Tag Archives: Batman

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #157 – “Terminator: Dark Fate” (dir. Tim Miller), “Dolemite Is My Name” (dir. Craig Brewer)

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Poster for "Terminator: Dark Fate"

On this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel see the triumphant return of an iconic character from yesteryear, for whom fucking up motherfuckers is the game. Also, they watched Dolemite Is My Name (48:48).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Terminator: Dark Fate): 6/10 (Daniel), 7.5/10 (Glenn)
FilmWonk rating (Dolemite Is My Name): 8 out of 10

Show notes:

  • [02:04] Review: Terminator: Dark Fate
  • [18:29] Spoilers: Terminator: Dark Fate
  • [32:25] Review: Dolemite Is My Name
  • Music for this episode is the tracks “I’m Gonna Kill Dolemite” by Scott Bomar and “Dolemite” by Craig Robinson, from the score and soundtrack of My Name Is Dolemite.

Listen above, or download: Terminator: Dark Fate, Dolemite Is My Name (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #156 – “Joker” (dir. Todd Phillips), “Rocketman” (dir. Dexter Fletcher)

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Poster for "Joker" (2019 film)

On this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out yet another scary clown with Joker, a film that insisted we think deeply about its shallow politics and half-baked philosophy. We ponder whether death of the author is even possible when the author won’t shut his mouth, and whether a strong, dark, and gritty Joaquin Phoenix performance is enough of a selling point in a world in which You Were Never Really Here already exists.

Then we venture back to earlier in 2019 and find ourselves shocked by our unabashed praise for Rocketman, a biopic of Elton John that we refuse to call a jukebox musical. Glenn decided to make Daniel watch it this week because it’s as close to the opposite of Joker as he could muster, but also because it’s an entry in a genre that we could’ve sworn was creatively bankrupt, and we found ourselves delightfully mistaken (58:03).

May contain NSFW language.

Still from "Rocketman"

FilmWonk rating (Joker): 4 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Rocketman): 9 out of 10

Show notes:

Listen above, or download: Joker, Rocketman (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #122 – “Justice League” (dir. Zack Snyder)

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In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel take in the loud desperation of Justice League (47:36).

FilmWonk rating: 4.5 out of 10

Show notes:

  • Music for this episode is Sigrid‘s cover of the Leonard Cohen song, “Everybody Knows”, from the Justice League soundtrack.
  • The piece we mentioned is called, “Stop trying to make Justice League about Marvel vs DC”, by Julia Alexander at Polygon (not Tasha Robinson from The Dissolve – just happened to see it on her Twitter feed).
  • For the costume comparison of the Amazons in Wonder Woman vs. Justice League, see director/animator Leigh Lahav‘s post on Facebook. Subsequent to the recording of this episode, we heard from Samantha Jo, an actress and stuntwoman who played Euboea in both films, who has come out with a statement of support for the costume variations and her on-set experience. And here is the primer from costumer Amanda Weaver on the costuming inspirations for Wonder Woman. I don’t think we’re going to resolve this question here, but we would encourage you to read up and draw your own conclusions. Thanks to Madonna K. for sharing these with us.

Listen above, or download: Justice League (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #85 – “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (dir. Zack Snyder)

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This week on the podcast, Glenn and Daniel unwittingly produce an abundance of pull-quotes for the marketing of Zack Snyder‘s latest disposable superhero mashup. Samples for the press include, “Unrelentingly grim,” “Gal Gadot is in this movie,” and “Supes could’ve blasted his medulla oblongata”(50:38).

May contain NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 5.5/10 (Daniel); 3/10 (Glenn)

Show notes:

  • Music for this episode is the original 1966 Batman TV series theme song. And we end with “Kryptonite” by Three Doors Down.

Listen above, or download: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #24 – “The Dark Knight Rises” (dir. Christopher Nolan)

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Poster for "The Dark Knight Rises"

This week, Glenn, Daniel, and special guest James Quinn discuss the epic final chapter of Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises (54:32).

May contain some NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating: 7/10 (Glenn/Daniel), 6/10 (James)

Show notes:

  • Spoilers begin after the warning (15:52).
  • Music for this episode comes from Hans Zimmer‘s original score to The Dark Knight Rises, including the tracks “Despair” and “Rise”.
  • Special thanks to James for contributing to this episode! Find out about his new sci-fi web series (in which Glenn plays a bear-alien named Uzor) at MasterOfOrionSeries.com.
  • I resisted the temptation to read this before we recorded, but here’s an excellent rundown from the folks at /Film of everything that bothered them about the film. We touched on several of these points, but there are a couple that I flat-out disagree with (most notably a major scene between Bruce and Alfred, which I thought was brilliantly written and acted). But if there’s one thing this film valuably inspires, it’s diversity of opinion, at least in terms of which storytelling issues people hate the most, so it’s well worth reading.
  • Also worth reading: Christopher Nolan’s eloquent farewell to the Batman franchise.
  • CORRECTION: I incorrectly stated that Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming film, Pacific Rim, is “an adaptation of something” – it is an original work (albeit an obvious homage to Japanese monster films). Either way, we’re stoked.

Listen above, or download: The Dark Knight Rises (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser).