Lots to talk about tonight so strap in and put your feet up. Moreno is back from New Jersey and he brings gifts in the form of brand new live sounders. Ammon is in and then he’s out and then he’s in again as he prepares his house for the cowboy birthday celebration of the century.
Law and Moreno kicks things off with some random catching up, tales from New Jersey, and two of the most uncomfortable steam room stories you’ll ever want to hear.
TV Round-Up is jammed packed with talk of Mr. Robot, Show Me a Hero, Ballers, Narcos, Blunt Talk, Wet Hot American Summer, and Ray Donovan.
Movie Homework was 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. We all take turns explaining why this movie bothered us. It’s mostly Josh Hartnett. And the ending. And the language. And beards.
What Did You Watch has gossip about STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, SAN ANDREAS, SOUTHPAW, MARKED FOR DEATH, and THE JUDGE.
0:01:09 – Brand new Bingecast intro featuring PeteMc, TM, and Moreno.
0:02:54 – Moreno talks about his adventures in Jersey. Discussions about putting dreadlocked Ammon in a Bigfoot photo.Mini Binge ideas are put forth and then immediately thrown out. Moreno talks about this week’s Monday Morning Moreno.
0:15:44– Live sounder for the fans of Binge Media by fans of Binge Media
0:18:21 – TV ROUND UP. Ballers, Blunt Talk, Wet Hot American Summer, Mr. Robot, and Show Me a Hero are all discussed. From Dusk til Dawn Season 2 is also crap. Law makes you aware. The more you know.
1:22:00 – Sexy Live Sounders from Moreno’s Visit to Jersey 2015 make love to our ears.
1:50:13 – SUPKA VOICE. 5 Voicemails.
2:10:45 – The Future of the Mini Binge is questioned
2:14:15 – MOVIE HOMEWORK: 30 Days of Night
2:41:26 – WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Moreno revisits Marked for Death and Ammon approves of The Judge. Law breaks down Southpaw and Straight Outta Compton. Note: Law also states taking some shrooms for San Andreas would benefit the viewing greatly. Your call.
Ammon is as high as Supka while camping with the Bigfoots and Moreno calls in from the road as Law, Garrett, and Episode IV get down and dirty with what they loved and loathed this week.
TV Round-Up is packed with talk of Ballers, Ray Donovan, Show Me a Hero, Oz, Scream, and Mr. Robot.
Google Voice delivers a sweet review of TALES OF HALLOWEEN, a Mini Binge from TM, more shit talk for FANTASTIC FOUR, and a Good Cop/Bad Cop double header from Art, the guy that made us earn some money and now wants his cut.
Movie Homework is feisty as Law and Garrett battle it out for the con as they discuss CRIMSON TIDE.
And good ole’ What Did You Watch has tales from GOODNIGHT MOMMY, THE GIFT, THE LEGO MOVIE, THE PHANTOM MENACE, and CARLITO’S WAY.
Let’s kick things off with another argument. This time it’s Ernie Cline’s new novel, Armada that had Supka and Law disagreeing. In the end we can all agree it’s Wil Weaton’s fault. Let’s move on.
Ammon joins the party and so does long time listener, Chad Diiiick! Chad throws a couple reviews, invents a new rating policy and taps out before we get too drunk and yell at him.
TV Round-Up features lots of talk about Mr Robot, Ballers, True Detective, Gossip Girl, and The Bachelorette (no idea why we talk about this).
Movie Homework is a treat as we get to revisit KING KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS and update the current Donkey Kong leaderboard and some of the legends of the movie.
Google Voice is stupid as usual as we get some homework assignments and a bunch of people yelling at Ammon.
What Did You Watch has a cameo by Law’s kids as they review PIXELS for the show and Moreno and Ammon watch NON-STOP and THE MAZE RUNNER.
Law and Moreno kick things off with another mini state of the union, updating any and all happenings with the site. This somehow leads to some TV Round-Up where we talk Ballers, True Detective, Brink, Ray Donovan, and the Emmy nominations.
Ammon shows up drunk and late and shit starts to kick off when we hit Movie Homework. TERMINATOR GENISYS causes a huge (weird) fight among the boys that ends with Law and Ammon arguing about the factory that builds T-1000s. Moreno wisely walks away. We all feel the same way about the film but have drastically different ratings.
We kick Ammon out because he’s drunk and stupid and head over to Google Voice where we get some Homework assignments, a little poetry slam and a couple quality TV recommendations.
What Did You Watch flows with reviews of ANT-MAN, THE SEVEN FIVE, MINIONS, LILO & STITCH, INSIDE OUT, and a shitload of other TERMINATOR movies.
Get ready to pre-order your limited edition Korn Roadie Ammon Flip Flops. They’re amazing.
Moreno is joined by Supka and Ammon, fresh off a camping trip that led to chasing Bigfoot and raccoons. Jim Law is still on vacation and probably missing in Legoland. So it’s time we step up our game.
The boys start things off on the Literally Literary tip, with Ammon finishing Wayward Pines, Supka reading the Tony Iommi biography Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath and Moreno starting Dark Places. Then they all jack it in anticipation for Ernie Cline’s next novel, Armada.
TV Round Up has Ammon and Moreno being let down by True Detective 2, Supka has problems with the third season of Orange is the New Black, Moreno praises the Amazon original series Mozart in the Jungle and Ammon loves Ballers on HBO.
Google Voice is drunk and Supka is high as balls. Things don’t go well.
What Did You Watch has the boys reviewing the Neeson vehicle Run All Night, The Babadiiick (again), Beyond the Reach, Maggie, The Derelict and Batman & Robin.
It’s time to catch my breath. The past few months in sports have been absolutely fantastic, and it’s finally time for a little break. Every single event that I’ve written about or discussed on the newest addition to the Binge Media podcast network, the Binge SportsCast, has given sports fans great drama and some excellent games, matches, and/or rounds. We started with the NCAA Tournament, moved onto Wrestlemania, watched history at the Masters, and saw some great basketball and hockey before crowning two new champions. This past weekend, the US Open gave us some great theater despite a lackluster golf course and horrible coverage from FOX, which you can read about HERE.
So what does that leave us with now? Well, the two pictures you saw above are probably the two biggest things in sports this week. Tomorrow night, we’ve got the 2015 NBA Draft and this weekend we’ve got the quarterfinals of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. If you’re looking for coverage on that here today, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. I may tune in for a little while for the NBA Draft, but I’m not going to sit here and give you a mock draft. Let the picks fall where they may, and I’ll talk basketball once the season gets going again. As far as the Women’s World Cup is concerned, I apologize to those who wanted full coverage. The fact is that I will not insult you by attempting to write on an event that I’m not that familiar with. Sure, I could go to another website, take a few notes and word it differently, but that’s really not my style. You would see through the lack of passion and you don’t deserve that. I’ll be getting into the heart of baseball season very soon, especially with the All-Star break coming up. It’s been a very good first half of the year thus far (and it’s a Cubs vs Cardinals weekend so I won’t be taking that long of a break), and I’ve already got plans to record a new Binge SportsCast the night after the All-Star Game. As for next week’s show, I’m still kicking a few things around, so if you’ve got ideas or questions you’d like answered, just let me know. And speaking of podcasts, in case you missed it, I urge and invite you to check out this week’s Monday Morning Moreno titled “Up Close & Personal w/ Luke Norris”. Alyx took a big risk doing a personal show like this, but we had an absolute blast recording it, and even in the first couple of days, we’ve gotten some great response to it, so kudos to Moreno for thinking outside the box and trying something different. Thanks brother. You can check that out HERE.
But I’m still the Binge Media sports guy. So even without big events this week, I’ve got to give you something, right? Luckily, I ran into a few sports-related items over the past few days, so allow me to do a little something different myself and get into some sports on the screen.
While the bigger news on HBO was coming from the second season of True Detective (which I’m sure somebody here will get to at some point), another part of the new Sunday night was a brand new show, Ballers, starring Dwayne Johnson (he doesn’t seem to be using “The Rock” for this one, so I’ll leave it out).
Johnson stars as Spencer Strasmore, a retired defensive end for the Miami Dolphins who’s suffered some sort of injury that hasn’t been completely explained yet, but has left football to try his hand as a financial advisor/planner. While he will be the focus of the show, there are a few more stories that we’ll be given, one involving a current wide receiver with anger issues and off-the-field problems, a former O-lineman who has retired (played by Omar Benson Miller, who is usually pretty solid)and is now working at a car dealership, and a sports agent played by Troy Garity, who you probably know as the white guy from Barbershop. The added bonus is Rob Corddry, who plays Johnson’s associate and wants to use Strasmore’s connections to the NFL as a way to make more money.
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, I won’t spoil anything for you, but I’ll say it was decent. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible. It was……well, decent. There were a few obvious cliches that could have been avoided, but with it being the first episode, I’ll cut it some slack….for now. Basically, all of these guys are intertwined from their time in the league, but are now headed down different paths, while still being involved in each other’s lives. The stories have the chance to be there, so we’ll give it some time to see how things develop. If I had to put a number on it, I’d with 6.5/10 for the moment. From the things I’ve read and future scenes I’ve seen, things are looking up, and we can only hope that there’s more banter between Johnson and Corddry. I would have never have thought to put those two together, but from what I’ve seen so far, it looks like they’ve got some chemistry. I’ll check back in at the end of the season to let you know what I thought.
Let’s put it this way. It’s kinda like the sports version of this….
….it’s got a ways to go before it’s as good as this….
….but it’s bound to be better than this.
The great part of watching HBO is sometimes to see what else is coming up on HBO, and I’m jacked to watch what’s coming in a few weeks.
If you’re not familiar yet with 7 Days in Hell, I suggest you keep reading and prepare yourself. What we’re looking at here is basically a mockumentary starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harington as tennis rivals who played the longest match in tennis history, a match that lasted….you guessed it, seven days. Basically, what we’re looking at here is a 30 for 30 spoof and it’s going to be glorious. As I mentioned, you’ve got Samberg and Harington as the stars, but just look at the names that will be involved here and tell me you’re not in. Will Forte, Lena Dunham, Mary Steenburgen, Michael Sheen, Howie Mandel, June Squibb, Fred Armisen, David Copperfield, Chris Evert, Serena Williams, John McEnroe, Soledad O’Brien, and Jim Lampley all make appearances. Just watch the trailer and tell me you’re not going to watch.
I thought so.
Okay, there’s no jokes here. This is an actual documentary and it’s great. Written and directed by Bert Marcus, Champs follows the journey of three of the greatest boxers of my generation in Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. I could have done without some of the recreation of their respective childhoods in the beginning of the film, but a cheesy movie critic would call this movie “a knockout”.
I’ve always been a boxing fan, as I’m sure you’ve gathered with the multiple articles I’ve written for this site alone. I’ve watched a lot of documentaries about the sport, and I won’t lie and pretend this is the best one I’ve ever seen, but it’s very solid. All three boxers give very candid interviews about their upbringing. Most people are familiar with Mike Tyson’s childhood, so some of that wasn’t new to me, but some of the younger footage was. Watching the progression of Tyson throughout the years has always been fascinating. To hear him talk now about the person he was versus the person he is today makes the whole film worthwhile, but there’s so much more.
I knew Bernard Hopkins was in prison as a younger man, but I was unaware that he was in a boxing circuit during his time inside. Listening to him talk about how boxing saved his life and following his journey to become the oldest champion in boxing history is a great story.
Evander Holyfield has a great story to tell as well. One of my favorite parts of the whole film is when he talks about how he came from poverty as well, just like Tyson did. He just didn’t act like it, so everyone thought that he didn’t have as big of a chip on his shoulder that Tyson did. They go into his screwjob from the Olympics, how he won the light heavyweight crown and still didn’t feel accomplished, how he squandered his money, and everything in between.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg as to what this film gets into. Not only are the respective stories of these three men covered, but the sport as a whole is dissected with interviews from promoters, trainers, and celebrities who follow the sport, which includes Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, 50 Cent, and many more. This is an easy 8 or 8.5/10.
So there you have it. Even in my “down time”, I’ve still got your sports covered. Stay tuned for more great things from the rest of the boys this week. I’ll be back with an all-new Working the Weekend with Luke on Sunday, and an all-new Binge SportsCast next week. Again, if you’ve got questions for me on anything, leave them below or hit me up on Twitter @BingeSports and/or @THElukenorris. Until next time, I’ll leave you with another trailer about sports on-screen that’s got me excited. See you soon.