Ep.#456 - Captain America: Brave New World

[0:00] On this episode, we discuss Captain America, Brave New World.

[0:04] Screenplay by Aldous Huxley.

[0:30] Hey everyone, welcome to the Flophouse. I'm Dan McCoy.

[0:33] Oh, hey Dan McCoy, it's me, Stuart Wellington.

[0:36] Hey Dan and Stuart, it's Elliot Kalin.

[0:39] Who's got the smoothest radio voice?

[0:42] Oh, I don't know. You're in trouble, Elliot.

[0:44] I didn't know we were doing this.

[0:45] Yeah, Dan's gonna be...

[0:46] That's right.

[0:47] Yeah, I mean, I think it's a race to the bottom for me and Dan.

[0:50] Bottom being the deepest voice.

[0:52] Elliot, there's no way you can compete.

[0:54] I don't know about that.

[0:56] Oh, we got a real, yeah, we got a bridge troll just wandering in.

[1:03] Which one of you billy goats is gonna be my dinner?

[1:07] Quick, trick him. Give him some riddles to solve.

[1:10] This is, of course, a bridge troll podcast.

[1:14] No, it's a podcast where we watch a bad movie and then we talk about it.

[1:17] How do we define bad?

[1:18] Well, a movie that was either rejected by audiences or critics or both.

[1:23] This one...

[1:24] Or Dan was at the bus stop and somebody was like, this movie stinks.

[1:28] Like, Chase Sherman from The Critic is taking the same bus.

[1:31] Yeah, this animated caricature from a canceled show from 20 years ago or 30 years ago.

[1:36] Okay, sir, I will do the show you, the movie you want me to on my podcast.

[1:41] If you stop harassing me.

[1:44] I mean, he would have crushed as a podcast host.

[1:46] Oh, yeah.

[1:47] Well, I mean, all that unfettered negativity, sure.

[1:50] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[1:52] Um, we try to we try to be nice, even even though we're a little bit.

[1:56] Do we try to be nice?

[1:57] I think so.

[1:58] I think we don't have to try. It comes naturally.

[2:00] Yeah, I think we try not to be as mean as we could be.

[2:03] Yeah.

[2:04] Oh, okay.

[2:04] And in this world, that means world.

[2:07] That's nice. Yeah.

[2:09] Um, so we don't actively kick a stranger as you pass by them.

[2:13] You're a nice man in this world.

[2:14] Yeah, yeah.

[2:16] We watched Captain America, Brave New World, the other than at this point Thunderbolts,

[2:22] the most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[2:26] There's another one coming out.

[2:28] Yeah.

[2:28] First steps.

[2:29] Fantastic Four.

[2:29] First steps in a couple of weeks.

[2:31] I'm probably I'm guys, I'm going to go out on a limb.

[2:33] I think there's going to be another one after that.

[2:35] Yeah, I think there's going to be at least one more and it's going to have 400 actors in it.

[2:39] Yeah, there's I think it's bad when they're when they're like,

[2:43] we got to figure out how to promote the Marvel movies because the gas is kind of running out on

[2:47] them. I know.

[2:47] We'll just list the names of the thousand people who are in it.

[2:51] It's like, I don't know if that's going to do it anymore, guys.

[2:53] I don't know if just shoveling in mounds and mounds of actors into the into the movie,

[2:58] like coal into a train hopper is going to is going to do it.

[3:00] But maybe I'm wrong.

[3:02] So Captain America, Brave New World, this is the 35th movie.

[3:06] Wow.

[3:06] In the MCU.

[3:07] 35th.

[3:08] Some would say that's more than they should have.

[3:12] Maybe not me.

[3:13] I don't know.

[3:14] But you guys, I want to add a question.

[3:15] You're a you're a you're a Marvel zombie, right?

[3:18] You're familiar with the I was a Marvel zombie.

[3:20] When it comes to the comics, I'm still a Marvel zombie.

[3:22] But I feel like my whatever loyalty I had to the MCU as like a fan who's excited about things has

[3:27] as the Ember is just embers now.

[3:29] You know, it's you're a fan of graphics zombie, right?

[3:33] Comics wise.

[3:34] Yes, I am a fan of graphic zombie.

[3:36] But in terms of the MCU, I've stuck with it longer than Elliott,

[3:40] maybe because I didn't have, you know, like the runway of knowing these characters before.

[3:46] So it didn't tire me out.

[3:48] And Stuart, you're more of a veronica zombie, right?

[3:50] Like whatever.

[3:53] Yeah, I'm like, I like to walk that thin line between horror and pleasure.

[3:58] So, Dan, here's the question I have for you.

[4:00] Exactly that.

[4:01] So I feel like is it because I feel there's two kinds of Marvel zombie fans when it comes

[4:06] to the movies, the ones who are diehard.

[4:08] I love these characters and I've got to support them no matter what.

[4:10] And the ones like me who are like, I kind of already have an outlet for this, which is comic

[4:14] books.

[4:14] Yeah, Dan, since you're not as tied to the comics, how are you feeling about the Marvel

[4:18] Cinematic Universe at this at this stage?

[4:21] It's definitely my my enthusiasm, which which was unflagging.

[4:28] It was an enthusiasm for a long time.

[4:30] Yeah, even during some of the, you know, like post Infinity War downtime, like I still was

[4:40] like, oh, yeah, but, you know, these are still fun enough.

[4:43] This one was the one that really between this and Quantum Mania.

[4:48] I think these are the two ones that really tried my patience the most.

[4:52] I mean, where are we going with our like least favorite Marvel movie so far?

[4:56] Because you didn't mention my least favorite.

[4:58] What's that?

[4:59] Love and Thunder.

[4:59] Thor Love and Thunder.

[5:00] I still have not watched so much.

[5:02] I still haven't.

[5:03] I think I've talked about this on the podcast in the past that a couple of years ago I was

[5:07] in a very deep depression and I was like, what movie am I going to watch while I do the dishes?

[5:12] Thor Love and Thunder is on Disney Plus.

[5:14] I guess I have to watch that.

[5:15] And then I was like, no, wait, I'm not going to watch it.

[5:18] I'm going to watch this foreign movie that I've never heard of that I DVR just on a whim.

[5:22] And that movie was amazing.

[5:24] And I was like and I'm like, I'm not looking back.

[5:26] I'm never watching Love and Thunder.

[5:27] I don't need it.

[5:27] You know, and Stuart, you're just that movie was like Mr.

[5:31] Beans Thanksgiving or something.

[5:35] What was your it was called El Sur.

[5:37] It was a Spanish movie called.

[5:38] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[5:39] What was your in a nutshell?

[5:41] Your Love and Thunder issues?

[5:44] Let's let's hash it out briefly.

[5:46] Was it the Love and Thunder?

[5:47] Yeah, which one was it?

[5:48] I would say I would say it or fans, right?

[5:51] And let us know if you want us to cover Thor Love and Thunder.

[5:52] But Stuart, tell us.

[5:53] Yeah, I mean, I just I feel like it, you know, there's there's some

[5:57] bright spots.

[5:58] I like Christian Bale, you know, but I feel like they it took the

[6:04] kind of like goofiness of some of the previous intro, specifically

[6:10] the last Taika Waititi one.

[6:12] And and it just kind of like dialed the goofiness up the I don't

[6:16] think the jokes worked as well.

[6:18] It felt kind of lazy and thrown together very quickly, which is

[6:23] and or edited to pieces, which is part of the problem with this one.

[6:27] And it it felt like it felt like a filmmaker who was stretched a

[6:31] little too thin, which is, I think, based on his body of work.

[6:34] True.

[6:34] Just because Taika Waititi had signed on to roughly seven dozen

[6:38] projects at that time.

[6:39] And remember, there was there was the interview that made Marvel

[6:42] fans mad where Taika Waititi was like, oh, yeah, I did the Thor

[6:44] movies for money.

[6:45] I needed money at the time.

[6:46] And people were like, what?

[6:47] It wasn't for Love of Thor.

[6:50] But I think there's a there's a one of the things that I still

[6:52] find hilarious that they still have to do is when the people

[6:55] making these movies have to pretend that they've always been

[6:57] fans of these characters and they think they're super cool.

[7:00] We're like, oh, yeah, I read the comics they're based on.

[7:02] And there's such there's such amazing depth in the character

[7:04] of Sidewinder, you know, but it's anyway, we'll get into that,

[7:08] Dan.

[7:09] So Captain America, Brave New World.

[7:11] Had you seen Falcon and Winter Soldier?

[7:13] The TV had seen Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

[7:15] I did not show that should have been an email, right?

[7:19] You know what?

[7:20] I did not hate it as much as a lot of people did.

[7:23] It's not my least favorite of those things either.

[7:25] What was your least favorite of those things?

[7:27] Oh, God.

[7:29] There's a lot of us like vague booking.

[7:32] Yeah.

[7:32] What is it?

[7:33] I can't you know, the one look, I know that it was like more creative

[7:38] and and thus I should be fond of it for its ambition.

[7:42] But I just couldn't make it through Moon Knight because I was like,

[7:46] oh, I didn't watch the hell is happening here.

[7:48] Like, yeah, that's fair.

[7:52] Yeah.

[7:54] But because I didn't see Falcon Winter Soldier.

[7:56] And so when Bucky Barnes, who I associate more with the fact that he

[8:01] until recently was a brainwashed Soviet assassin,

[8:04] when he showed up as a congressional candidate

[8:07] and other characters like a future congressman, Buckworth, J.

[8:10] Barnes or whatever.

[8:10] I was like, what the fuck?

[8:12] What is going on in the Marvel?

[8:13] You know, there's the president and Bucky's running for Congress.

[8:16] Like, what is this kind of amazing about, like,

[8:19] Bucky as elder statesman of the Marvel universe currently?

[8:22] Like, I don't know.

[8:24] It's I mean, it works well in Thunderbolts.

[8:26] It works very well in Thunderbolts.

[8:27] I mean, it's the kind of thing that should happen kind of naturally,

[8:30] organically, because Captain America is an elder statesman character.

[8:33] Bucky is takes a pass on some of that.

[8:35] He's been in a lot of the movies for a while.

[8:37] I haven't seen Thunderbolts yet, so I don't I don't know.

[8:39] But the idea of him is it was more the idea of him as a congressman.

[8:41] I know that's the best part.

[8:43] As people have pointed out online, it should be like, wait, didn't you kill JFK?

[8:49] Well, yeah, sure.

[8:50] But I also helped unsnap a bunch of people.

[8:52] So, you know, he's got a metal arm, dude.

[8:56] He does have a metal arm.

[8:58] That was on his campaign posters.

[8:59] I've got a metal arm, dude, and he's pointing to you.

[9:03] I want you to look at my metal arm.

[9:06] Yeah, yeah.

[9:07] And it's it's it's drawn all super cool with a lot of lines on it.

[9:10] Like Rob Layfield would draw.

[9:11] Oh, I imagine he got he got Boris Vallejo to do it.

[9:14] It's all shiny and, you know, ripped.

[9:16] And a couple of naked women are hanging out with it.

[9:20] He's going for the Manosphere vote.

[9:22] Yeah, of course.

[9:24] OK, so Captain America, Brave New World.

[9:26] Now, for some reason, I watched this on Disney Plus and I didn't see the opening,

[9:31] like traditional opening Marvel logo.

[9:34] Did I just miss it?

[9:36] To be honest, I hit that 10 second skip button for the production logos.

[9:39] So I don't so I but so I didn't recognize that.

[9:42] But I also I figured Stewart never stays for the end credit scene.

[9:45] I don't have to look at the production logos.

[9:47] That's right.

[9:48] That's your cool new thing.

[9:49] OK, so movie opens Thaddeus Ross.

[9:53] Thaddeus what?

[9:54] Thunderbolt Ross.

[9:56] Yeah.

[9:56] Is now president of the United States of America.

[10:00] looking a little different, he was looking a little bit different, he, the snap changed

[10:03] him.

[10:04] Well, okay, so here, let's just pull the curtain back, this is a different actor playing Thunder

[10:08] Boy Ross.

[10:09] Yeah, William Hurt passed away.

[10:10] That, yeah, they, uh, yeah, William Hurt passed away, and Harrison Ford took the role, and

[10:14] I gotta say, I like that more than if they had an AI CGI William Hurt, you know, walking

[10:19] around, you know.

[10:20] I mean, I honestly, like, this is, this is a weird thing to say, because I, I love Harrison

[10:25] Ford, and I am usually very excited to see him in things, but I did miss William Hurt

[10:29] in this role.

[10:30] I feel like William Hurt brings a different, it's like a slightly different energy than

[10:34] Harrison Ford.

[10:35] I agree, well, I think Harrison Ford, you know, he's, I think he's by far the, the MVP

[10:38] of this movie, uh, but I feel like he, uh, he does, Tim Blake Nelson, dude, Tim, I wish

[10:44] they'd just given Tim Blake Nelson more to do, he just walks around and stares at people.

[10:47] Yeah, that's the problem with him.

[10:48] So, and, uh, but, but William Hurt brings a certain, yeah, a certain slight over-the-topness

[10:54] to his Thunderbolt Raws, and I wish Harrison, Harrison Ford doesn't really do that, you

[10:57] know, Harrison Ford doesn't do that kind of like, um, uh, this is just a little bigger

[11:02] than it needs to be, you know, um, but anyway, yeah, so he's the president of the United

[11:05] States now, the guy who, again, who, I mean, nevermind, they elected him president even

[11:10] after he, like, destroyed part of an American city, but whatever, it's, uh, in today's world,

[11:15] that's, yeah.

[11:16] We should not be allowed to say anything, uh, predicting, like, saying what can and

[11:20] can't get you elected, because we've said things on the podcast before, and we've been

[11:24] proven wrong.

[11:25] That's true, that's very true.

[11:26] Well, I think one of the weird things about this movie is that it, and people at the time

[11:30] when it came out, they commented on this, that, like, it feels like a, uh, a movie from

[11:35] a slightly earlier political age, where the message of we may disagree, but maybe we can't,

[11:40] but we have to figure out how to get along still seems kind of like a valid way to live,

[11:45] as opposed to now, where it's like, yeah, I don't, I don't really need to agree to disagree

[11:48] with the guy who's sending masked gunmen to pull citizens off the street and airlifts

[11:53] them to foreign jails.

[11:54] Like, there's no, and the idea that, um, the, uh, and this, people said this in the, in

[11:59] their views that, like, oh, this, it's actually, it would be great if the president just broke

[12:02] some buildings in Washington, D.C. and didn't do more, like, he's, he's a far less destructive

[12:06] president than the one we have when he hulks out.

[12:07] He's a warmonger and a monster, but, uh, he's not that bad.

[12:12] Yeah.

[12:13] Yeah.

[12:14] We've had warmonger, we've had warmonger, I mean, warmonger, I mean, warmonger, I mean,

[12:18] warmonger sounds like a great, a great fantasy character.

[12:20] Yeah.

[12:21] Just take the hulk pills away from him and he'll be fine.

[12:24] No, Dan, he has an, he has a vague heart condition that can only be sort of cured through hulk

[12:29] pills.

[12:30] Okay.

[12:31] Um, okay.

[12:32] So he is the president five months later, uh, five months later, Captain America and

[12:39] his new Falcon sidekick, Joaquin Torres, right?

[12:43] Yeah.

[12:44] And they are sent on a mission to Oaxaca to stop the sale of some classified material

[12:50] that was, uh, stolen by the, uh, the organization called Serpent and their lead bad guy Sidewinder.

[12:57] Are these comic book guys?

[12:59] These are, so here's the, here's, this was a, this was a reshoot thing.

[13:03] So Serpent is a nod to the Serpent Society, which is a group of Captain America villains

[13:07] that are all snake themed and they all have snake costumes.

[13:10] They all have different snake powers.

[13:12] And during, I think it was Cobra Sue about this or they predate Cobra, I believe Daniel,

[13:18] but, uh, but the idea behind them, wait, the health insurance.

[13:21] Oh no, they don't predate that.

[13:22] Yeah.

[13:23] Uh, that I think, I think they, I can't remember if they started during Mark Grunwald's run

[13:26] or not, but Mark Grunwald who wrote Captain America for 10 years and his run is really

[13:30] fun.

[13:31] It's got cap wolf in it and Captain America was a werewolf, all the John Walker us agent

[13:35] stuff that Falcon, the winter soldier was about it like a, he's like, there's all these

[13:40] snake based villains.

[13:41] So let's get them into one group and they'll treat it like it's a labor union or a business

[13:44] syndicate for villains.

[13:46] Like they each get a cut, they get health insurance through it.

[13:48] And Sidewinder is the guy runs it, but they all wear their snake costumes all the time.

[13:52] It looks great.

[13:53] And one of the things that's disappointing to me about this movie is that it feels like

[13:56] it, it feels a lot like it is the nineties direct to video sequel to a big budget action

[14:01] movie.

[14:02] And part of that is that the characters are rarely in costume or doing costume things.

[14:05] The villains, instead of being colorful costumed characters are instead just kind of like randos

[14:10] in, in body armor with guns.

[14:13] And uh, they originally, I guess, had the characters diamond back and another one, these

[14:17] serpent society characters, and then cut them entirely out of the movie that like they literally

[14:21] shot those scenes and then cut them out.

[14:22] And I think they were trying to D maybe D silly fi the serpent society, but it's like,

[14:27] why not?

[14:28] Why are we doing this?

[14:29] Why are we, why are we, would have loved to have been in a cool snake costume.

[14:34] I think so.

[14:35] And he would have done a great job with it.

[14:36] And he could have looked like the snake man in that anti-drug ad from when I was a kid

[14:39] that was so scary where the drug dealer turns into like a weird snake man at the end.

[14:43] Uh, but it's, I, it's one of those things where I think when the Marvel universe was

[14:47] at its best, it was like, let's take the things that happen in the comics and that they do

[14:51] in the comics that in earlier movies would have deemed too silly.

[14:55] Let's just have them do them.

[14:57] Like let's just have them do it.

[14:58] And here it feels like they're back in the old ways of like running away from that, you

[15:01] know, to the serpent society, have them dress up as snakes, give them snake powers.

[15:05] Why not?

[15:06] You know, where else can you get that?

[15:07] Well, I mean, one of the problems with this movie in particular is it has such a like

[15:10] dour and serious tone.

[15:12] And I think they're trying to recapture the, uh, winter soldier tone of like, Oh, this

[15:17] is really a political serious movie.

[15:19] You know, like, and part of what makes that fun is that you in the middle of this serious

[15:25] thing, you have captain America and Bucky running around and doing stuff.

[15:30] Yeah.

[15:31] Well, then there's like some fun, like they're not really like mismatched per se, but there's

[15:35] like some buddy comedy stuff with, uh, Captain America and Black Widow.

[15:39] Like, yeah.

[15:40] I wonder whether, and the introduction of Sam Wilson, some of it is like a response

[15:47] to people getting mad about like, Oh, you know, like these movies got so quippy or whatever,

[15:51] but like, it's still a character comedy is like the good stuff.

[15:57] I, you don't have to run away from like, I don't know.

[16:00] What's also like the characters, part of the issue I had with this movie, this is a larger

[16:04] thing.

[16:05] And I know we haven't talked too much about Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres.

[16:07] They don't really have much personality.

[16:08] Sam Wilson takes everything seriously and he feels a lot of pressure.

[16:11] Joaquin Torres is like, he's the young guy who wants to, who like wants to be a hero

[16:15] and he's a little bit looser and quippy.

[16:16] He's a hot dogger.

[16:17] But other than that, they don't have much.

[16:19] And it's not till the very end of the movie that, uh, Anthony Mackie gets to give that

[16:23] speech about when I'm wearing this, I feel the pressure of everybody else who worked

[16:27] so hard to get me to this place.

[16:28] I can't let them down.

[16:30] And I was like, that's the subtext running throughout.

[16:31] And I'm like, have him say that at the very beginning of the movie and then give him a

[16:35] little bit more personality.

[16:36] But instead, yeah, they play it so like serious boilerplate kind of action movie guy that

[16:43] it, I feel like I was the whole time I was like, I don't get, I don't know what Falcon's

[16:46] personality is.

[16:47] Like, I don't know who he is as a character.

[16:48] I've liked Mackie a lot in this part, but now that he's in the main, uh, role rather

[16:54] than a supporting role, they haven't developed like the next level of character.

[17:00] My favorite moments for him are when he, like he, where they give him a chance to like

[17:05] reveal that, like, yeah, he's just a regular dude where he's like, man, I wish I took that

[17:10] stupid superstar.

[17:11] It was also, this is the kind of stuff's funnier.

[17:14] Does this movie set the limit, set the record for the number of times they say shit in a

[17:17] Marvel movie?

[17:18] It felt like every other line was like, oh shit, oh shit, oh, that's bullshit.

[17:23] And it was like, I was like, listeners, right, right in somebody tally it up, send it in.

[17:27] I think you were watching the shit cut.

[17:28] Oh, that was it.

[17:29] Did you guys see the scene where they were just rolling around or is that not the one

[17:36] that was, I didn't see, I know what now, I didn't watch it on Disney plus.

[17:39] I watched it on, on shitfetish.com.

[17:41] Wow.

[17:42] That's a very specific name.

[17:45] Yeah.

[17:46] I just not try to obfuscate it at all.

[17:48] I just, I, I Googled captain America, brave new world streaming and that's the first link

[17:52] that came up and it looks really cheap.

[17:55] Look on model.

[17:56] Yeah.

[17:57] Poop world.

[17:58] You should have checked.

[17:59] Did you mean Captain America, brave poop world?

[18:00] And I said, I guess that's what it's called.

[18:01] Yeah.

[18:02] You got to make sure that the links you click aren't promoted LA cause Google's just doing

[18:06] well.

[18:07] Google AI said, I think you'll want this.

[18:09] And that the whole time I was watching, I was like, I don't want this.

[18:11] This isn't what I like, but I guess I'll watch all four hours of it.

[18:14] Here's you guys.

[18:15] It was four hours long, right?

[18:16] It was four hours.

[18:17] Just play.

[18:18] Yeah.

[18:19] Okay.

[18:20] Uh, so Captain America arrives.

[18:21] So we're still starting here.

[18:23] We don't even have to talk about how weird it is that our, our American heroes are operating

[18:28] on Mexican soil to deal with this issue, you know?

[18:31] Um, and that, uh, so he arrives, he like beats up a bunch of baddies.

[18:36] He fights like a bigger baddie and beats him up.

[18:39] Meanwhile, this bigger baddie, this was not fun and it was unimpressive and boring, right?

[18:43] Yeah.

[18:44] Like it was this, this is when you need a guy with a superpower, like a snake based

[18:48] superpower for Falcon to go against instead of a guy who's just slightly larger than Falcon.

[18:52] Like he wasn't even that big a guy, but other than like being excited to be fighting him

[18:57] and by Falcon, you mean Captain America, Captain America, I apologize.

[19:02] I will say I, I continue to be disappointed at how much the, like, I know this is the

[19:09] way of the future, everything, but like the way his wings and his mask, like zip on and

[19:14] off digitally.

[19:15] Like it just looks, it looks kind of lame.

[19:18] What I read was that apparently Anthony Mackie had a lot of trouble with the mask he had

[19:21] to wear in Falcon the Winter Soldier and he was like, you gotta give me, you can't

[19:24] put me in that again.

[19:25] Which I understand.

[19:26] I get it.

[19:27] Yeah.

[19:28] That makes sense.

[19:29] But I agree that like the digital wings and everything, they just kind of look.

[19:30] Meh.

[19:31] You know, I don't know.

[19:32] It's hard.

[19:33] It's hard to be excited about it.

[19:34] Okay.

[19:35] I will say I was less excited about this fight than I was about Carrie Elway's fighting Andre

[19:38] the Giant in the Princess Bride, which is a great fight scene where a guy is up against

[19:43] a much bigger guy.

[19:44] So like they needed to bring some of that into this scene, I feel like.

[19:47] Yeah.

[19:48] Yeah.

[19:49] I wish I could have had him fight what, like a human legend like Andre the Giant?

[19:53] Yeah.

[19:54] If you could find another one, sure.

[19:55] Yeah.

[19:56] Yeah.

[19:57] I would say human legend as if he was going to fight like a legendary dog.

[20:00] He's a legendary crocodile.

[20:02] Cerberus is going to be there and he's going to fight.

[20:04] Cerberus.

[20:06] Cerberus is an aardvark.

[20:08] He's a legendary aardvark.

[20:10] He can fight.

[20:12] He's a great fighter. He's got some controversial opinions about women.

[20:14] I know Dan, you agree with him.

[20:16] Okay.

[20:18] So they succeed but

[20:20] Sidewinder escapes.

[20:22] They manage to get this material.

[20:24] They head back.

[20:26] He introduces Joaquin

[20:28] to his friend Isaiah Bradley

[20:30] who is the original Captain America

[20:32] who was a soldier in what?

[20:34] World War I or II?

[20:36] So it's World War II also but

[20:38] this is a character where the idea

[20:40] this is from a comic called The Truth

[20:42] I think it was that Marvel did years ago

[20:44] where the idea was

[20:46] much like the Tuskegee experiments and things like that

[20:48] that before they used the super serum

[20:50] on a white person

[20:52] they would have tested it out on black soldiers.

[20:54] And so there's this black Captain America

[20:56] Isaiah Bradley who perceived it first

[20:58] and because he was a black man

[21:00] was then mistreated by the government

[21:02] and things like that.

[21:04] So I like that they're bringing this character in.

[21:06] I guess maybe he was in Ultra Soldier, the TV show also.

[21:08] Yeah, he was.

[21:10] And he brings some interest.

[21:12] He adds a perspective and a genuine distrust

[21:14] for the US government.

[21:16] The character and the actor are great.

[21:18] In the movie, it's another place where the

[21:20] film feels terribly wishy-washy

[21:22] in this moment

[21:24] where it's like

[21:26] at the end where Captain America is

[21:28] arguing why he still

[21:30] puts on the suit and

[21:32] represents America.

[21:34] I'm like, I don't know, man.

[21:36] It seems like there's been a lot

[21:38] of mistreatment here that would be hard

[21:40] to forgive. I don't know.

[21:42] So they are invited

[21:44] to the White House, Captain America and Falcon

[21:46] for their work in Oaxaca

[21:48] and he insists that

[21:50] he insists that Isaiah

[21:52] come along with them and despite his initial

[21:54] reservations, Isaiah agrees to go along.

[21:56] They get all dressed up. They take a limo.

[21:58] They talk about riding in a limo and being dressed up.

[22:00] They arrive at the White House for this

[22:02] summit. They talk about it for a while.

[22:04] Stewart makes it seem like that's just

[22:06] a joke. They spend a lot of time in that limo

[22:08] talking about, look at your suit, man.

[22:10] Oh, hey, we're in a limo right now.

[22:12] I mean, it's a nice jacket.

[22:14] So they arrive at the White House.

[22:16] You don't wear it to the White House.

[22:18] If you've got style, you do.

[22:20] Good point. So they arrive at the White

[22:22] House. There's initially

[22:24] some conversation that I thought was just

[22:26] you know, I tossed off jokes

[22:28] where Isaiah is having trouble

[22:30] working his phone.

[22:32] But it turns out that's a plot point.

[22:34] Captain meets with

[22:36] President Ross who suggests

[22:38] that they put aside their past

[22:40] differences and Captain America

[22:42] restart the Avengers.

[22:44] And it's this like, hey,

[22:46] let's build bridges and move forward.

[22:48] Then the president gives an address

[22:50] where he's talking all about the

[22:52] giant dead

[22:54] eternal that appeared

[22:56] at the end of Eternal.

[22:58] It's my mistake.

[23:00] I thought that was never going to be mentioned again.

[23:02] I'm kind of excited to see that.

[23:04] Because it's their way to get an even more

[23:06] important thing into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

[23:08] And what is that miracle mineral?

[23:10] Adamantium.

[23:12] Adamantium. And you know,

[23:14] all the comic fans ejaculated

[23:16] when they heard that word because they know Wolverine

[23:18] is going to show up at some point. Not in this movie.

[23:20] Not in this movie. Sometime.

[23:22] He is too busy being in the highest

[23:24] grossing R-rated comedy of all time.

[23:26] Shortly after this.

[23:28] Is that

[23:30] The Hangover 5?

[23:32] No, it's The Music Man on Broadway.

[23:34] The film version of it.

[23:36] Wow, that's R-rated?

[23:38] Now I'm interested in seeing it.

[23:40] They updated it for modern times.

[23:42] It's grittier. There's a lot more nudity.

[23:44] Most shits you'll ever hear on Broadway.

[23:46] You know what, I might have been watching

[23:48] The Poosic Man, which was on the same

[23:50] website we were talking about earlier.

[23:52] We got trouble.

[23:54] That starts with a T and that rhymes

[23:56] with P and that stands for poop.

[23:58] And then it's just shit play from that point on.

[24:00] I'm going to put a child protection

[24:02] on your laptop, Elliot.

[24:04] That's a good idea.

[24:06] Worried about you.

[24:08] So in the middle of this, we also

[24:10] learned that the

[24:12] thing that was recovered in Oaxaca

[24:14] that was up for sale, the classified material,

[24:16] was actually some of that adamantium

[24:18] that I believe belonged to the Japanese

[24:20] and was stolen by servant.

[24:22] So this movie is trying

[24:24] to be mature

[24:26] and intelligent

[24:28] in making itself about international

[24:30] tension between America and Japan

[24:32] over the ownership of adamantium

[24:34] and this treaty that will

[24:36] share adamantium with all the world that

[24:38] the president has.

[24:40] The thing appeared in the Indian Ocean

[24:42] and all the nations that are nearby

[24:44] are trying to race so that they can exploit

[24:46] this

[24:48] giant alien

[24:50] crocodile.

[24:52] There's two things I want to bring up about this.

[24:54] One is, now the rest

[24:56] of the movie, Ross just keeps going,

[24:58] my treaty! We've got to sign this

[25:00] treaty! And it's ridiculous.

[25:02] He's always talking about this treaty.

[25:04] The other thing is,

[25:06] clearly,

[25:08] this should be about tension between America

[25:10] and China, but they do not want

[25:12] to insult China. They want to

[25:14] make sure that this movie can play in Chinese theaters

[25:16] and so they make it Japan instead.

[25:18] The idea that America and Japan are

[25:20] racing for this thing in the Indian Ocean

[25:22] and China is just kicking back, being like,

[25:24] I don't need it! I don't need to extend my control

[25:26] over the oceans around my country!

[25:28] No, you guys handle it! It's

[25:30] bonkers. It's ridiculous.

[25:32] It's similar to that Red Dawn

[25:34] remake we did years ago where I think it was supposed to be

[25:36] China invade the United States and then they were like,

[25:38] we might want this to play in China because there's a lot of money there.

[25:40] So they made it North Korea instead and the idea

[25:42] that North Korea could land an invasion army

[25:44] in the United States and start taking over the country

[25:46] is ludicrous.

[25:48] So it just was very,

[25:50] it felt very cynical

[25:52] and also kind of like...

[25:54] It does have hoves in different area codes.

[25:56] North Korea?

[25:58] Ludicrous!

[26:00] Oh, ludicrous.

[26:02] It was one where it felt like,

[26:04] they assumed it was in order to

[26:06] not annoy the Chinese government so that they could

[26:08] keep sending movies to China.

[26:10] But it meant that this movie was

[26:12] attempting to do kind of a smart thing

[26:14] about international politics but in a very kind of

[26:16] dumb, in a very dumb way.

[26:18] Yeah, it's

[26:20] dumb and it

[26:22] is weird.

[26:24] Okay, so in the middle...

[26:26] Yeah, so in the middle of this...

[26:28] It's some dot, dot, dot, weird

[26:30] Stuart Wellington flop house.

[26:32] So they...

[26:34] In the middle of this summit,

[26:36] we hear some

[26:38] strains of a strange song playing

[26:40] and all of a sudden Isaiah Bradley

[26:42] and two other men whip out guns

[26:44] and just start blasting.

[26:46] The president luckily survives

[26:48] and Isaiah Bradley

[26:50] goes on the lam. He runs

[26:52] across the various parts of Washington,

[26:54] D.C. before Sam convinces him to give up.

[26:56] They're surrounded

[26:58] and Isaiah is taken into custody

[27:00] He is obviously confused as to what happened.

[27:02] It's almost like he was brainwashed.

[27:04] Almost. So this movie is

[27:06] Mr. Blue as performed by the Fleetwoods.

[27:08] There's another blue-based song

[27:10] they could have used, guys.

[27:12] Oh yeah, how's that go? Is there a melody?

[27:14] Just to get a dramatic reading of it, it goes

[27:16] I'm blue, da-boo-dee, da-boo-die.

[27:18] Da-boo-dee, da-boo-die.

[27:20] Da-boo-dee, da-boo-die.

[27:22] And I was very disappointed that they didn't go that way.

[27:24] Is that the first chorus or is that the chorus

[27:26] or one of the verses?

[27:28] That's the chorus.

[27:30] It's most of the song. I mean, it does open with a spoken

[27:32] word intro about how this is a song about

[27:34] a blue guy who lives in a blue world.

[27:36] Interesting, yeah.

[27:38] I also want to say, obviously

[27:40] Thunderbolt Ross is not the most

[27:42] level-headed and reasonable

[27:44] of men.

[27:46] But I do find it kind of

[27:48] odd that in this world where we

[27:50] know about

[27:52] the Winter Soldier, again, bringing him up again

[27:54] and how he was

[27:56] triggered to do

[27:58] assassinations, that

[28:00] there is so much confusion around

[28:02] the idea that

[28:04] Isaiah might have had the same thing

[28:06] happen to him and so much disbelief.

[28:08] In a world of magic powers.

[28:10] I would point you, Dan,

[28:12] there's a great issue of Astro City

[28:14] that's about a lawyer who gets his client,

[28:16] a gangster, off of charges because he's

[28:18] arguing, how do we know it wasn't a duplicate

[28:20] from another dimension? How do we know it wasn't

[28:22] a clone in this superhero world we live

[28:24] in? It's a good, yeah,

[28:26] you should use that argument, Dan, when you're

[28:28] defending somebody in the superhero universe.

[28:30] Why did he not

[28:32] wear his magical amulet that grants

[28:34] him superhuman strength and powers?

[28:36] That's my favorite line

[28:38] from the recent Daredevil show

[28:40] when he's defending

[28:42] a vigilante. Why doesn't he just eat

[28:44] Ross, the largest friend?

[28:46] So it's

[28:48] around here, so in the confusion, so

[28:50] obviously Isaiah Bradley at this

[28:52] point is sentenced to potentially

[28:54] he might be on trial for

[28:56] the death penalty.

[28:58] Attempted assassination.

[29:00] They keep saying they are going for the

[29:02] death penalty. Can you get the death penalty for

[29:04] an attempted murder?

[29:06] I mean, in today's

[29:08] America?

[29:10] It just kept sticking back to me. I'm like, I don't know

[29:12] if I've ever heard of the death penalty for someone who failed to kill

[29:14] somebody else.

[29:16] It's around now where we're

[29:18] introduced to Ross's

[29:20] head of security,

[29:22] Ruth Bat Saroff,

[29:24] a very tiny woman

[29:26] who was apparently trained in

[29:28] the Red Rooms with the Black Widows.

[29:30] And so

[29:32] she is a character that

[29:34] from my understanding was

[29:36] edited and cut down quite a bit.

[29:38] Yes, in the comic books she is a character

[29:40] named Sabra, who is kind of the Israeli

[29:42] national superhero, and

[29:44] when they first started putting this movie together,

[29:46] I'm not sure why they chose

[29:48] her as a character to be in it, but there was a

[29:50] firestorm on both sides

[29:52] of the pro and anti-Israeli,

[29:54] pro and anti-Gaza

[29:56] thing. They stepped into

[29:58] a controversy of Snow White

[30:00] around it, and I think their reaction to that was to,

[30:03] instead of making her an Israeli superhero,

[30:04] make her an Israeli-born employee

[30:07] of the United States government,

[30:08] who just happens to be a former black widow,

[30:11] as opposed to someone with strong ties to Israel.

[30:14] But I always love the name Bat-Sarif,

[30:16] because it sounds like it's like if Batman was an angel.

[30:20] I mean, the thing, I mean, like, as someone, you know.

[30:22] It's basically Asriel, right?

[30:23] Yeah, I guess that is Asriel, yeah.

[30:25] Outside of that world.

[30:29] I was not like, my initial like association with Bat

[30:33] is not like, oh yeah, this is like a Jewish name.

[30:36] It is the Bat, you know, and it was like,

[30:38] it was only on rewatch.

[30:39] I'm like, oh, of course, yes, of course, right, right.

[30:42] There's no Bat element in this.

[30:45] You get waiting for her to turn into a,

[30:46] but you're like, a falcon and a bat.

[30:48] It makes perfect sense.

[30:49] They're both flyers, yeah, you know.

[30:51] I mean, if she turned, like morphed into a bat character,

[30:53] that would have been great.

[30:54] Amazing.

[30:55] That would have been fantastic, yeah.

[30:56] Okay, I mean, I, you know.

[30:58] She doesn't, what were you gonna say, Dan?

[31:00] Well, just no, I understand why in this world

[31:03] things were changed about this character,

[31:05] just as a matter of like, the actress performing it.

[31:09] Like, this is a fun character, I think, to me,

[31:12] in this movie, that doesn't have a lot of fun stuff.

[31:14] She's all right, this is Shira Haas,

[31:15] is the actress who's, who, you may remember her

[31:18] from the show, Stiesel,

[31:20] which was my in-laws' favorite show for a while.

[31:24] Can you tell us a little bit about the show?

[31:26] It's an Israeli show about Jews.

[31:30] It's like, it's just about, it's about, like,

[31:32] Orthodox Jews, and my in-laws really loved it.

[31:34] They were watching it all the time.

[31:35] Oh, and she was, that's right,

[31:35] and she was in Unorthodox.

[31:37] Oh, that's what I remember.

[31:39] Yeah, yeah, that's what you would know her from,

[31:40] is from Unorthodox, another show about Orthodox Jews.

[31:44] But the, what was I gonna say?

[31:46] But they kind of solved the problem by,

[31:49] she's a fun performer in this,

[31:51] but they also don't give her that much to do.

[31:53] Like, there's not a lot of personality in this character,

[31:55] aside from like, she seems like she's gonna be

[31:57] tough as nails, and then she's got a sense of humor,

[31:59] you know?

[32:00] Yeah, she's initially introduced as potentially a foil,

[32:02] but then she becomes an ally.

[32:04] Okay, so Sam goes to- An alloy.

[32:06] Foil is an alloy, depending on what it's made out of.

[32:11] Sam goes to visit Isaiah in jail,

[32:14] and he continues his investigations.

[32:17] While he's driving around, he gets ambushed by Sidewinder.

[32:20] His car gets blown up,

[32:22] and then he beats up Sidewinder and wins,

[32:24] because, I mean, it's Giancarlo Esposito, great actor.

[32:27] I don't quite buy him as like,

[32:29] as physically tough as Captain America.

[32:31] I mean, at least in Electric State,

[32:33] they gave him a robot body to be working through.

[32:36] But the idea that, yeah, even if Captain America

[32:38] doesn't have the super soldier serum,

[32:39] he's still gotta be at least 15 years younger

[32:42] than Giancarlo Esposito, like, right?

[32:44] Like, it feels weird to have an older gentleman

[32:47] as like the big physical one.

[32:49] Now, if they put him in a snake suit,

[32:52] maybe, maybe, snake suit.

[32:53] Of course, if he has snake powers,

[32:55] then yeah, of course, then it's a totally different story.

[32:58] Now, what are snake powers?

[32:59] Let's dig into this.

[33:00] Squeezing, mesmerizing people.

[33:03] I mean, there's a lot of different kinds of snake powers.

[33:05] So, I think Sidewinder,

[33:07] this Sidewinder, he could teleport, I think.

[33:09] Let's see.

[33:10] That's a snake power?

[33:11] Yeah.

[33:12] I mean, that's-

[33:13] I'm terrified now.

[33:14] There's gonna be snakes in my shower.

[33:16] Snakes could just show up anywhere, Dan.

[33:17] That's why you gotta always check your shoes

[33:19] when you wake up in the morning.

[33:21] What other snake, I mean, like,

[33:23] not all of them had snake, snake powers,

[33:24] because, like, Diamondback's powers were like-

[33:25] There's a constrictor, right?

[33:27] Yeah, there's, yeah, there's,

[33:29] which one is it?

[33:30] Is it King Cobra, I think?

[33:31] There's Black Mamba, King Cobra, Asp.

[33:33] They all have different,

[33:34] they can bite people, you know, they can squeeze people.

[33:37] I forget if it's-

[33:37] I mean, I can bite people, Elliot.

[33:38] I forget if it's King-

[33:39] Can you squeeze people?

[33:40] I'll do it right now.

[33:41] I forget if it's King Cobra, the one who has a snake body.

[33:43] One of them has, like, a bionic,

[33:45] from the waist down, he's just a huge snake, you know?

[33:47] Oh, yeah.

[33:48] But, like, Diamondback,

[33:49] who became Captain America's girlfriend for a little bit,

[33:51] she just kind of throws diamonds and jumps around.

[33:53] She's a real Black Widow, Elektra-type character.

[33:56] You know, we talk about all these body modifications, right?

[33:59] Where, like, people are getting-

[33:59] Yeah, body mods.

[34:00] Calf, calf extensions and things.

[34:02] How come nobody's just turned their lower half

[34:04] of their body into a snake body?

[34:05] Calf extension.

[34:06] There was a guy for a long-

[34:07] Yeah.

[34:08] Yeah, I mean, more like a,

[34:09] there was a guy who was trying-

[34:10] Do you ever see materialists yet, Dan?

[34:11] There was a guy-

[34:12] Extensions?

[34:13] Yeah.

[34:14] For longer calves.

[34:15] Well, to be taller.

[34:16] Yeah, Dan.

[34:17] Heightening surgery, yeah.

[34:18] You haven't, you didn't-

[34:19] I can do this?

[34:20] Yeah, yeah.

[34:21] You can get, like, up to six inches.

[34:22] Oh, God.

[34:22] So, Anthony Mackie-

[34:23] I didn't know about this.

[34:24] Is 11 years younger than Giancarlo Esposito.

[34:26] So, that's not super crazy.

[34:27] Yeah, it's, I guess it's within the realm of possibility

[34:30] that they'd be evenly matched in a fight.

[34:32] But even without the super soldier serum,

[34:34] I still believe that Anthony Mackie is a,

[34:36] is gonna be, is that Giancarlo Esposito

[34:38] is not the athletic match.

[34:40] I mean, I think the main thing is that Giancarlo Esposito

[34:43] had, you know, some weapons, some guns.

[34:45] He did have some weapons.

[34:46] That he was shooting at.

[34:47] And they're like, here's my secret weapon,

[34:49] a big gun weapon.

[34:51] Now, if his gun shot snakes.

[34:52] Yeah, well, there you go.

[34:53] Again, that would be so much better.

[34:55] Where he threw a grenade

[34:56] and a bunch of snakes jumped out at you.

[34:58] I mean, you know who knew this?

[34:59] You know who knew the power of throwing a snake at somebody?

[35:01] Moses.

[35:02] It worked then, it would work now.

[35:03] Throw a snake at somebody.

[35:05] Throwing some peanut brittle at him

[35:06] and have the snakes burst out of that peanut brittle.

[35:08] Real snakes, though.

[35:09] That thing, real snakes burst out of it, yeah.

[35:11] Throw it, it's like, here's a snack.

[35:15] Captain America, and Captain America's like,

[35:17] actually, I'm pretty hungry.

[35:18] Thanks, I could use some energy

[35:20] in the middle of this battle.

[35:20] I appreciate it.

[35:21] Oh, thanks.

[35:24] Okay, so they trace the last number

[35:28] that Sidewinder called to a CIA black site

[35:33] called Camp Echo One.

[35:35] That's kind of in the middle of nowhere.

[35:37] Cap immediately recognized this as a-

[35:40] If you call West Virginia in the middle of nowhere,

[35:42] which if I was a McElroy, I'd be pretty insulted, too.

[35:45] I mean, they try to play it up like

[35:47] the reason why he knows it is what it is,

[35:49] because it's not near anything else.

[35:50] That's true, yeah.

[35:51] So he and Joaquin head down to check this place out.

[35:56] Meanwhile, Ross is what, flying around?

[36:00] He's talking to his assistants?

[36:02] He's going back and forth between here and Japan

[36:04] trying to get the Japanese Prime Minister

[36:06] to sign on to this treaty,

[36:07] because if Japan doesn't sign on,

[36:09] then India and France will not sign on, I think it is,

[36:13] and they need, he needs this treaty.

[36:15] We got this treaty.

[36:16] We owe it to the world for this treaty,

[36:17] the treaty that will say

[36:19] that they will all share the adamantium.

[36:20] No country will have a monopoly on adamantium, yeah.

[36:24] He also places a call to the prison

[36:26] that we'll later learn is Camp Echo One,

[36:29] and he's talking to the warden

[36:30] about whether or not their prisoner is still contained,

[36:34] and the warden's like, yes, of course.

[36:35] I'm looking at him right now,

[36:36] and it's revealed that he is.

[36:37] Just looking at a wall that something fishy is going on.

[36:41] Okay, so Captain America and Falcon

[36:44] investigate Camp Echo One.

[36:45] They meet the real bad guy.

[36:48] Really easy.

[36:49] They break in very easily, yeah.

[36:52] They notice that they find a whole bunch of evidence.

[36:57] It's like an evidence dungeon down there

[36:58] with a bunch of pictures on the wall,

[37:00] and one of the bits of evidence

[37:02] ties what's going on to President Ross,

[37:05] and there's some weird pills,

[37:07] the same pills that Ross has been chomping down like Tic Tacs.

[37:11] So this bad guy is very sloppily organized,

[37:14] because he's literally just left

[37:16] the president's medical files just out on the desk,

[37:19] and he doesn't need them at that moment.

[37:20] This is a plan that's been going on for years.

[37:22] He should have filed them at this point.

[37:24] Especially because we learn that this is Samuel Sterns,

[37:27] the leader.

[37:28] Is that the?

[37:29] Yes, in the comics, he's the leader.

[37:30] They never call him that in the movies, but they should.

[37:33] Recall him from everyone's favorite MCU movie.

[37:38] Oh, brother, where art thou?

[37:39] The Incredible Hulk.

[37:40] Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

[37:43] The character everyone,

[37:44] the actor everyone remembers as the Hulk, Edward Norton.

[37:48] Tim Blake Nelson.

[37:49] And everybody who, the actor everybody remembers

[37:51] from General Ross, William Hurt.

[37:53] Doesn't even become the leader until the end of that movie.

[37:58] The abomination is the main villain in that.

[38:00] So they're paying off something that was put in

[38:04] years and years ago. In the first Marvel movie.

[38:06] Yeah, so that's just good filmmaking.

[38:10] They plant that seed.

[38:11] So yeah, so he didn't call him the leader,

[38:13] but he is the leader and.

[38:15] What's his powers in the comic book?

[38:17] He's just super intelligent.

[38:19] He has a gamma infused brain.

[38:21] And he's got a big old dome.

[38:23] And that's why he's the Hulk's villain.

[38:24] The Hulk gamma made him strong, but savage and dumb.

[38:27] It made the leader incredibly brilliant

[38:29] and also scheming and cunning.

[38:31] And so he's just super smart.

[38:33] And in the comics, his head like expands,

[38:35] like a kind of like a, in the old comics,

[38:37] his forehead just gets super tall.

[38:40] He's just got a very tall head with a huge beard.

[38:42] Around the time in the 80s,

[38:43] when Todd McFarlane was drawing him in the Hulk,

[38:45] his head started expanding in all directions,

[38:47] like a Jiffy Pot dome.

[38:48] And he looks great.

[38:49] He's got a mustache.

[38:50] I love it.

[38:51] And here originally, I guess his look was more

[38:54] in keeping with the comics,

[38:55] but then I think people didn't like it.

[38:57] So they changed it to, now he's got,

[38:59] it looks like his head is just kind of green and puffy.

[39:00] He's got like a lumpy head, yeah.

[39:02] Yeah, and his eyes are all weird

[39:03] and he doesn't have a mustache.

[39:05] I want to address something you said just a moment ago

[39:06] about like him having these files just laid out.

[39:09] Now, I guess the idea for a lot of this is,

[39:13] the leader, again, is power, extreme smartness.

[39:16] He can predict like what's going to happen.

[39:19] So here's, so they stole from a different Marvel character,

[39:22] the Mad Thinker.

[39:23] The Mad Thinker is the one who's always like,

[39:24] there's a 95% chance that you will come through that door

[39:27] right now, and then a trap is operated or whatever.

[39:30] And so here they have him talking about probabilities

[39:32] and calculations.

[39:33] That's a Mad Thinker thing.

[39:35] That's okay.

[39:35] They can give it to the leader.

[39:36] That's fine.

[39:37] But I assume that-

[39:38] He's not mad about it, but the Mad Thinker is.

[39:40] It's in his name.

[39:41] I assume that part of the idea is that like,

[39:44] these are all breadcrumbs.

[39:45] This is all part of his plan. He's setting them up, yeah.

[39:48] Which is a trope that I really have grown to dislike

[39:54] because it's just, if like 90% of your movie

[39:57] is like the bad guy being like, I knew exactly.

[40:00] exactly what you were going to do, and like, I've led you here this whole time, it makes

[40:05] it-

[40:06] You played into my hands every step of the way, Captain Emeritus.

[40:09] It makes it-

[40:10] Time to open the box, Brad Pitt!

[40:13] It makes it feel like everything else has been worthless, and also it makes it feel

[40:18] like, well then how do you vanquish them at the end?

[40:21] Like, he's been right about everything, but somehow miraculously you're right at the end.

[40:25] But also, in Seven, something like that works better because it's a shocking reveal, you

[40:32] know?

[40:33] Normally I'm not in favor of shocking reveals, I believe in the Hitchcock, well, we want

[40:37] to know the things up front so we can have information that the characters maybe don't

[40:41] that creates a suspense, but I think if it's going to be like a mastermind telling a hero

[40:49] pretty early on in the movie, like, oh, I'm masterminding everything, then it takes the

[40:54] winds out of the movie's sails, versus there is at least a little juice in, like, at the

[40:58] end of the movie, the shock of being like, oh, my God, I've played into your hands all

[41:03] along, like, I thought I was doing the right thing, but it was wrong, you know?

[41:07] Well, I'd say, there's two things I'll say to that, Dan, which I agree with you.

[41:11] Number one is, Seven is just such a different type of movie that exists in a different world.

[41:15] Like, there's no justice and there's no heroes in Seven, which I think is how, it's a super

[41:19] bleak movie and how you can get away with it, and it's not like, we don't have to worry

[41:22] about the continuing adventures of Brad and Morgan, you know, in other movies, so, but

[41:28] I think also...

[41:29] I don't know, like a sequel.

[41:30] It's called Eight.

[41:32] It's called Eight.

[41:33] Oh, hell yeah.

[41:34] They invented a new deadly sin, and now the killer is back from the dead.

[41:40] We thought we'd figured out all the ways to sin.

[41:42] Turned out there was one more.

[41:43] There's another one, Doomscrolling.

[41:44] It's really cool.

[41:45] Cybercrime.

[41:46] Dee Snider's Seven Land.

[41:47] Oh, man, yeah.

[41:48] Oh, man.

[41:49] If it was Cybercrime, the fucking beekeeper would show up and beat the shit out of John

[41:55] Doe.

[41:56] Sure.

[41:57] But I think also...

[41:58] Elliot, have you seen The Beekeeper yet?

[41:59] I have not seen The Beekeeper yet.

[42:00] Dude, Elliot, you gotta watch The Beekeeper.

[42:01] Yeah, you gotta keep those bees.

[42:02] I guess, you know what?

[42:03] I'm in the middle of Sinners.

[42:04] I guess I'll put a pause on that and I'll go watch The Beekeeper instead.

[42:07] Hit a pause.

[42:08] Yeah.

[42:09] Well, you just gotta time it right to a scene where they're looking at a television, and

[42:12] then you imagine that the characters are watching Beekeeper.

[42:15] Yeah, there's a lot of television scenes in Sinners.

[42:18] Yeah.

[42:19] So, Dan, but I think you're right that if you're gonna pull off, oh, you were in my

[42:25] clutches the whole time, and now you've gotta figure out a way to escape it, that the stakes

[42:29] are so much higher for the filmmakers in making it a surprise and also devastating, and then

[42:34] finding a way for the hero to do something the villain didn't expect, but here they just

[42:38] don't do it.

[42:39] The villain just kinda starts getting bored at a certain point, but also, he says, don't

[42:43] be boring to someone at one point, which is my favorite line in the movie, but also, it's

[42:49] also one of those times where he was like, I knew you'd invite Isaiah Bradley to the

[42:52] White House, so I brainwashed him, and it's like, dude, if you didn't brainwash Isaiah

[42:56] Bradley, Captain America probably wouldn't have investigated this.

[43:00] You probably would've gotten away with it, but he was like, but I wanted you to investigate,

[43:03] to increase the pressure on the president.

[43:05] It would've been easier if you just didn't.

[43:07] It reminds me of in Speed 2, when we did our Speed 2 show, where it was like, where Willem

[43:11] Dafoe is getting away with the jewels or whatever, and then takes Sandra Bullock with him, and

[43:15] I'm like, if you didn't do that, nobody would chase you.

[43:17] You just go.

[43:18] Like, why bother?

[43:19] You know?

[43:20] There's literally the attention.

[43:21] There's literally a part in this after he- I'm always self-sabotaging, when I wanna get

[43:26] caught.

[43:27] He was the main character for a while, and he likes the spotlight.

[43:30] Yeah.

[43:31] There's an earlier part, where Cap has beaten up Giancarlo Esposito, and then the leader

[43:36] calls him to be like, good work, or whatever, just as I expected.

[43:41] It's like, dude, you know where a manipulator usually lurks?

[43:44] The shadows.

[43:45] It works better that way, you know?

[43:46] I guess there is a feeling of like, if nobody knows, then what's the- there's another Astro

[43:50] City issue about this, I'll point to, where this guy who's called the Toymaker or Toybox

[43:55] or something, he pulls off the greatest heist, and the problem is, he's rich, and he gets

[43:59] away with it, but nobody knows he did it, and so he goes back and deliberately gets

[44:03] caught so that people can know that he did it, and then he escapes again.

[44:06] But the idea that like, how- you want the notoriety.

[44:09] You want the reputation.

[44:10] Yeah.

[44:11] Which, if they had built that into the leader, Samuel Stearns, I think it would've been great.

[44:14] I've been in this hole for decades because of Ross- for years because of Ross.

[44:18] I want people to know who I am.

[44:19] I want people to know the name Samuel Stearns, but they don't do that, you know?

[44:22] I made him what he was, I deserve credit for all that.

[44:25] Exactly.

[44:26] I'm the man who made Thunderbolt Ross, and I want people to know I'm the man who broke

[44:31] We have a- so there's a little bit of a scene with Cap, Falcon, and the leader just yapping

[44:36] at each other.

[44:37] They do a lot of talking, yeah.

[44:38] And then a whole bunch of soldiers that have been brainwashed show up, and we get a little

[44:43] bit of a battle.

[44:45] They try to- and in the carnage, the leader escapes camp, and Falcon link up with Ruth

[44:53] Batsaroff, who initially is there to maybe take them into custody, but then she realized

[44:59] what's going on, and they team up to beat up a bunch of soldiers.

[45:01] To use as her Black Widow training, yeah.

[45:03] Mm-hmm.

[45:04] Lots of flips.

[45:05] How do you guys feel about the fights in this one?

[45:07] Did you enjoy any of the fights in this?

[45:08] I found them kind of like, meh.

[45:10] Yeah, not really.

[45:11] Yeah.

[45:12] I mean, I thought the- I think this one was probably the scene where they're fighting

[45:18] in the lab.

[45:21] I think the fight in the lab was kind of the most interesting, because it felt like- it

[45:25] felt the most like, oh no, they might actually get fucked up in this one.

[45:28] Yeah, they're being hit with taser batons and things like that.

[45:31] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[45:32] Force batons.

[45:33] Guys, am I losing my taste for, like, fight scenes?

[45:36] Is that what it is?

[45:37] I feel like the last couple of action movies I've seen where there's just kind of, like,

[45:40] fist fighting, I've been like, eh, I don't know.

[45:43] And I already have lost my taste for gunfights to a certain extent.

[45:45] Am I- what's happening to me, guys?

[45:47] Well, I think a lot of them that are done these days are pretty uninspired.

[45:52] I think that's a big part of it, especially with, like, big blockbusters do it worse than

[45:59] smaller movies where, you know, the emphasis is on, you know, fight choreography and stunts.

[46:05] Like, these are so, I don't know, it's just like-

[46:08] I did like the fights in Love Hurts more than the fights in this one.

[46:12] And I did watch Police Story again not too long ago, and the fights in that are pretty

[46:15] amazing.

[46:16] All right, maybe it's the movies.

[46:17] Maybe it's not me.

[46:18] Yeah.

[46:19] Maybe it's the pictures that got small.

[46:20] Yeah.

[46:21] Yeah, pictures got small.

[46:22] Okay, so they, the three of them, go to a military base where the soldiers that we had

[46:28] met in the initial Oaxaca incident are holding Sidewinder.

[46:34] I want to point out one of the characters in here that you don't get to see much of.

[46:38] One of the soldiers, they just call him Dunphy, and this is clearly Dennis Dunphy, the character

[46:41] of D-Man, one of my favorite D-List Marvel characters.

[46:46] He is a guy with super strength who is, always wants to be a hero, he was one of Captain

[46:50] America's sidekicks for a while, and he's just kind of a lovable lunk, and for a long

[46:55] time was a homeless character, like a homeless superhero, and I always wanted to write a

[46:59] D-Man series, and I never got the chance to.

[47:01] So just want to mention, they bring D-Man- I feel like-

[47:03] They don't do much with him, but- D-Man is one of those characters that is

[47:05] talked about by deep-cut fans who are like, oh man, I would love to do- I feel like Marvel

[47:11] was constantly getting pitches from weirdos, like weird comic writers who were like, yeah,

[47:17] I got this great idea, and they're like, another D-Man idea.

[47:20] I pitched them a D-Man series at one point where he was going to be traveling around

[47:22] America, going to the cities that other characters don't deal with, and the idea was that he

[47:28] goes into these cities and he finds that the small-time villains that are local to these

[47:33] areas are being pushed out by this kind of Walmart of bigger villains who realize, if

[47:37] they hang around New York, they're going to get beat up by Thor, but if they go to Kansas

[47:40] City, it's not going to be as big a problem, and so he's got to deal with all these villains

[47:44] coming in and pushing out the local villains, and it would have been really fun.

[47:47] Yeah, that's a good idea.

[47:49] Okay, so they- while they're there, they interrogate Sidewinder, who kind of gives a little bit

[47:54] of background on why he stole this stuff, and yada yada yada, meanwhile, there is a-

[48:00] If you capture somebody, they immediately will talk to you if you promise them something,

[48:04] which is what we're learning.

[48:05] Once somebody is in a captive situation, they're happy to talk and just tell you stuff in this

[48:09] movie.

[48:10] Especially with the sense of, like, I'm going to tell you this, but I'm going to escape

[48:13] and then I'm going to kill you, Captain America.

[48:16] Meanwhile, in the Indian Oceans, tensions have increased.

[48:20] Japan is heading to the celestial, and the U.S. is, including President Ross, are en

[48:28] route to intercept them.

[48:30] They launch some fighters.

[48:32] Those fighters are brainwashed by the leader, who has snuck into a house and is calling

[48:37] people with the house phone.

[48:38] Yeah, he's somehow been able to figure out how to use a domestic phone to just kind of

[48:41] call fighter jets and-

[48:43] Fighter jets and, like, the earpiece the president has.

[48:47] He's a genius.

[48:48] He's a super genius.

[48:49] I'll buy it.

[48:50] I'll buy it.

[48:51] Yeah.

[48:52] So, uh, they-

[48:53] I mean, I wish he had kind of a machine he hooked up to the phone that allowed him to

[48:54] do this, but instead he's just talking into a regular landline phone, but whatever.

[48:58] Yeah, if he had, like, some weird invention he made, like, because he had plenty of time

[49:03] to make weird inventions.

[49:04] The fact that in E.T., Elliot makes a more interesting-looking invention out of his toys,

[49:08] you know, and a saw blade, but, you know, that's the best E.T.

[49:11] That's also one of the greatest movies ever made, so it's unfair to compare this to that,

[49:15] you know?

[49:16] The brainwashed pilots attack the Japanese Navy.

[49:19] Japan retaliates.

[49:20] Cap and Falcon arrive and have to try and break this up.

[49:25] They got there pretty fast with their little suits, right?

[49:28] I feel like they got to the Indian Ocean pretty fast.

[49:29] They did.

[49:30] Yeah.

[49:31] They get from West Virginia to the Indian Ocean pretty quickly.

[49:32] Yeah.

[49:33] On what are essentially just, like, gliders.

[49:34] That's one thing that bothered me more about these wings, where I'm like, he's doing a

[49:39] lot of, like, from the ground flying in a way that I'm like, I don't know how this works.

[49:44] He's like a little rocket pack, right?

[49:45] There's propulsion in there.

[49:46] There's some kind of propulsion.

[49:47] What bothers me more is Red Wing, his sidekick, who is, uh, in the comics is an actual living

[49:51] bird and here's some kind of frickin' robot that shoots lasers out.

[49:54] I don't like that at all.

[49:55] Yeah, that's not as cool.

[49:57] Um, okay.

[49:58] So they, uh, they managed to stop the brainwash.

[50:00] pilots, they managed to shoot down the missiles that have all been blasted all over creation.

[50:04] Japan stands down, but in the process, Joaquin Torres gets gravely injured, and they have

[50:10] to airlift him and put him in the hospital.

[50:11] Is this the end of the new Falcon?

[50:13] Oh no, guys, will he survive?

[50:16] And are they going to kill Isaiah Bradley in the movie?

[50:18] I'm in such suspense about what's going to happen to these characters.

[50:22] So Captain goes to visit, oh yeah, meanwhile, during this whole debacle, President Ross,

[50:29] while being yelled at by Stearns over his earpiece, almost gives into his rage, and

[50:36] his eyes become red.

[50:39] This is one of those things that you're supposed to, I think, be intrigued and mystified by

[50:42] what's going to happen, but all of the advertising was about the President turns into a Red Hulk

[50:46] and beats the shit out of Captain America, so yeah.

[50:49] This is one of those things, I mean, this is a thing where, like, if they had had enough

[50:53] other stuff in the movie to make it look interesting, they should have kept the Red Hulk stuff from

[50:58] the ads, because that's way more interesting.

[51:01] I think you're right.

[51:02] I think they just didn't have an end.

[51:03] Watching it, I was like, they should have had the Red Hulk stuff in the middle of the

[51:05] movie and then escalated it somehow from that, because it's the most fun thing in the movie,

[51:10] and that's why the advertising was all about it.

[51:11] But the whole time, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, when's he going to turn

[51:14] into the Hulk?

[51:15] When's he going to do that?

[51:16] Well, if a bunch of snake guys showed up at the very end to be like, ha ha, we got you.

[51:20] If he was fighting snake men, I'd be like, I can wait for Red Hulk to show up.

[51:24] He's fighting a guy whose body is a snake's body.

[51:26] Well, especially because the rest of the movie is this, like, we got to run from one place

[51:30] to the next place, the next place to unravel this, like, not that interesting, like that

[51:36] type of movie.

[51:37] I was wondering, you know, like it works in Winter Soldier.

[51:43] What is what makes it boring here?

[51:47] I think there's a couple reasons why.

[51:49] One is in Winter Soldier, it's just made better, like it's just written and directed and there's

[51:54] more going on.

[51:55] Well, it's the camp is like a man out of time and it adds a little extra layer of interest

[52:00] for me.

[52:01] And I think that they did.

[52:02] I think if you didn't know the Winter Soldier story, then the reveal that Bucky's the Winter

[52:06] Soldier is a big, exciting reveal that they did not advertise ahead of time.

[52:10] The character is cool enough as just a mysterious assassin that it was like, oh, Captain America

[52:14] has met his match.

[52:15] I guess that's what this movie is about.

[52:17] But also, I think because they made it a better job of making the character personally invested

[52:22] in what's going on.

[52:23] Captain America is the Chris Evans version of Captain America has such a strong personality

[52:27] and the idea of this character, who is an optimist, a guy who is flush with the ideals

[52:33] of FDR's America, that he's dealing with this kind of see me or stuff or these secrets is

[52:39] an interesting parallel and juxtaposition.

[52:41] It gets to the heart of why that character is special, that he's not a part of these

[52:44] things.

[52:45] And then when he finds out, oh, it's Bucky that's doing this, there's a personal aspect

[52:47] to it.

[52:48] And then here, all the personal stakes, I mean, that Captain America's, that the Sam

[52:54] Wilson character is that his friend is in jail, like that's something that his other

[52:58] friend gets hurt.

[52:59] But these are not, they don't really go to the heart of who he is.

[53:02] And the real personal stakes are the president's, that he's doing all this because he doesn't

[53:05] want his daughter to keep thinking of him as a monster.

[53:08] And so it was like, this movie in a lot of ways is really about President Ross and Captain

[53:13] America and the Falcon are there to, I guess, push the story forward.

[53:16] And it feels like it's the center of the movie is not in the right place for what we're

[53:20] being asked for.

[53:21] And I think that's part of it.

[53:22] And also that the conspiracy is not that interesting.

[53:25] In Winter Soldier, it's a lot about they're covering up this thing that's been going on

[53:28] for a long time.

[53:30] And it feels like the ground is really dropping out of him because how long has this been

[53:33] going on?

[53:34] Whereas here, it's like kind of a dumb plan.

[53:36] It's a new thing that the whole thing is just to make the president look bad.

[53:40] It feels like the stakes are very, very low.

[53:44] That's my off the dome diagnosis.

[53:47] That's time for your rebuttal.

[53:48] Tell me why I'm wrong.

[53:49] You look dumb.

[53:50] Oh, man, you got me.

[53:51] I do look dumb.

[53:52] So Captain America can find another point for debating Dan McCoy.

[53:53] Now I feel bad.

[53:54] You look great.

[53:55] He confronts the president about his ties to Samuel Sterns.

[53:56] He claims that the reason he takes these pills is he has to do with some kind of heart condition

[53:57] that is unspecified.

[53:58] And he's got a lot of money.

[53:59] He's got a lot of money.

[54:08] He claims that the reason he takes these pills is he has to do with some kind of heart

[54:13] condition that is unspecified.

[54:17] And it's the only heart condition that can only be saved by being a little bit of a Hulk.

[54:21] Yeah.

[54:22] While he's visiting Joaquin in the hospital, we see Bucky again, who is running for office.

[54:29] We'll later find out.

[54:30] I believe he wins.

[54:31] Right.

[54:32] He is a senator.

[54:33] Right.

[54:34] By the Thunderbolts.

[54:35] Yeah.

[54:36] Oh, is he a senator or a representative?

[54:37] I don't remember.

[54:38] I mean, it doesn't matter.

[54:39] But he's in Congress.

[54:40] Again, the idea that he wins after decades being a Soviet assassin is is silly.

[54:46] But whatever.

[54:47] I would I would buy that.

[54:48] Again, look at.

[54:49] Look at.

[54:50] Yeah, that's true.

[54:51] Look, thank you.

[54:52] Well, actually, I think it would disqualify him that he has actual military service as

[54:55] opposed to many of the people in the government now.

[54:58] But the some of the military service, they're just bad people.

[55:02] But I think I would buy that silliness more if this movie was a little OK with snake villains.

[55:08] I feel like if you had real snake villains so much, this movie feels different, looks

[55:11] different, is cooler.

[55:12] I mean, sure.

[55:13] Bucky Barnes is running for Congress.

[55:15] Why not?

[55:16] There's fucking snake men running around.

[55:17] Throw snake men in there.

[55:18] And honestly, if you're going to have the leader in there, you're going to have Red

[55:21] Hulk and you and General Ross.

[55:23] You should have Bruce Banner in there at least a little bit.

[55:26] Have the Hulk show up at some point or explain why the Hulk is not involved in this.

[55:31] You know, I think I think they should have had red.

[55:33] They should have the president become Red Hulk in the middle.

[55:35] And a lot of the rest of the movie should have been the chase after the Red Hulk, you

[55:38] know, and like they got it.

[55:39] They got to get him or stop him or something like that.

[55:41] That feels like a more fun.

[55:42] And yeah, he's on his way to Japan and want to turn him into Snake Hulk.

[55:48] And that's why they got to stop him.

[55:49] It's not that it's super important.

[55:51] And there's probably been a sort of man is coming out, you know, is out in theaters now,

[55:55] Dan.

[55:56] So that's super.

[55:57] Yeah.

[55:58] Uh huh.

[55:59] Not that you meant Captain Important.

[56:00] Yeah.

[56:01] Not that it's Captain Important, but maybe it's been addressed in like a throwaway line.

[56:07] Like, where is the Hulk right now?

[56:08] Like, what's he up to?

[56:09] I don't think they mention him at all in the movie.

[56:11] Yeah.

[56:12] It's like post all the I don't know, like post Hulk.

[56:15] What did he do?

[56:16] Because I didn't watch that either.

[56:18] He kind of hung out and he talked to his cousin a little bit, you know, he's like, this is

[56:24] the deal with being a Hulk.

[56:25] I'm your Hulk guide, you know, yellow, like walk like a man.

[56:30] Well, stomp like a Hulk, smash like a Hulk.

[56:34] Yeah.

[56:35] And I'm like that she hoax.

[56:37] I like to do it.

[56:38] I should watch it sometime.

[56:40] I never got around to it, but I should watch it.

[56:41] I'm warning you, Elliot, like the comic book.

[56:44] It's a comedy.

[56:45] Yeah.

[56:46] What?

[56:47] All these what?

[56:48] What's the Internet?

[56:49] We're very angry to discover that.

[56:50] I hate it.

[56:51] Whereas these nerds liked it.

[56:54] I hate it when nerds on the Internet are like, can you believe they did this?

[56:57] This character?

[56:58] And they're there are the idiots.

[56:59] They're the ones who are unaware of.

[57:00] I mean, that character's function for the past 30 years.

[57:03] Yeah.

[57:04] Well, the idea this is the craziest thing.

[57:06] This is not what I'm doing a mini in a little in a couple of weeks, but this is not the

[57:09] mini that I want to do.

[57:10] But they did.

[57:11] They're like now we're getting a woke Superman who's like an immigrant refugee and fights

[57:15] for the poorest among us.

[57:17] It's like, have you ever read a Superman comic?

[57:18] Like this is my father in law.

[57:20] Thirty eight.

[57:21] Come on.

[57:22] My father in law said that on Thursdays like I hear the Superman's woke now.

[57:26] I'm like, I fucking hope so.

[57:28] Superman's earliest adventures were literally beating up landlords that were overcharging

[57:33] people.

[57:34] Like, come on.

[57:35] Like, this is the idea that these I mean, it's just I mean, they don't care.

[57:38] It's just they make these complaints for money because it gets attention and things like

[57:41] that.

[57:42] But the idea that like, yeah, yeah, the character was created by the sons of Jewish immigrants

[57:45] who were who were poor in the 30s is woke is like, can we believe it?

[57:49] What's going on here?

[57:50] It's just so dumb.

[57:51] Anyway.

[57:52] So Samuel Stern's kills D-Man.

[57:54] So that must have bummed you out.

[57:56] I was almost as sad as when D-Man died in the real comics.

[57:59] Maybe maybe this is the the crucible in which D-Man is forged and comes back stronger.

[58:04] When he becomes D-Man.

[58:05] Yeah.

[58:06] I thought we wanted him to become Demolition Man.

[58:07] Yeah.

[58:08] Or whatever his name is.

[58:09] OK.

[58:10] And then the after a brief conversation with Captain America, Samuel Stern's is arrested

[58:15] by the police because he this is all part of his plan, all part of his master plan.

[58:20] Meanwhile, the president is giving a press conference and people are actually like holding

[58:25] him accountable.

[58:27] What's that like?

[58:28] And of course, that's everybody starts wrestling him back.

[58:32] And then he becomes Hulk.

[58:33] This was one of the stranger that he's like, it's really mad.

[58:36] And he's like, oh, and they start grappling with him in the Secret Service.

[58:40] It was weird.

[58:41] As soon as he turns into the Hulk before he even smashes anything, they immediately start

[58:45] shooting guns at him.

[58:46] And I'm like, I don't know.

[58:47] When you're a Secret Service agent, I feel like you shouldn't be shooting at the president

[58:50] even when he's a Hulk, like maybe make him do something dangerous first.

[58:54] But it was how quickly he went in their minds from president to Hulk seemed very unprofessional

[58:58] for this.

[58:59] And also like president to like Hulk, like guns wouldn't work on that guy either.

[59:04] He's the Hulk.

[59:05] That's true.

[59:06] Yeah.

[59:07] And he doesn't get killed by.

[59:08] I mean, I know the Hulk is, you know, we all know Hulk smash, but but the Hulk, the last

[59:13] time we saw him did help, you know, save the world.

[59:16] So I don't know.

[59:17] But this is a good Hulk.

[59:23] Yeah.

[59:24] Did you see like his clothes?

[59:25] Yeah.

[59:26] He's got caught fire.

[59:27] The power of the rage inside of him burns off his clothes.

[59:30] OK, so a little bit around his tush and his penis.

[59:34] Don't worry that that's not hot enough to get it to be burned off.

[59:37] Not 28 years later.

[59:38] It's pretty hot to me.

[59:39] So so the Hulk has a little bit of a rampage.

[59:43] He destroys a bunch of stuff around there.

[59:45] He put a podium in front of him the whole time.

[59:47] I was like, when's he going to just wipe that?

[59:48] Just slap that podium.

[59:49] Oh, there he goes.

[59:50] OK, good.

[59:52] And he Captain America messes with him.

[59:54] He starts he keeps throwing these like vibranium blades out of his way.

[1:00:00] wings and I'm like, those little blades have to be so expensive, right?

[1:00:03] Yeah.

[1:00:04] They're like little bits of, is somebody going and picking them all up?

[1:00:07] And they stole that from Archangel.

[1:00:08] That's Archangel's thing.

[1:00:09] That's Archangel's thing.

[1:00:10] Are his wings vibranium or adamantium?

[1:00:13] You know what?

[1:00:14] That's a good question.

[1:00:15] I don't know.

[1:00:16] There's some alien metal that Apocalypse uses, so they could be, who knows what they are.

[1:00:21] I'll look it up.

[1:00:22] You keep talking about this.

[1:00:23] I'll look it up.

[1:00:24] I think they're adamantium.

[1:00:25] What are Archangel's wings made of?

[1:00:26] Yes.

[1:00:27] What's Warren Worthington III's wings made of?

[1:00:30] So he, Captain America leads Hulk away from people.

[1:00:35] Oh, okay.

[1:00:36] So they're made out of some kind of techno-organic metal.

[1:00:38] Oh, I'm an idiot.

[1:00:40] Okay.

[1:00:41] So he leads the Red Hulk away.

[1:00:43] They end up in a...

[1:00:46] According to Google, sometimes it's described as adamantium or a similar metal.

[1:00:51] So I think there's a controversy over what kind of metal it's made out of.

[1:00:56] Or it could just be Google AI lying to us, as it wants to do.

[1:01:00] That's also possible, too.

[1:01:01] So it could be adamantium.

[1:01:02] Anyway, the point is, those blades would be super expensive.

[1:01:05] Yeah.

[1:01:06] Yeah.

[1:01:07] So Hulk chases Captain America to a field of cherry blossoms, where they battle for

[1:01:14] a little while.

[1:01:15] And having been playing a lot of Elden Ring lately and some other Souls-like games, this

[1:01:20] reminds me a lot of those Souls-like fights, where there's a lot of dodging this winged

[1:01:23] giant guy who's swinging and occasionally blocking.

[1:01:26] I basically enjoyed this part.

[1:01:27] This is what you were asking for earlier, Elliot.

[1:01:29] A truly big guy going up against a guy without actual powers.

[1:01:33] Yes.

[1:01:34] And I think this is...

[1:01:35] By far, this was, for me, the most fun part of the movie, is when it's Captain America

[1:01:39] versus the Hulk.

[1:01:40] And they're at the cherry blossom, the famous DC cherry blossoms.

[1:01:44] And it's like, great, this is a cool location.

[1:01:47] It's a cool...

[1:01:48] These are cool characters.

[1:01:49] I think they could have had...

[1:01:50] Even if you're not going to ruin the excitement of Captain America fighting a really big guy,

[1:01:53] that guy in the beginning could have been a little bigger or had maybe snake powers.

[1:01:57] Something to make him more than just a dude.

[1:01:59] Thank you.

[1:02:00] But I think that this is the best part of the movie for me.

[1:02:05] This part actually lived up to a little bit of my hopes for it, where it's like Captain

[1:02:09] America versus this big red Hulk.

[1:02:12] So they have a fight.

[1:02:13] I found it very distracting that his Harrison Ford's face, though.

[1:02:15] Did you guys find that?

[1:02:16] Even knowing he's the character.

[1:02:17] Whose face should it have?

[1:02:19] Even the Mark Ruffalo Hulk, it looks a little bit like him, but not just like him.

[1:02:24] This looked just like Harrison Ford to me.

[1:02:26] So it felt strange.

[1:02:27] Yeah.

[1:02:28] Yeah.

[1:02:29] And he's naturally a Hulk.

[1:02:30] It's like a lot of fan art that I've done over the years, you know, Harrison Ford.

[1:02:36] Like really strong and red.

[1:02:39] And his feet are giant.

[1:02:40] Yeah, really giant feet.

[1:02:41] Yeah.

[1:02:42] Uh-huh.

[1:02:43] So they...

[1:02:44] But in yours, he's usually making love to Sonic the Hedgehog.

[1:02:47] That's right.

[1:02:48] He's the bomb, though.

[1:02:49] I'm glad you called it making love.

[1:02:50] That's what's crazy.

[1:02:51] Because it really is.

[1:02:52] It's sensual.

[1:02:53] I mean, the way he does it is very sensual.

[1:02:54] The way you draw it is very sensual.

[1:02:55] And the way you show Shrek watching them adds to the sensuality of it.

[1:03:00] As Shrek holds hands with the green M&M, yeah, it really adds to the sensuality of it.

[1:03:04] Are they watching through a window or from the doorway?

[1:03:06] No, no.

[1:03:07] They're sitting in twin bathtubs.

[1:03:08] Oh, it's all part of the...

[1:03:09] They're sitting in twin bathtubs, holding hands, watching this happen on a bed that's

[1:03:13] covered in cherry blossom petals.

[1:03:15] Yeah.

[1:03:16] Guys, I don't need to reveal anything, but the green M&M's on my Hall Pass list.

[1:03:21] Well, I mean, I feel like that's a pretty safe one for Charlene.

[1:03:25] I mean, I don't even know how you drew your penis into her.

[1:03:28] She's got a candy shell.

[1:03:29] I'll figure it out.

[1:03:30] Jeez Louise.

[1:03:31] I didn't think that the Captain America Brave New World episode would somehow be the filthiest

[1:03:41] flop house episode in years, I think.

[1:03:44] So we get the big moment where Captain America spears the Hulk with his super strong wing

[1:03:50] and then it explodes with all the pent-up kinetic energy it's absorbed, tossing them

[1:03:55] both aside.

[1:03:56] We think maybe this has stopped the Hulk, but in fact, he is still going.

[1:04:00] Sam gets up and he just approaches the Hulk and he convinces him that, remember, you keep

[1:04:06] talking about these cherry blossoms and how you want to take your daughter Liv Tyler to

[1:04:09] see them.

[1:04:10] Let's just do this shit.

[1:04:11] And he's like, you know what?

[1:04:12] You're right.

[1:04:13] And he melts and becomes Harrison Ford.

[1:04:14] He off camera melts him.

[1:04:15] Yeah, we just see a shadow.

[1:04:16] But yeah, the president's whole motivation, the entire movie is I need to show my daughter

[1:04:17] who won't talk to me that I'm not a bad guy.

[1:04:18] So that's why I'm creating a treaty.

[1:04:19] That's why I'm trying to do good things.

[1:04:20] That kind of stuff.

[1:04:21] So just get it.

[1:04:22] And, you know, we don't really get into it much, which is odd because like this would

[1:04:23] be the sort of central irony of the whole thing.

[1:04:24] She thinks he's a bad guy because he, you know, he doesn't want to talk to her.

[1:04:25] She doesn't want to talk to him.

[1:04:28] who was her boyfriend boyfriend, you know, and the fact that then he turns into a Hulk

[1:04:47] himself.

[1:04:48] It seems like that would be there'd be more hay made of that fact.

[1:04:54] But I guess they figured not wrong that like, well, that happened a long time ago.

[1:04:59] People aren't really the foremost of the MCU fans mind.

[1:05:02] I think I think they I think they're they're expecting the audiences to connect the dots

[1:05:07] on that one.

[1:05:08] Yeah, I guess.

[1:05:09] It's just as Nietzsche said, if you go hunting hulks, you risk becoming a hulk, you know.

[1:05:15] So OK, then we got we got some wrap up here.

[1:05:19] Let's see.

[1:05:20] No, that's not the card.

[1:05:21] No, that's not the card.

[1:05:23] OK, well, those two that are so Captain America goes to talk to Joaquin, who's recovering

[1:05:29] in the hospital, and he basically extends an invitation to a formation of the Avengers.

[1:05:35] Meanwhile, Ross has been interred into the raft, the super prison out in the ocean.

[1:05:43] He he gets a visit from his daughter.

[1:05:46] He gets a visit from Sam, and we learn that there that there has been peace.

[1:05:52] We don't know who is the new president.

[1:05:54] Is it a hulk?

[1:05:55] Maybe.

[1:05:56] Probably not.

[1:05:57] You never know.

[1:05:58] And then finally, in a post-credits scene, which I actually watched, guys, look, all

[1:06:04] of us can change.

[1:06:05] Some of us become hulks when they change.

[1:06:07] Others of us become good podcasters.

[1:06:09] He it sounds like you said podcasters to me for a moment.

[1:06:13] It just means that you're fishing in a pond.

[1:06:15] Uh huh.

[1:06:16] Yeah.

[1:06:17] So in the post-credits scene, Sam goes to the raft and visits the leader who basically

[1:06:23] just talks about multiverses.

[1:06:25] And this, of course, is when they're they're trying to bring up the idea of multiverses

[1:06:29] so that we remember the fact that that's all they've been talking about for the last however

[1:06:33] many movies, which is I'm sure this is Stewart's little this Stewart's little theory corner.

[1:06:39] I'm sure that's what's going to happen in the Avengers Doomsday movie.

[1:06:43] Is that Robert Downey Jr. is coming back because in some other dimensions, Tony Stark,

[1:06:47] he is Dr. Doom and not Iron Man.

[1:06:50] I'm 100 percent sure of that.

[1:06:51] If I'm wrong, I will be shocked.

[1:06:53] No, I'm sure that's the case.

[1:06:54] I mean, what he's particularly leading up to is because I think the new Marvel stuff

[1:06:57] is based on the most recent Secret Wars thing.

[1:07:01] Is this that Jonathan Hickman did where I think what they're doing is what they did

[1:07:04] in the comics there, where not just are there multiverses, but the multiverses are starting

[1:07:07] to merge together in what are called incursions.

[1:07:10] And so when two worlds are about to incur, one of them has to be destroyed.

[1:07:15] And in that series, the secret Illuminati that's made up of a bunch of Marvel characters,

[1:07:19] they start destroying other worlds.

[1:07:22] They're not snakemen.

[1:07:23] No, it's like Dr. Strange and Professor X and, you know, Namor or whatever.

[1:07:26] And they start and Black Panther, they start destroying these other worlds before they

[1:07:30] can endanger our Earth.

[1:07:33] And so I think you're right that it's going to be some alternate world where Tony Stark

[1:07:36] became Dr. Doom.

[1:07:37] Very disappointing.

[1:07:38] I want Dr. Doom to have an Eastern European accent.

[1:07:40] I want him to be the monarch of Liberia.

[1:07:42] But maybe he will be.

[1:07:43] Maybe.

[1:07:44] I don't know.

[1:07:45] Maybe he will be doing that, you know, but I can hope when he's like when these threats

[1:07:48] come from other worlds, Captain America, like I think that's what he's talking about particularly

[1:07:53] specifically.

[1:07:54] Yeah.

[1:07:55] OK.

[1:07:56] And in the Secret Wars comics, eventually Doom, like put a bunch of worlds together into

[1:08:01] its into last surviving world.

[1:08:02] I bet that'll be what they do with it.

[1:08:04] It was not a story that I loved particularly.

[1:08:07] What sounds like a very Jonathan Hickman story.

[1:08:10] Let's do our final judgments on Captain America, Brave New World.

[1:08:14] Is this a good, good, mad movie, a good, bad movie, a bad, bad movie.

[1:08:19] This movie is good and mad.

[1:08:20] I mean, it's got a Red Hulk in it or a movie we kind of liked.

[1:08:25] Here's the thing.

[1:08:26] I saw this in the theater, even though I had heard it was not that great.

[1:08:35] Even though I had heard it was not that great, but I am that bought into seeing these things

[1:08:43] that I went out, had a little movie, movie, pick me up and knowing walking in there was

[1:08:48] not going to be that great.

[1:08:50] I kind of liked it just because it was like, well, yeah, I'm seeing some of my old friends

[1:08:54] again.

[1:08:55] They're doing stuff.

[1:09:00] Me watching it at home.

[1:09:03] It was a real slog, but I don't think any of us in this world other than bad movie podcasters

[1:09:11] are going to make the choice to watch this movie twice.

[1:09:14] So I'll still I have to go with my initial assessment that it's a movie I kind of liked,

[1:09:21] but it is near the floor of these movies for me.

[1:09:26] Yeah, I think I think that's right.

[1:09:28] I mean, I think it it doesn't kind of it doesn't help that this is part of a number

[1:09:33] of movies that I've watched recent like recent action movies where they have where the president

[1:09:39] is involved in some kind of action or something, whether the president is, you know, like Viola

[1:09:45] Davis or the president is John Cena or the president is a Hulk.

[1:09:49] In all these cases, I'm like, I would rather that president be my president.

[1:09:55] And I yeah, so but yeah, I mean, I feel like of the Marvel movies, this.

[1:10:00] probably the one that has felt the least like it's this one has felt the most joyless of all them

[1:10:07] maybe um i think partly you know it's it obviously was edited to death and it just doesn't feel like

[1:10:15] it doesn't feel very fun and despite the fact there's a giant person a hulk running around

[1:10:19] it doesn't feel like it doesn't feel very special like there's no special moments

[1:10:24] and they ignore kind of one of the key tenants of the of these marvel movies which is one of

[1:10:32] the things that's been so successful is leaning into keying into what makes a character a certain

[1:10:37] amount of wish fulfillment for a person like thor is like a big dumb strong guy who gets to kind of

[1:10:42] do whatever he wants and have fun tony stark is the smartest man in the room all the time that

[1:10:46] sort of thing captain america is this guy who's out of time and is also like super strong and

[1:10:51] like is super capable of doing things and i feel like sam doesn't they don't do enough stuff to

[1:10:57] make him fun like to make him the lead um and i think there's i think there's space there i mean

[1:11:04] we've talked about how like i think if they leaned more into the fact that he's just like

[1:11:08] effectively a regular guy in this crazy world and he's just doing his best is that's a much

[1:11:13] more interesting take on the character that they could lean into i think more um but yeah this is

[1:11:19] i would it's tough to say i guess this is a movie i kind of like because these things are all like

[1:11:24] fine like the base level of quality is higher than a lot of things we watch um and it wasn't quite as

[1:11:32] it wasn't the like visual mess that quantumania was um so i guess it was fine whatever

[1:11:40] i mean i'm a rousing endorsement i would i would call it bad bad but kind of the same reasons i

[1:11:45] find it kind of bland and just kind of functional and kind of dull and it is the i think the marvel

[1:11:51] movie that made the least impression of me say what you'll about quantumania we didn't do the

[1:11:55] whole podcast about it it at least made an impression on me well whereas this one it was

[1:11:58] like all right yeah that they made this yeah like this happened and it feels like it is a

[1:12:04] almost even out even as they're making it it feels like they are not they're not trying to make it

[1:12:09] more than unforgettable or more than forgettable um it's the 35th one like at a certain point i

[1:12:15] feel like this is this is at the this is the point where if i was a marvel executive or disney

[1:12:20] executive i would be like okay i think we're we're running out of special so let's like take five

[1:12:24] years off from making these and then we can come back with something special you know um it's not

[1:12:30] if you watch it it's not like it's a it's a terrible worst movie ever made or anything but

[1:12:35] it's just kind of while you're watching it you're like all right like i don't really see the purpose

[1:12:37] for any of this other than to keep keep the brand going so i'm gonna say bad bad but it's not but

[1:12:42] i've seen worse bad bad movies than this one i've seen worse raves elliot of the flop house

[1:12:55] are you a celebrity are you searching for meaning connection and a little levity these days

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[1:13:35] walking about is the podcast about walking it's a walkumentary series where i alan mcleod and a fun

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[1:14:27] you have a sponsor to tell us about this week yeah and to lead in i'm going to mention that

[1:14:33] in addition to running three different bars here in brooklyn my wife is in the process of opening

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[1:15:40] and when you're ready to launch use offer code flop to save 10% off your first purchase of a

[1:15:47] website or domain uh we've got a bit in the way of show news but before i get into that ellie do

[1:15:52] you have any personal plugs you want to do i've always got personal plugs you know about me i love

[1:15:57] to plug things and i love to unplug them but today i'm going to plug them and it's the same stuff

[1:16:01] that you know i'm always talking about uh go to your com bookstore once a month and pick up harley

[1:16:05] quinn from dc comics i've been writing it and i've been having a ball writing it go to your podcast

[1:16:10] feed when you're done with this episode and maybe check out clueless on the smartless network that's

[1:16:14] the puzzle podcast that i host and of course there's my new children's book sadie mouse wrecks

[1:16:19] the house go to your local independent bookstore and pick up a copy of that it's a great picture

[1:16:23] book for kids it's really fun kids love it uh so those are a bunch of new things and i've got my

[1:16:27] i got a book coming out in november we'll talk about that more later in the year until then

[1:16:32] here are your assignments go buy sadie mouse wrecks the house go pick up harley quinn in your

[1:16:37] comic book store and don't pick her up just pick up the comic book that she's in and then take it

[1:16:42] to the register and then buy it and read it and you'll listen to clueless when you're done with

[1:16:46] this dan what about you what do you got to say elliot i uh you know that your um your first trade

[1:16:51] paperback of harley quinn is going to be out uh towards the end of july i have it oh is it oh you

[1:16:56] know more about this than i do thank you well it was because i haven't i've had it pre-ordered for

[1:17:00] quite some time because uh i can never remember to like go like buy individual issues of comics

[1:17:07] it's really hard i've been recently doing it for both elliot's comics and a friend of the podcast

[1:17:12] xander cannon's new book sleep and uh it's tough for me to get back in the habit yeah that's hard

[1:17:17] and i don't like reading them digitally so i was just waiting for uh you know a way to see you know

[1:17:23] what i what i've been hearing about from elliot all these uh low these many months uh and finally

[1:17:28] i'm going to get to dig in you're right it comes out july 29th that's harley quinn volume one

[1:17:32] destructive comics uh and it collects but the first it's 152 pages according to this

[1:17:39] it collects the first uh six issues of my run um so you'll be introduced to harley's new world of

[1:17:45] throat cutter hill that's the neighborhood she's in and some of her new characters that she's uh

[1:17:49] dealing with there's a couple of new villains in there that are really silly are they snake men

[1:17:54] i've got to get a snake man in there that's what i should do next yeah uh yes that comes

[1:17:58] out the end of july harley quinn volume one destructive comics and the issues come out once

[1:18:01] a month yeah well enough about elliot now i'm gonna make a well it's one third still about

[1:18:08] elliot uh i want to mention that flop tv uh season three is officially coming we've uh

[1:18:18] we're gonna be streaming six episodes once a month but uh from september through february

[1:18:22] of next year saturday of the month september through february uh and we'll be in our usual

[1:18:28] time slot the first saturday of the month at 9 p.m eastern six pacific uh and this year the flop

[1:18:34] house is going back in time not literally although god knows wouldn't that be nice no this year

[1:18:40] the theme is flopsterpiece theater and we'll be uh covering significant bad movies decade by decade

[1:18:47] starting in the 2000s and working our way back to the 1950s so almost like a what if the flop

[1:18:54] house had existed when this movie had existed yeah uh we're gonna be uh going back what's on

[1:18:59] the menu in september we'll discuss uh 2002's mega flop the adventures of pluto nash i'm genuinely

[1:19:07] very excited about talking about this one because i cannot believe this movie exists i've been

[1:19:10] thinking about it ever since it first came out i've never seen it i'm excited i've never seen

[1:19:14] either in october we'll discuss uh 1998's jack frost that's not the campy horror movie it's the

[1:19:21] one where michael keaton dies and becomes a snowman he's also a jazz musician who becomes

[1:19:27] november coming in just under the wire for the 80s will be 1980s xanadu which is a spoiler alert

[1:19:34] actually a pretty fun movie a silly movie december's film will be a big movie in flop

[1:19:39] house lore it's a 1974 zardoz this is a this is going to be an interesting one for me because

[1:19:46] there's a lot in zardoz that i like so get ready for it uh in january we're going to discuss the

[1:19:50] movie that helped kill old hollywood 1967's dr doolittle and in february we're going to round

[1:19:58] everything out with one of the

[1:20:00] Rushmore Bad Movies, 1957's Plan Nine from Outer Space, directed by Ed Wood.

[1:20:06] The bad movie auteur who had a biopic made about him when Tommy Wiseau was still selling

[1:20:10] regular blue jeans.

[1:20:14] Tickets will not be on sale until July 26th, but I'm going to put the link in your brain

[1:20:19] now so you can bookmark it, or maybe you're listening to this in the future.

[1:20:24] When you can get tickets, go to theflophouse.simpletix.com, and that's Tix, T-I-X.

[1:20:32] Just like last time, show tix for individual shows will be $7, or you can get a whole season

[1:20:37] pass for $35, which is the equivalent of getting one episode for free.

[1:20:42] Dan, you mean we're giving away an episode if people buy the season pass?

[1:20:47] What are we doing?

[1:20:48] Are we crazy?

[1:20:49] We're essentially giving away an episode for money.

[1:20:53] So come the sale date in late July, that link again is theflophouse.simpletix.com.

[1:20:59] We hope you'll join us.

[1:21:01] And really quick, I also wanted to mention that some listeners have set up a Flophouse

[1:21:06] Discord.

[1:21:07] I've mentioned it briefly in passing before, but I want to try and shout it out more regularly.

[1:21:13] If you're sick of some of the poisonous social media sites out there, but still want to connect

[1:21:18] with other podcast listeners, you can go to http://, or colon slash slash, you know that

[1:21:26] part.

[1:21:27] I don't need to say it.

[1:21:28] Yeah, I think people are ready for it.

[1:21:29] Lastnamewithheld.com, lastnamewithheld.com, and join up and chat with the lovely folks

[1:21:34] that hang out over there.

[1:21:37] So that's that.

[1:21:38] That's that.

[1:21:39] So with that, let's get on to some letters from listeners.

[1:21:44] And just as soon as I open up the separate email that that stuff is in, okay, I've got

[1:21:51] it.

[1:21:52] Dan, someday I want to introduce you to a new thing called Tabs.

[1:21:55] Tabs?

[1:21:56] Is that multiple cans of Tab Cola or whatever?

[1:22:01] That's exactly what it is.

[1:22:02] It's keeping your energy up so you can open those emails faster by drinking multiple cans

[1:22:05] of Tab.

[1:22:07] What do you buy at Tab Hunter?

[1:22:09] This email.

[1:22:10] Win a date with Tab Hamilton.

[1:22:12] It's from...

[1:22:13] No, Tab Hamilton.

[1:22:14] What did I say?

[1:22:15] Well, it's Tab Hamilton.

[1:22:16] No, but it should be Tab Hamilton.

[1:22:17] Tab Tabilton?

[1:22:18] Yeah, that's right.

[1:22:19] Was he the one who must die, or was that somebody else who must die?

[1:22:26] John Tucker must die.

[1:22:27] John Carter.

[1:22:28] John Carter must die.

[1:22:29] No.

[1:22:30] Get Carter must die.

[1:22:31] Win a date with Michael Clayton.

[1:22:34] Spencer, last name withheld, writes us to say, Dear Peaches, I was digging in my garden

[1:22:42] catching up with the heartbeats episode when suddenly I heard the three hosts talking about

[1:22:48] Tucson, Arizona.

[1:22:50] Here's the thing.

[1:22:51] My office in Ohio closed down recently and I lost my job, so my wife and I had been discussing

[1:22:56] moving back to our hometown of Tucson, Arizona.

[1:23:00] I'd applied for dozens of jobs and had a few interviews, but hadn't heard back in weeks

[1:23:04] and was starting to feel discouraged.

[1:23:06] And now there I was, shovel in hand, podcast in my ear, hearing Dan Stewart and Elliott

[1:23:12] literally say, Go to Arizona.

[1:23:15] Go to Tucson, Arizona.

[1:23:17] Welcome to Tucson.

[1:23:19] What a strange coincidence, I thought to myself.

[1:23:21] I hope that's a sign.

[1:23:23] And guys, I swear, with Krom as my witness, not 20 minutes later, I got a phone call from

[1:23:28] HR offering me a job and a relocation package to help me move back to Tucson, Arizona.

[1:23:34] So my question is, when you guys are weaving the dark tapestry that decides my fate, are

[1:23:40] you aware of the decisions you're making and how it affects me?

[1:23:42] Or am I just one thread in the cosmic forces that flow through you?

[1:23:46] Are we the three spinners?

[1:23:47] Either way.

[1:23:48] Yeah.

[1:23:49] Thanks.

[1:23:50] Keep on flopping.

[1:23:51] Spencer, last name withheld.

[1:23:52] One spins, one measures, one cuts.

[1:23:53] Oh, wow.

[1:23:54] Yeah.

[1:23:55] No, no.

[1:23:56] You have to measure twice, cut once.

[1:23:57] Oh, two of them measure and then one of them cuts.

[1:24:00] Yeah.

[1:24:01] Well, that's an exciting story.

[1:24:02] I hope you have a lovely time in Tucson, Arizona.

[1:24:07] I hope so, too.

[1:24:08] There's a you know, I wonder like what what other lives we're affecting.

[1:24:13] It's just like when a butterfly flaps its wings in Peru and suddenly Japan goes for

[1:24:19] that adamantium island war with the United States or whatever.

[1:24:24] Well, if you if your life has been affected by the Flophouse in a strange, mysterious

[1:24:28] and perhaps diabolical way, please write in and tell us about it.

[1:24:32] Yeah.

[1:24:33] And then we'll you know, we'll submit it to Unsolved Mysteries.

[1:24:36] Yeah.

[1:24:37] And say, well, it's been solved.

[1:24:38] I don't understand.

[1:24:39] The show is so fucked up to watch now because you're like, did they ever catch those fucking

[1:24:43] guys?

[1:24:44] It's been like 30 years.

[1:24:46] Are they behind me right now?

[1:24:48] This is a this is a letter from Anne-Marie Anne-Marie's last name with health.

[1:24:53] It sounded like I said Anne-Marie briefly, so I said Anne-Marie.

[1:24:57] Yeah.

[1:24:58] No, it's from Anne-Marie.

[1:25:00] Last name with health.

[1:25:02] Dear O.P.'s, I'm happily and unexpectedly pregnant after years of infertility.

[1:25:07] Congratulations.

[1:25:08] Yeah.

[1:25:09] For whatever reason, I haven't been able to listen to anything except the Flophouse since

[1:25:13] I found out.

[1:25:15] Relisting to old episodes, I heard a pre-parenthood Elliott say she assumed that regardless of

[1:25:20] how cool a parent he is, their kids would think they are a loser.

[1:25:25] Has that prediction come true?

[1:25:27] That prophecy has been fulfilled.

[1:25:29] That was what I was going to say.

[1:25:30] Yeah.

[1:25:31] That was the next question.

[1:25:32] Has that prediction turned out to be true?

[1:25:33] She also asked, what movie should I watch to prepare for being a parent?

[1:25:37] Most importantly, what the hell do I name a boy?

[1:25:39] Thanks.

[1:25:40] Love, Anne-Marie.

[1:25:41] I mean, you can name a boy whatever you want.

[1:25:45] That's the great thing about names.

[1:25:46] There's no laws about it.

[1:25:47] Like Deathstalker, Cyberman.

[1:25:48] Deathstalker 2.

[1:25:49] Deathstalker 2, Cyberman.

[1:25:50] A Barbarian Queen.

[1:25:51] Cyborg 2.

[1:25:52] All great names for boys or girls, to be honest.

[1:25:53] Megatron.

[1:25:54] Dan tipped me off, not about the letter, but about the question ahead of time.

[1:25:55] I've been thinking, what is a movie to watch to prepare you for parenting?

[1:25:56] Honestly, there's only two I can think of.

[1:25:57] Those are the ones that I've been thinking about.

[1:26:00] Megatron.

[1:26:01] Megatron.

[1:26:02] Megatron.

[1:26:03] Megatron.

[1:26:11] Those movies are Gremlins and Gremlins 2, the new best.

[1:26:15] The sheer feeling of being overwhelmed in the chaos of a little thing, demanding your

[1:26:19] attention and breaking stuff and making a mess.

[1:26:23] But then you love them, just like in Gremlins.

[1:26:25] I don't know yet.

[1:26:26] And they do funny things that are unexpected, like in Gremlins 2, and in the first Gremlins,

[1:26:29] to be honest.

[1:26:30] I would watch the Gremlins movies to prepare for parenthood, yeah.

[1:26:34] That's good advice.

[1:26:35] Dan, do you have any parenting advice?

[1:26:40] I've tried to avoid it mostly.

[1:26:43] Mostly?

[1:26:44] Do you, like, every now and then, you do a day of parenting somewhere?

[1:26:48] You know, I've babysat people.

[1:26:50] I don't know.

[1:26:51] People?

[1:26:52] Yeah, people.

[1:26:53] People.

[1:26:54] I put ads on Craigslist.

[1:26:55] Like, house of the devil.

[1:26:57] Do people want to be babysat by me?

[1:27:02] Dan, I know a website you might want to go to.

[1:27:06] Yeah.

[1:27:07] Hey, let's recommend some movies.

[1:27:10] Movies that might be a better use of your time.

[1:27:12] Why not?

[1:27:13] I'm going to go out on a real limb here.

[1:27:16] I'm going to recommend...

[1:27:17] You're in shaky territory, counselor.

[1:27:19] I'm going to recommend an unknown, tiny little movie called Jaws from 1975, which I recommend

[1:27:26] because...

[1:27:27] It's the 50th anniversary.

[1:27:28] It's the 50th anniversary, but also, just recently, Audrey watched it for the first

[1:27:33] time after several times of me suggesting, hey, you want to see Jaws finally?

[1:27:40] And it's funny.

[1:27:42] She's told me that multiple people have come up to her to be like, so how'd you like Jaws?

[1:27:49] Because I had told them that she was finally watching Jaws.

[1:27:52] It's just like, stop telling people that I finally watched Jaws.

[1:27:57] But I was just so excited for someone to experience Jaws who had not seen it.

[1:28:03] And she loved it.

[1:28:06] Seeing Star Wars late in life after having no particular knowledge of Star Wars and being

[1:28:12] influenced by all the things that came after Star Wars, she was like, yeah, this is fine.

[1:28:15] She didn't make a dent, but Jaws still has its power.

[1:28:20] And I don't know, scene by scene, it's one of the most entertaining, if not the most

[1:28:26] entertaining, just in terms of just fun storytelling right up at the top of the mountain.

[1:28:34] So if you haven't seen it in a while, watch Jaws.

[1:28:37] Yeah.

[1:28:38] Do you like movies?

[1:28:39] Watch that.

[1:28:40] So I'm going to recommend a movie that is held in almost as high esteem, and that is

[1:28:46] Gary Busey's Hider in the House.

[1:28:49] There's the punchline.

[1:28:50] Dan, have you seen Hider in the House?

[1:28:52] I don't think I've seen Hider in the House.

[1:28:54] It's kind of like Parasite for bad movie sickos, where Gary Busey plays a, let's say, kind

[1:29:02] of weird dude.

[1:29:03] Let's call him a hider.

[1:29:05] Who finds a mansion that's being renovated and he climbs up into the attic and he makes

[1:29:10] himself a little hideaway in there.

[1:29:13] And he sneaks out every once in a while and he tries to integrate himself in the family

[1:29:17] who are played by Mimi Rogers and Michael McKean.

[1:29:21] This is a movie that I feel like we I'm recommending it now partly so that I can put it on our

[1:29:26] radar so that we can do it for the podcast time because it is a blast to be and YouTube

[1:29:33] in full.

[1:29:34] Yeah.

[1:29:35] Yeah.

[1:29:36] Two thumbs up.

[1:29:37] Mark of quality.

[1:29:38] This was recommended to me by Flophouse friend Steve Kostansky, who watches it, watched it

[1:29:45] while he was working on, I'm guessing, like heads exploding or something in his workshop.

[1:29:51] I'm looking at Stuart.

[1:29:52] Now I'm excited about it.

[1:29:53] I'm looking at in the Wikipedia entry, it says production that they want.

[1:29:58] They brought in a psychologist to make the Gary.

[1:30:00] character as realistic as possible apparently it says after meeting with

[1:30:02] the psychologist Gary Buse was excited seeing it was in a NAR film he explained

[1:30:06] that NAR meant no acting required Gary said I am the character I'm also gonna

[1:30:16] direct an older movie no one's recommending new movies today which is

[1:30:18] great that's fine with me I haven't gotten to watch a lot of movies lately

[1:30:22] because I've been so busy and I had to watch Captain America Brave New World

[1:30:24] for some reason but you're like halfway through sinners right I'm like I'm like

[1:30:29] a little bit less than halfway through centers I'm enjoying it so far but my

[1:30:34] wife and I we had some time together recently it was great and we got together

[1:30:36] and what she said I want to watch a black-and-white romantic comedy and I

[1:30:40] said let's see what's let's see what's available right now and we watch Roman

[1:30:44] holiday which both of us had seen but hadn't watched a long time it's so great

[1:30:47] it's such a great movie it's so charming it feels so effortless and so fun and

[1:30:51] it's a movie that the stakes are incredibly low the stakes are will this

[1:30:56] princess get caught for running away for a day to have fun in Rome will this

[1:31:00] will the reporter be revealed as a reporter and not just some guy who's

[1:31:03] showing around Rome for the day but it's so effervescent you know it's so fun to

[1:31:09] see them actually in Rome the comedy is is funny the romance works really well

[1:31:13] the ending is I love like and Audrey Hepburn so magical in it Gregory Peck is

[1:31:18] great in it William Wyler with William Wyler directed it was not surprised

[1:31:23] because he's one of the all-time greats but it's just a and the new version of

[1:31:26] it at some point in the past they updated the credits so that Dalton

[1:31:29] Trumbo who had been blacklisted at the time is now credited in the movie for

[1:31:33] writing it and coming up with the story so I'm happy to see him getting the

[1:31:37] credit he deserves for it but it's just a really fun movie it's so worth

[1:31:40] watching if you've never seen it and you want to see a romantic comedy that's

[1:31:43] just kind of like charming all the way through then Roman holiday is the one I

[1:31:47] will recommend to you yeah it's fun to see um yeah I can't remember his name

[1:31:54] Gregory Peck in a role like that because like I love Gregory Peck but he has like

[1:31:59] this sort of like stiff energy but it plays so beautifully off of like Audrey

[1:32:03] Hepburn's just total lightness it's yeah it's one of these things where this and

[1:32:09] this is was Audrey Hepburn's first American movie I think she had been in

[1:32:13] in she had performed in other countries but just like seeing that the newness of

[1:32:17] her comes across so excitingly in the movie this movie is 72 years old and

[1:32:21] when you're watching you see it still feels like someone new being brought

[1:32:24] into film in an exciting way so it's really good and yeah Gregory Peck playing

[1:32:27] like kind of a he's not a slimy character but a less ethical character

[1:32:31] than you would usually see him in other than like the boys from Brazil where

[1:32:34] he's playing a Nazi you know but in most of his movies he's more of an upright

[1:32:37] character so it's just really fun also to see like how little Audrey Hepburn is

[1:32:43] and how enormous Gregory Peck it just the scale that their physical bodies are

[1:32:47] at it's it's like I don't know there's just something there's so much fun in

[1:32:50] the movie so that's Roman holiday not to be confused with Roman Mars my co-host

[1:32:56] on 90% visible breakdown the power broker still available you can still

[1:33:00] listen to it got there before I could well thanks everyone for listening the

[1:33:07] flop house of course is part of the maximum fun podcast network go over to

[1:33:12] maximumfund.org check out all the other great podcasts on said network they've

[1:33:18] treated us very well over the years why don't you treat them well by checking

[1:33:22] out a new show thank you to Alex Smith our producer he goes by the name how old

[1:33:28] Dottie that's h o w e l l d a w d y and check out his music and his twitch

[1:33:39] streams but uh for the flop house I've been Dan McCoy I've been Stuart

[1:33:44] Wellington I'm Elliot Kalin bye see you

[1:33:57] Alex I hope you enjoyed all the arguing I love this what I love is Dan is the

[1:34:03] one who's like being sincere and the other the two of us are also like poke

[1:34:07] poke poke tease tease tease it's all facetious but Dan gets real mad that's the way it

[1:34:13] works okay maximum fun a worker owned network of

[1:34:19] artists owned shows supported directly by you

Ep.#456 - Captain America: Brave New World

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