Lots of new goodness for the boys to check out this week as the boys keep up with WandaVision, Servant, The Stand, Resident Alien, and check out Run Hide Fight, Psycho Goreman, The Little Things, and The Reckoning.
RLJE Films and Shudder will release the action / horror THE RECKONING In Theaters, On Demand and Digital February 5, 2021.
Stay for the Full Binge by visiting our Patreon page and support us for $5 a month. This week we finish our Movie Villains Tournament with the final 32 characters going head-to-head for the championship.
TIMESTAMP (thanks JF!)
00:00:00 Intro
00:10:50 What You Missed This Week on the Binge Podcast Network
00:23:50 GOOGLE VOICE (Part 1)
00:24:25 Alex asks if there is any Canadian director better than Denis Villeneuve
00:27:45 Alex calls back with a drop timestamp
00:31:54 LITERALLY LITERARY
00:33:56 The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow (Alyx)
After a lengthy absence from the airwaves, Batch and Logan catch you up on all the geeky good stuff going down. While it’s been reviewed 14,000 times on the site, Logan gives thoughts on Incredibles 2. He also provides first impressions on its video game counterpart, Lego Incredibles. Batch spoils the crap out of Batman #50 (the wedding issue), and the boys gush over a Disney game called Disney Heroes: Battle Mode. These hosts are adults, right? Allegedly. Also a ton of Spider-Man movie stuff is discussed, from Venom to Silk to Far From Home to this new (and really not needed) Morbius movie. And of course, the big news: Disney scooping up 21st Century Fox like it ain’t no thang. Can’t wait for that Deadpool and Goofy crossover movie!
That probably won’t happen. Whatever, we can dream.
This column will introduce you to the most popular movies that are coming out in theaters this weekend.
What movie will you see?
Dunkirk
Set during World War II…..you know what, the tagline says it all: “When 400 men couldn’t get home, home came for them.” Starring in this historical war drama are Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, and more. The writer and director of Dunkirk is non-other than Christopher Nolan. Nolan has directed The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Interstellar, Momento, and more. There are rumors saying that Nolan is remaking Momento. I know, right? Anyway, don’t be a dumb jerk, go check out Dunkirk.
Girls Trip
4 friends get together and travel to New Orleans for the Essence Festival and I’m sure they get into shenanigans. What happens in NOLA, sta….forget it. Starring in this comedy are Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, and more. Malcolm D. Lee is the director of this flick. Lee has directed The Best Man, Undercover Brother, Scary Movie 5, Barbershop: The Next Cut, and more. Take a trip to the theater and see Girls Trip.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Alpha, a city that is home to thousands of species is under attack. Special ops, Valerian and Laureline must save Alpha and the universe. Starring in this fantastical sci-fi action flick are Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna (of Battleship fame), Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, and more. Luc Besson is the writer and director of Valerian. Besson has directed The Fifth Element, Léon: The Professional, Lucy, The Family, and much more. Go check out Valerian in theaters.
Here we are again, Bingers. Time to tackle a franchise for your listening pleasure. Though this time, we will be tackling two at a time. Sort of.
Let me explain where I’m coming from here. For our special lead in to Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, I decided to look at the two characters surrounding it by asking two other guys from the site, who also happen to be huge fans of their respected characters, to come on the Aftertaste and discuss them both at length.
First up, Batman. And doing the honors of dissecting this character with me is the New England Patriots loving, Pulp Fiction addict (cue echo) JACK VALLEY. Listen in as Jackie Boy and I go over each portion of Bats in his media conquering pedestal.
Some of the questions we go over here:
How did Jack become such a big fan of the character?
Just how big WAS Nicholson’s contract to appear in Batman, and why was he paid for movies he wasn’t even in?
How much does the Halle Berry starring Catwoman fit into the DC universe, if at all?
What does Batman ’66 have in common with Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises?
What is Jack’s LEAST favorite characterization of Bruce Wayne?
What is the biggest missed opportunity of Tim Burton’s two directed Batman films?
Who else was paid to NOT be in Batman Returns?
What does Batman & Robin have in common with The Dark Knight Rises?
Is the relationship between Wayne and Gordon in the Nolan films similar to how it was in the comics?
How’s Nolan’s characterization of Scarecrow?
What is the’George Bush Theory’ that surrounds The Dark Knight?
How do we feel Batman Vs Superman Dawn of Justice looks?
So click that little download button on the bottom of this page and get ready for a bat of a good time. Gross.
Welcome to the September 28th edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. Hopefully, your part of the world is as beautiful as mine has been this weekend. Leaves are turned and falling to the grass which makes for some nice piles for my daughters, yet it’s warm enough to put on the shorts. So I hope you’re making the best of the good weather if you have it. I know I’d like to, so I’ll get to a few things and let you be on your way.
NEIGHBORS
So I finally got around to watching Neighbors last night. Between two kids and work and the outrageous pricing, I really don’t get to the theater much anymore, so even as excited as I was when I saw the trailer earlier this year, I decided to wait until the DVD release. Now, the way it usually goes with me and comedies is that they continue to get funnier with more viewings and I’m hoping this one follows that same recipe, because the first showing left me wanting a little more from it.
I should have known better than to expect something different than usual from Seth Rogen’s acting, so that one is on me, but it’s starting to get a little tiresome. Even Adam Sandler breaks out of his normal style occasionally, but hey, if I was making that kind of money doing the same shit over and over, why change it up?
I will say that I enjoy Dave Franco much more than his brother. He’s got some really good scenes in the movie and any chance I have to take a shot at James Franco, I’m going to take it. So that’s really all for that.
The most pleasant surprise of Neighbors, however, is Zac Efron. I think he makes the entire movie work and is just straight up hysterical. From the opening to the dance-off (which is a really good scene overall) to the end, he played this part perfectly. Hopefully, he continues to keep doing things like this, because I think he’s got a real knack for it.
Overall, I did like Neighbors. I just don’t think I love it yet. But hey, it won’t keep me from watching it over and over until I do.
BINGE MEDIA SPORTS IS NOW ON TWITTER
If you’re new to this column, then you may not know that I’m also the writer for Binge Media Sports. Actually, I wrote a little piece on some MLB topics just yesterday and if you missed it, just click HERE to check it out.
The big news today is that this morning, Binge Media Sports now has its own Twitter account. So if you’d like to add a little more social media to your life, look no further than @BingeSports. I’ll keep you posted on the world of sports and when I can, send out some live tweets during the big events. Binge Media Sports. All the balls. All the time.
TRILOGY COUNTDOWN
After taking a week off, the trilogy countdown continues today with #4. On a quick side note, I want to thank all of you who took the time to read last week’s edition. If you missed it, I wrote about the two year anniversary of my father’s passing and did a Top 10 list about the movies that I connect to him. You can check it out HERE.
But now on to the countdown.
#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#9-THE NAKED GUN TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#8-THE LECTER TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#7-THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#6-THE KARATE KID TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#5-THE BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#4-THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
If you know me, then you know I prefer DC to Marvel, even with all the success Marvel is having right now. It’s mainly due to my infatuation with Superman, but there’s no Superman trilogy so I’ve got Christopher Nolan’s trilogy at #4.
After the monstrosity that was Batman & Robin which gave us Batnipples and the third Caped Crusader in four movies, the franchise was in desperate need of a reboot and we got a good one. But who would be the new Bruce Wayne? Who had the face and the talent to play a rich guy with a secret?
Patrick Bateman…err, Christian Bale was the answer. We got an all new origin story in Batman Begins and early on, we knew that this was going to be a lot darker than the previous versions we’d seen. And we got some Liam Neeson and Ken Watanabe to boot, not to mention Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.
And I haven’t even mentioned Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, which really revived his career, and I think we can all be thankful for that. Throw in Cillian Murphy’s chilling portrayal as Scarecrow and you’ve got yourself one damn fine opener.
So how do you follow up a good movie? With a great one, of course. The Dark Knight is probably the best of the trilogy and gives us a few new problems to deal with. He wouldn’t have been my first choice, but Aaron Echkart did a great job as Harvey Dent a/k/a Two-Face. Christian Bale continued to do a great job as Bruce Wayne/Batman, although I can’t understand why he continued to talk in the Batman voice to Rachel, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there. But let’s be honest. What makes the movie great is the guy that nobody wanted for the villain.
Remember when word got out that Heath Ledger had been cast to play Joker? Remember how many people hated the choice? Oops. Ledger was brilliant and there’s not much more to say than that.
Now, I know most people were disappointed with The Dark Knight Rises? I will admit that it wasn’t as good as the second film, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because I could look at this all day…..
….or maybe it’s because Tom Hardy is a straight-up badass as Bane…..
….but I thought this was a great ending to a great trilogy. Are there a few questions that may need answering? Sure. But as a whole, The Dark Knight Trilogy was beautifully written, perfectly cast, and greatly executed. It’s got the ability to stand on its own as a story and you really don’t have to compare it to any other Batman that we’ve seen. But we all know that’s not going to happen as we know what we’re getting next year.
My guess is that the same people who are bashing Affleck are the same ones who were bashing Ledger. But that’s another topic for another day.
That’ll do it for this week’s edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. Make sure to check back next week as the countdown gets animated next week with #3. Again, don’t forget to start following Binge Media Sports on Twitter and while you’re there, hit me up @THElukenorris.
But before I go, you know you want your Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week. Yep, it’s from the pilot and yep, Brandon’s hair is dope.
Welcome to another edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. I plan on keeping this short and sweet as between this and the NFL previews I’m doing at Binge Media Sports, this is my fourth piece in two days. So with that being said, we’ll get to #7 on the trilogy countdown in a minute, but first, I’m excited to announce that my top five all-time movie list has changed.
WARRIOR
After I put my daughters to bed last night, I immediately threw in Warrior. I had seen Tom Hardy in a movie earlier in the day as I was writing, and I hadn’t watched it in a while anyway. To be honest with you, I’ve got it playing in the background as I type right now. Each time I’ve seen it, I’ve picked up a few more things here and there, and I’ve decided that it really is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to get into all the details here, as I think the full Binge Media revisit treatment is in order soon, but as it’s been doing each time I’ve watched it, it made the leap into my top five. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil anything here, but do yourself a favor and get on it. The first time was the story that got me, just the overall great writing. The next time it was the fight choreography and how authentic it looks. Last night, it was the music and how it fits perfectly in every single scene. And if you know me, then you know I’m a Nick Nolte guy as well. I’m just going to stop before I do the revisit right now. But seriously, Warrior is flat out amazing.
TRILOGY COUNTDOWN
#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#9-THE NAKED GUN TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#8-THE LECTER TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE
#7-THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
If you’re a fan of Spaghetti Westerns, then you can thank Sergio Leone, who basically created the genre with these movies. Also called “The Dollars Trilogy”, these three films made Clint Eastwood a star, which is good enough for me to enter the countdown at #7. This is another one that could be higher on the list, but the fact that it’s not the traditional trilogy hurts it a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, all three are great as they follow the adventures of Clint Eastwood as “Joe” or “Manco” or “Blondie”, or really “The Man with No Name”.
It’s actually very hard to pick a favorite of the three. I’ve seen The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly more than I’ve seen the rest as my old man used to watch it all the time when I was a kid. Much like The Lecter Trilogy, the last movie is set before the first two, and it’s done very well as they even switch up the firearms. A Fistful of Dollars is probably the strongest of the three, which is usually the case with trilogies, but if you haven’t seen them, make sure to watch them in the release order. I still think this is the best way to get the most out of them. If you have seen them, here’s a reminder of the awesomeness that is Clint Eastwood.
That’s it for me today. Any thoughts? You know what to do. Leave them below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris. But don’t worry, I won’t go without giving you your Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week.
Tusk, Sons of Anarchy, Patriots Training Camp and the Batman V Superman Teaser
It’s Tuesday again. I can’t believe July is gone already. I work on a 6-day work/school week every week, and when a new month starts I can hardly believe it. Needless to say, this summer will most likely be considered a wash, but that’s not the worst thing since the schoolwork is paying off in spades. This week was relatively light on flicks and shows but in spite of that I did manage to carve a chunk out of the TV Homework Ammon gave me from our podcast last week, as well as a few other things. Kevin Smith remains one of the most interesting fanboys in pop culture. The guy changes his mind on a dime but he has a pretty direct connection to a lot of franchises and movie stars that are on the A-list, not to mention the great podcasting work he’s made his primary function these past few years. Smith was someone I used to love as a director, mainly for Clerks, Clerks II and Chasing Amy. Since he’s strayed from Jay and Silent Bob, his work has been spotty at best, but I absolutely love Red State. I think the film is a unique take on a genre, has a pretty solid cast for what it sets out to do and is entertaining in a darkly cynical way. Color me excited for Tusk, Smith’s next horror-thriller hybrid. In fact, if Smith only made horror from here on out, I think I would be alright with that. The story seems weird but the mere fact that Smith is giving Michael Parks some scenery to chew on is enough for me to be all in. September can’t come soon enough. As per the final season coming up, I decided to pick up where I left off on Sons. I had stopped somewhere at the beginning of Season 4 almost a year ago, but luckily Netflix saved my place and I started up again without any confusion. I’m two episodes from finishing Season 5, which by the time this posts I will have probably finished. Rather than give you a summation of my feelings in paragraph form, I’ll give you my bullet points:
Jax is a tool
The plot is way too complicated for a biker show. Seriously, this is a moody soap opera where guys sometimes go and beat people up for “turf”
Loyalties bounce back and forth so quickly I have no idea where a lot of the characters stand
Tig is way too ok with the shit that gets thrown at him in this season (so far)
Walton Goggins is a comedic demigod
I will be finishing this soon. I think I’m hate-watching this the same way Jim Law does, but you could do a lot worse on TV these days. This week marked the birthday of the guy I consider to be the greatest director of all time, Stanley Kubrick. If you aren’t familiar with his work (you don’t know Stanley Kubrick? WTF?!?!), just watch 2001: A Space Odyssey and get into it. Seriously, the guy made classic, challenging films with each outing. How many directors can even get one of those throughout their career? From the brutality of A Clockwork Orange to the innovation of Barry Lyndon, Kubrick was and, to me at least, always will be the most innovative filmmaker of the century. Here’s hoping Nolan rises to this level of greatness with Interstellar (something I see as a distinct possibility). Comic-Con came and went without too much fuss this year. The Marvel panel told us nothing we don’t already know and Star Wars didn’t even make their presence known. Warner Brothers, however, severely rocked my socks with the Batman V Superman teaser. I have made it known on this site in the past that Zack Snyder is a toolbag of epic proportions. He severely fucked up Man of Steel and, despite the visual greatness, shit all over Watchmen. That being said, Affleck looks incredible in the armored Batsuit. This teaser told me two things right away:
Affleck may pull this off
Snyder may be poised to give us the truest incarnation of Batman we’ve seen yet
I know this is a bold statement to make, but this 30-second teaser was very satisfying. I am still hesitant that this is going to work out well, but if it does it could be the most comic-bookey (is that a word?) flick we’ve seen yet. I love Nolan’s trilogy for it’s ability to take Batman and put him in the real world, but hopefully this gives us a different, more comic-centric approach to the character. I still don’t give a fuck about Superman though. The fact that August is already here means Patriots football is very close to being back. Pre-season, whatever, I’m in. There’s an energy with the reports coming out of camp this year that most of us fans can really feel. This time of year is always full of optimism for football fans, that’s true. Hell, social media lit up when Sammy Watkins made a smooth, one-handed catch after recovering from a trip at Bills training camp last week despite it being completely undefended. The fact that we’ve got Edelman coming off a career-high season, Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner being added to the secondary along with the return of Patrick Chung and a healthy, hopefully non-buterfingered Steven Ridley, there’s a lot of hope this year. My fingers are firmly crossed we can contend with the Broncos on a more even playing field this time around.
Finally, I’m leaving you with the spectacular Mad Max Fury Road trailer that premiered at Comic-Con. This thing looks really great and very Road Warrior-esque. Check back this week for our next Strain commentary (sorry about last week, schedules didn’t quite permit), as well as a possible BingeMusic Cast and our daily blogs. Binge on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akX3Is3qBpw