Miller High Life is being enjoyed by everybody, that’s right! It’s because its the Ammon show, motherfucker! Apparently there’s a celebrity guest later in the show. BMFL, points, dildos, it’s all discussed. Also Sass Quatch (real name, its on his birth certificate) has found his way to Facebook much to the delight of the whole fucking world. Friend that asshole ASAP.
0:14:16-MOVIE HOMEWORK: The Running Man
0:25:29-TRAILER ROUND UP: The Nice Guys. Also Ammon, Moreno, and Law verbally put together the best mock trailer for The Predator
0:35:34-Tiny House Update. You were waiting on bated breath for this news and you fucking know it.
0:40:44-GOOGLE VOICE. At 0:46:05 there’s a very special voicemail/sounder.
0:53:05-Celebrity Guest! Who could it fucking be?
1:03:05-New piss break sounder
1:08:00 TV ROUND UP. Ammon kicks things off with Better Call Saul and 11.22.63. Law fifes all over the recent episode of The People vs. OJ Simpson. Banshee is back, yo! Moreno checked that shit out. Tangent about Law’s kids dropping F bombs.
1:30:41-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Ammon watched Open Range, and guess the fuck what, Moreno and Law did too! Holy Shit! Ammon revisited The Force Awakens. Law viewed The Witch. More talk about BMFL points. That’s it, dawg. Go smoke a bowl, you cocksuckers.
After almost a month of site build-up and a lifetime of anticipation, the time is finally here. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has taken the country by storm, earning nearly $190 million in its opening weekend. But, after spending hours picking apart the two principle characters of this franchise in their respective individual appearances, will Luke, Jack, and even I be satisfied?
Will our most dire fears of Zack Snyder laying his hands on this fight be realized? Or will he surprise all of us with a masterpiece of superheroic proportions? Hit that download button to find out!
PS: An EXTRA special thanks to that Sneaky bastard Juan Carlos for not only his AMAZING Binge Fantasy League logos, but also each picture that has accompanied this retrospective. You sir, are the man!
WARNING: Unless you have seen the movie or don’t give a shit about ever seeing it, we appreciate your click, but DO NOT download this podcast until AFTER you do so. There are spoilers galore here.
Starring: Rachel Nichols, Missi Pyle, Alfie Allen, and Mekhi Phifer.
As studios continue churning out more and more content, and films of both bombastic and toned down natures are getting released at rapid fire clips all 53 weeks of the year, it is getting harder and harder to stick out amongst the pack. If there is one thing I can give Pandemic credit for, it is in its effort to do so. Yes, it is a story we have seen played out a hundred times before. Yes, it is set in a dystopian environment we have seen maybe even more times before. But Pandemic strains to tell a story within its frames that aims to pull us in, making it even more of an experience than if it just concerned a released zombie epidemic. While there are portions of director John Suits’ (Extracted) film that work, the majority of it kind of feels like a run around the block you take at a house you have lived in since you were 2 years old. By the time you’re 12, it’s kind of hard to do so with the same amount of jump to your step you had previous.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, Pandemic‘s plot is wrought with a lack of original story ideas. A virus has taken over the planet, and we have reached the point where the infected have outnumbered the uninfected. Our only hope for survival involves finding a cure while keeping the infected at bay. Enter Lauren (Star Trek 2009‘s Rachel Nichols), a doctor from New York who arrives in Los Angeles in order to lead a team of mercenaries to find survivors and hunt the infected.
In a way, I feel bad for Suits and company because by nature, anything new in the zombie genre is not going to inspire anything we have not seen before. In decades past, you would have to go to the movies to see human on zombie, or vice versa, type gore. But now, any person with a TV sees it every Sunday night on AMC. There are in fact many impaled skulls, shotgunned ribs, and chewed skin in Pandemic. But all these scenes have a bit of a ‘been there, done that’ feel. Which is why it was important for Suits and screenwriter Douglas T Benson to pepper in a couple twists to keep you guessing, something that is indeed attempted, with unfortunately mixed results.
As an example of how Pandemic tries to stick out, the film is shot about 80% in first person view, justified story wise as cameras people wear while in the field. This form of narrative is developed in the film’s beginning scenes, and is a tough thing to get used to if you have never in your life played a Playstation game which uses the same device. Eventually, the style works at enhancing Suits’ scenes, and viewers are taken into characters’ shoes without feeling hunkered to the chaotic palpation people complain about with most found footage type films, and the sequential storytelling makes it a non factor. There are even instances in Pandemic that play out just like a beginning scene in any one of these games would. For example, if we see from a character’s point of view her being told that whatever she does, to NOT walk off the yellow line, what do you think she is going to do?
Pandemic tries hard to endear us to Lauren, showing us home videos of what we can only at this point assume is her former life in the film’s first few frames. She moves through the story, almost like that of a lost and hungry puppy, reinforcing her credentials and telling other characters -as well as us- that she is indeed suited to lead this operation. The film throws in a bit of a twist at around the 3/4 mark that is far from a make or break moment. But could indeed cause a bit of eye rolling if people aren’t looking for it.
While I cannot fully endorse Pandemic, it is far from a painful movie viewing experience. It does have a few nice sequences -one on a bus, in particular- and a very well timed jump scare involving night vision that I did not see coming, and it does indeed have some nice gory moments every fan of the zombie genre craves. But the unfortunate matter of Pandemic‘s existence is that we have indeed seen 99.9% of it before, and by the time the film is over, the only thing a zombie addict is likely to feel is yet another tendency to go through their The Walking Dead for the 10th time.