Mike gives his Top 5 Christmas movie hot takes (with it being his least favorite movie genre) and share one sent in from the Movie Crew. Mike gives his review of Avatar: The Way of the Water and if it was worth of the 3+ hour runtime. A dive into DC’s decision to scrap the new Superman movie with Henry Cavil. And in the Trailer Park, we get our first real look at Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
New Episodes Every Monday!
Watch on YouTube: @MikeDeestro
Follow Mike on TikTok: @mikedeestro
Follow Mike on Instagram: @mikedeestro
Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikedeestro
Email: MovieMikeD@gmail.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I want to share
with you my top five Christmas movie hot takes of
all time. We'll talk about Avatar the Way of the
Water in the movie review and whether or not it
was worth that three plus our run time, and then
I'm going to dedicate an entire segment this week to
why I think the d C universe is in shambles
(00:22):
after canceling Superman. And in the Trailer Park, we'll talk
about one of my most anticipated sequels, Spider Man Across
the Spider Verse. The trailer is out and it has
me forward, so shout out to the Monday Morning movie crew. Now,
let's talk movies. In a world where everyone and their
mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the
(00:43):
ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast,
a man with so much movie knowledge. He's basically like
a walking on MTV with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network.
Movie movie well, well, well, it is Christmas time, and
if you are a part of the movie crew and
(01:05):
a listener of this podcast, you know that it is
my least favorite genre. So I will probably be a
little bit overcritical here, but here are my top five
Christmas movie hot takes. At number five, The Santa Claus
with Tim Allen. I think that movie isn't even that
good of a Christmas movie because it's actually pretty depressing
(01:26):
and morbid. What The Santa Claus is about is Tim
Allen kills the real Santa Claus, like just kills him,
murders him. He is dead, and inside his Santa suit
discovers this note. The note reads that if anything happens
to Santa, all you have to do is put on
the Santa suit and the reindeer will know what to do,
(01:47):
so you in turn become the new Santa Claus. And
I always just found that kind of a bummer as
a kid, because even his son in the movie is like, dude,
you kill Santa. But nobody ever mourns Santa. In the
Santa Clause, like they go back to the North Pole
and all the elves are just cool with it. No
one goes to find his body or has a funeral
(02:10):
for Santa Claus. And I know you're like, it's a
Christmas kids movie, They're not going to make that big
a deal of his death. But that's what the entire
movie is about. I would question that in any other movie.
So at number five, my Christmas movie hot take is
that the Santa Claus isn't a good Christmas movie message
because it's depressing and morbid. Moving on at number four,
(02:31):
I believe that a Charlie Brown Christmas is the most
boring Christmas movie ever made, and I'm glad it is
no longer on TV. The film first came out in
nineteen and up to just a couple of years ago
in it was shown every single year at Christmas. The
movie is only thirty minutes, but it is thirty minutes
(02:53):
too long. I don't know why this became a tradition.
I get it, Charlie Brown is a classic cartoon une.
But when it comes to this and the Thanksgiving special,
we have a lot more options to be able to
pick from from other Christmas movies, from other holiday movies.
We don't need to show this movie anymore. I don't
even think kids need to discover Charlie Brown Christmas anymore.
(03:14):
I never liked this movie as a kid, I never
liked it as an adult, and I saw a lot
of people kind of go up in arms whenever Apple
TV Plus got the rights to it a couple of
years ago, and now that is the only place you
can watch it. But that's fine. That's where it belongs.
If you really want to watch it, we don't need
to put it on TV. Go to Apple tv plus
and watch it there. If somehow you've missed it for
(03:36):
so many years, there you go. I am glad that
that is no longer on TV, because whenever it would
come on, I would be so incredibly bored. So my
number four hot take on Christmas movie is that I
am glad that we have eliminated that tradition. Moving on
at number three, I have a couple that are a
little bit similar, so I decided to pair them at
(03:58):
number three because they both have to do with kids.
Will start first with Home Alone, which I actually love.
Home Alone. I think that is my favorite Christmas movie.
But the reason I love it so much is because
it kind of feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon come
to life, like live action. But I actually think at
the core of it, Kevin is actually a bad example
(04:18):
for kids and he really doesn't learn the true meaning
of Christmas. And Home Alone, we all know the story.
Kevin is not getting along with his family. He yells
at his mom, so that's why he gets sent up
to the attic to sleep, and they, in this bizarre
turn of events, end up for getting him up there.
So what does he do? He goes all out and
does all the things he wanted to do but couldn't
(04:39):
do because his family was always around. And then you
have these burglars who figure out he is home alone
and decided to rob the place anyway, and he fights back,
But nowhere along that process does he really feel and
he regret for what he did. I just think at
the core of it, he isn't a great example for kids,
and the story of Home Alone doesn't really bring along
(05:02):
that warm message that most Christmas movies deliver. And to
be honest, Kevin would probably get some kind of a
court date. I know the burglars are the real criminals here,
but he would probably have some kind of evaluation after this.
And the other more obvious hot take here is probably
that his parents would also be in trouble for being
pretty neglectful, like how could you really forget your kid?
(05:25):
And also this movie would have no way of happening
in two that'd be a simple text, a simple ring
cam Check and along those same lines, I believe that Jamie,
the kid in Jingle All the Way, didn't really deserve
the Turboman dol and I also think Jamie, like Kevin,
is a bad example for kids. And I love this
(05:45):
movie as a kid, one of my favorites, but watching
it as an adult, there are so many things that
don't add up, more so when it comes to Arnold
Schwarzenegger dressed as Turboman, like nobody realizes that is him
like that is really hard to believe that no one
puts those together, especially his wife Rita Wilson in the movie,
and even she has come out later and criticized that
(06:06):
part of Jingle All the Way. But back to Jamie
throughout the entire movie, He's a very moody kid, which
I know kids can be, But I feel like this
movie would have been a lot better and would have
held up over time if Jamie was a little bit
more hard up for Christmas, if his wish for getting
Turboman was his only chance at a Christmas, or maybe
(06:29):
even if the family wasn't as well off as they are.
I get that Arnold in the movie hasn't been the
most attentive father, especially around the holidays, and he's trying
to get this toy for his son. But I still
don't think that Jamie deserves it. I don't really feel
that gratifying feeling once he finally gets the doll, once
he realizes his dad is the real Turboman. It just
(06:50):
feels like another kid who would have been fine without
the toy getting his way. So I don't think he
deserves it. So when both Jingle all the way and
home alone, I don't think we have the best examples
for kids around Christmas time. That is my hot take
at number two. I believe that Bad Santa is the
true message of Christmas, and it is a top five
(07:12):
Christmas movie of all time. Yes, it is a rated
R movie, but I feel like that is necessary to
really depict what people are like around the holidays. Not
everything should be so cookie cutter and perfect in a
Christmas movie. That's not real life. And what you have
here is this miserable con man played by one of
(07:33):
the finest actors, Billy Bob Thornton, who plays Willie. And
Willie is a miserable guy. He's awful to his con
man partner, he's awful to all of the kids that
come to see him dressed as Santa. He's awful to
his bosses, he is just a miserable guy. But then
he meets this kid, this kid who is an outsider,
(07:54):
who is a nerd, who is bullied, who doesn't have
any friends, who lives with his grandma, who has no
idea what is going on, basically raising himself, and it
takes that kid to make him realize that he needs
to be a better person, and he truly learns the
meaning of Christmas. And yes, he goes through a lot
of hardships and a lot of things that no human
(08:14):
should do, but doing all those things, he actually changes.
In this movie. He cares about this kid more than
he does himself, gets shot in the process, goes to prison,
just to keep his promise to this kid and make
his Christmas wish come true. That is the true message
of Christmas. That is one that both kids and adults
could learn from. Yes there is naughty language, Yes there
(08:37):
are naughty things inside this movie, but I think you
actually have character development here. You have somebody going from
being awful to being somebody who can be an example
and step up for a kid in need. So I
think that is the true message of Christmas. And it
is a fantastic Christmas movie that I watch every single year,
and that is my Christmas movie. Hot take number two
(08:59):
and No. Or one. Let's talk about the Grinch and
how the Grinch stole Christmas. I actually think in that movie,
the Grinch was the victim. His only crime was that
he was different, and he was bullied for being different
because he is green and hairy. Everybody treats him so
terribly like that is awful. So to some degree, I
(09:21):
do think the people of who Will deserved it. All
he wanted to do as a kid was be accepted
and he was laughed at. So he went to live
and be isolated away from everybody. And I feel like
now as an adult, we can kind of relate to that.
Sometimes people are just awful for no reason, and sometimes,
like the Grinch, I find comfort and just doing my
(09:44):
own thing and being isolated because that's where nobody can
mess with you. And I think when you look at
the grinches story and what he has to go through,
it's a miracle that he didn't turn out worse because
this is a villain origin story. I think the story
of the Grinch parallels that of the Joker and his
descent into madness. But what you get in that R
(10:05):
rated movie is somebody going to a much darker place
and doing much more awful things, but also coming from
a place of being pushed to their edge. And in
this movie, the Grinch actually ends up having a change
of heart even after he tries to do an awful
thing of stealing everybody's presence. It takes him having to
learn a lesson about himself and return all the gifts
(10:27):
for them to accept him as the Grinch. And while
I'm on it, the Grinch was ridiculed for being green
and hairy and seen as being mean and being an
awful one, I feel like the same thing happens to
Oscar the Grouch. He's green and Harry lives in a
trash can, doesn't have the best circumstances and everybody yells
at him for being a grouch. So I think they
are both victims here. The Grinch deserves better and maybe
(10:50):
the people who will deserved a little worse. So those
are my top five Christmas movie hot takes. I also
asked on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook what were some of yours?
So I want to share those with you as well.
Mario on Instagram says Elf is not a classic Christmas
movie and doesn't deserve the love it receives. I love Elf.
It is one of my favorites. I would probably put
(11:11):
that in the top five. But I can kind of
see that Elf easily and quickly got goaded more than
other Christmas movies, and it is a pretty recent movie
coming out in the last twenty years. And even though
I do love that movie, I do feel like it
is a little bit overrated at times. So I can
see where you're coming from on that one, Mario. I
(11:33):
also had a lot of people sending hot takes on
Christmas Vacation. I Can Texas said Christmas Vacation just isn't
a good movie at all. Jillian said, no, Lie, Christmas
Vacation is just witnessing Clark get gaso lit for two hours,
and a lot of other people said that Clark is
just a jerk. And I think me watching that movie
back now and hearing how awful and how hard it
(11:57):
is to work with Chevy Chase makes me have a
little a bit of a different opinion on that movie.
And I almost see a lot of his like real
life personality come out in that role. And then as
a movie, I didn't watch a whole lot as a kid.
It was one that later in life I just saw
that a lot of people loved it, so I watched it.
So I kind of missed a boat on that one.
And that is a movie that I don't really care
to watch it around the holidays. It doesn't really make
(12:19):
me feel Christmas ee, And I kind of agree with
you guys. I think in that movie, Clark Griswold is
kind of a jerk, so great hot take. A lot
of other people said that a Christmas Story is in
a great movie. It's Cody for sixteen says a Christmas
movie is trash. Beefcake seven O two said A Christmas
Story is a terrible movie. Hated it as a kid,
(12:39):
and I still do when it comes to a Christmas story.
I love the warmth of that movie, but I can
also recognize I associate that movie a lot with it
just being on all the time. TBS would just play
it NonStop, so I almost feel like it's a promotion
thing when it comes to a Christmas story. I think
for me, I just want to go back to being
a kid watching that movie. That a care in the
(13:00):
world more so than I actually probably care about a
Christmas Story. But again, I just don't really like Christmas movies.
But another hot take on a Christmas Story is Lynn
said version is better than the O G Christmas Story.
I don't agree with that one at all. I felt
like that movie was terrible and it felt less like
a sequel and more like a reunion. So I don't
(13:22):
even think that movie needed to be made, but I
appreciate the hot take. Lens A couple more here, Stokey
Girl said that Polar Express is creepy and scary. I
agree with that one, and I think that came out
at a time when they were trying out all this
new computer animation technology trying to make it look realistic,
and it felt like a bad PlayStation game watching that movie.
(13:44):
So I love the story of Polar Express, do not
like that movie. And finally, Taylor on Twitter wrote in
and said, A Muppet Christmas Carol is the best version
of a Christmas Carol and by far the best Christmas
movie of all time. Taylor, I think I agree with you.
I saw a lot of love for A Muppet Christmas Carol,
and all of these comments and I think that's actually
(14:05):
an easy one because the story of a Christmas Carol
has been done so many times and it's so outplayed
in the story I don't really care about at this point,
but I love the Muppets, so of course they would
probably do the best job out of anybody and making
that story actually be fun. So a great hot take there.
If you have one you want to add into the mix,
(14:27):
comment on my socials at Mike Destro all across the board.
We'll come back and we'll talk about the new Avatar movie.
Let's get into it now. A spoiler free review of
Avatar The Way of Water, and I will be the
first to admit to you I had very low expectations
going into this movie. I'm not even the biggest fan
(14:48):
of the original Avatar, and thirteen years later, it was
hard for me to really have that much excitement going
into this movie. And I also think the trailer did
a pretty bad job at hyping you up. It almost
made it seem like it was going to be a
very boring movie. I didn't know what kind of action
to expect, and then you add in the three hour
and ten minute runtime. It felt daunting going into watching
(15:12):
this movie. It also felt like a hard sell and
a more casual Avatar fan to want to commit that
much time, because it is a big time investment, and
I have no problem watching a long movie, but it
has to be something that I'm really interested in. And
some people have asked me, do you need to watch
part one in order to get part two? I don't
really think you necessarily have to. It had been probably
(15:35):
a year now that I rewatched Avatar. I've forgotten some things,
but going into this one, there are so many new
characters and there's just so much more happening in this movie.
It feels a little bit self contained. Yes, because some
of the backstory of why they are fighting. Yes, having
the first one would clarify those things. But I don't
feel like you would be completely lost going into watching
(15:58):
the sequel without seeing the first one, because again, that's
a lot of time to commit. If you're gonna go
just watch the second one, then you got to watch
another almost three hour movie. But what this movie is about.
You have Jake from the original Avatar. He now has
a family, and after defeating all the sky people in
the original movie, now the sky people are coming back,
(16:19):
and you have that main villain from the first one back,
but now he is an Avatar. He is big and
blue and as an entire crew, as an entire army
going to find Jake and his family, and they just
want to kill him. So once Jake and his family
figure this out, they decide they need to go find
a new home, far far away, and they go and
(16:40):
find this other tribe and these very remote islands where
they start to live with them. And they are water people,
so it's them having to adapt to their culture, being
kind of picked on because they don't look like them,
they don't have the swimming abilities like they do, and
having to fit in here while just mainly keeping their
family safe. And then you have this big evil military
(17:04):
guy trying to find and kill them. And that's really
the entire movie. It's a very simple plot, and I
actually think the story of Avatar and the characters work
so much better in water. I like them in the Ocean.
I just feel like the visuals there and the action
just is a little bit more magical. And this movie
(17:25):
feels like an adventure. It feels like a journey, and
the visuals in this movie are unlike anything I've really seen,
and I know that was such a big deal with
the original one, and I didn't watch the sequel in
three D. I just couldn't put myself through three hours
of that, And really the three D only adds like
another layer of depths. I don't really think I needed that.
(17:48):
Plus I already wear glasses. I didn't want to wear
three D glasses over that. I felt like I would
be very uncomfortable. But I don't think I really missed
out on a whole lot just having this entire story
take place on the big screen. I felt like that
did the movie justice enough. I really can't compare the
look at this movie to anything I've ever seen, aside
from the original one. It kind of makes all the
(18:10):
visual effects in any superhero movie look very subpar. And
I have to say it genuinely felt like I was
a part of this world, like I was in the water,
like I was a part of the action. So that
is all credit to the cinematography here, So I'll say
it is probably an easy shoe in that this one
(18:31):
will win an Oscar for Cinematography for Art Design and
will more than likely get a nod at Best Picture.
I really felt like this was everything I look for
going into watching a movie. It just spoke to that experience.
And even though I'm not a fan of the franchise,
(18:52):
I've come to find there are a lot of people
who really love this movie. They're just not very vocal
about it, and that fans shows and the numbers the
movie has already done in its first weekend four hundred
and thirty four million dollars, and three million of that
is the international box office, and I really think that
(19:12):
is what James Cameron goes for in this movie, getting
get translated to all these languages, and because the movie
is pretty simple, because the plot line is very easy
to follow along with, I feel like that really translates
into an international audience. And at times I feel like
this movie is a little bit corny, But maybe when
(19:35):
you're translating this and trying to make sure that the
most people can watch and understand it, it's gonna feel
a little bit corny. So for me, that corniness did
take me out of it just a little bit, but
it wasn't anything super distracting that I thought that it
was ridiculous in any sense. Another question I got is
this movie appropriate for kids? I know a lot of
(19:55):
kids have watched the original one on Disney Plus, and
now one go see the second one, And I would say,
if they watched and enjoyed the first one, and you're
good with everything that that movie had, this movie is
much of the same when it comes to the violence.
When it comes to the language, there was an F
bomb in this one. So is The Way of the
(20:17):
Water appropriate for kids? I would say yes. One thing
I wasn't expecting is the Avatar people in this movie
to be a little bit more sexual, because they're basically
naked throughout this entire movie. Yes, they are blue fictional characters.
I am aware of that as a thirty one year
old man, But if instead of thirty one, I was
thirteen and saw these half naked blue people running across
(20:40):
the screen, I think I would feel a little bit differently.
They're oddly a little bit more sexual than I was expecting.
So there are a lot of perfectly sculpted humans and
blue people in this movie. And now, when it comes
to James Cameron, I don't think I'm as quick to
write him off anymore. He's proved it again and again,
and what I really just enjoy about his work is
(21:02):
the scale of all his movies I see glimpses of
all his other work in this movie, from Titanic to
True Lize Determinator. I think he just likes movies with
teasing them. And not only that, but this movie was
better than its predecessor, and I didn't see that coming,
one that I thought nobody was really asking for, one
that I thought I was going to go into and
(21:24):
come out ripping this movie. I ended up enjoying it
an awful lot. And I had been questioning his plans
to make Avatar three, four and five, thinking he was
setting himself up for failure and setting himself up for
a box office bomb, and knowing how much money this
movie has to make in order to be profitable, but
(21:45):
I already see it doing that. But hands down my
favorite part, and the first one, was the final battle scene.
James Cameron knows how to make a third act. This
one delivers even more so in that final battle scene.
All three acts are basically an hour, but that last
hour was very intense. I also just kind of have
(22:06):
an affinity with the ocean, Like my favorite animal of
all time are orca whales, So seeing all of the
underwater stuff and seeing all the battle scenes and combine
those two things like that was a lot of fun.
The hardest part of watching this movie is it becomes
kind of hard to feel empathetic towards these characters because
(22:28):
they are so cartoon like. There's also just not that
much dialogue, so it's really hard to flesh out some
of these characters to get to a point to make
you feel emotional throughout this movie, So it really only
has just a hint of emotion. Maybe I thought it
was going to take it up to another level there,
but at the core of this story, I don't feel
like it's entirely that original. The first one was very
(22:52):
dance as with wolves. This one is probably more pokehonist.
And I know the reason that James Cameron is so
passionate about making these movie is because of the overarching message.
The first one was more of saving the rainforest, saving
the jungles, that type of angle. This one moves it
over to a different environment and there's some overtones of
you know, wanting to conserve marine life and keeping that
(23:17):
entire ecosystem in balance. So you have the mean sky
people tearing that down and being the bad guys here.
So so that is his little message in this movie.
But after watching this one and feeling really good about it,
I'm in for Avatar three. Maybe they move that one
to an entirely different terrain, so I'm no longer going
(23:38):
to be ruling out James Cameron. I'm ready to paint
my face blue and head into Avatar three. But again,
because it's not completely original, I think there could have
been a little bit more to the story, which is
saying a lot because it is a three hour movie
and it feels like three hours. I took this movie
in chunks and I was like, all right, if I
can get through this hour, i'll be good. I took
(23:58):
one bathroom break throughout the entire thing, so I felt
pretty good about that. So I don't entirely see the
reason for making this movie three hours. I think it
could have easily been under two forty. And I will
say this if you are hesitant to watch it because
of the long runtime. Never go to a movie at
(24:19):
the time that it says it's going to start. That
is the time that the preview starts. So say you're
going to a seven o'clock showing, I usually don't show
up until seven eighteen, seven twenty. That's usually when the
movie is going to start, so save yourself. Those twenty
minutes do not add on more time if you're gonna
go watch Avatar. I went in it was daytime, it
came out, it was nighttime. It was a very weird feeling.
(24:40):
So it's a major time commitment for something you're not
super passionate about. That is really the only reason here.
I would feel like it would benefit more and get
more people inclined to go see it if it wasn't
over three hours. But hey, credit to him for sticking
to that run time. But when it comes to the score,
I would give Avatar The Way of Water four out
(25:00):
of five. Wooden spears, DCS and shambles. And let me
tell you why they have canceled the New Superman movie.
And there was such a big push around his cameo
and Black Adam and the Rock was so insistent on
having him a part of that movie, having him a
part of the storyline and making people care about d
(25:23):
C again. But now they have canceled him, so there
will be no new Man of Steel with Henry Cavill
reprising the role. And this all becomes newly appointed d
C Studios co CEO James Gunn is making big moves,
and I love James Gunn. I feel like he is
the best thing to happen for d C. But I
just feel as a whole tearing everything down is gonna
(25:45):
feel bad and it's gonna look like some bad moves.
And I trust him, but I still feel like it
is such a slap in the face to d C
fans to get everybody excited about his return, to get
everybody kind of hype on a new Man of Steel
movie and rip it away a just months later. I
felt like they should have at least given him a
one movie deal. I know he is trying to now
(26:06):
make this new Superman movie, and he is said to
be writing one focusing on Clark Kent as a Cub
reporter coming up in the ranks, so it's a younger Superman.
But I don't see why they could just make one
more Man of Steel movie to satisfy all those fans.
It just makes me feel like DC doesn't care about
the fans, they don't even pretend to. And coming from
(26:28):
a Marvel fan and feeling like there are so many
things put into place to just appease us as fans,
whether it be a part of their big plan and
whether they're pulling strings and messing with us, it at
least feels like they care about us, like they care
about our investment in these characters. And even though I
fully trust James Gunn of having this plan to really
restore DC and make a more competitive, it just feels
(26:50):
like a lot of work. And I love what he's
done with the Suicide Squad of bringing back a franchise
that got ripped to shreds and making it fun again.
So if there is anyone that can do it, it
is James Gunn. He has made the Guardians of the Galaxy,
has had people care about characters you never thought possible.
So he is both involved in Marvel and d C,
(27:12):
so he has the potential here. But d C has
just had so many bad moves. And I actually think
that they have the best superheroes when it comes to
just core superheroes Batman, Superman, Aquaman. They're just such iconic
characters wonder Woman, but they don't know what to do
with them, and they keep doing things like this to
(27:32):
make us care less and less. So let's run through
all these points. The biggest one is yes, Henry Cavill
will not return as Superman. He made this big post
on Instagram. He said, I will, after all, not be
returning as Superman after being told by the studio to
announce my return back in October prior to their higher
This news isn't the easiest, but that is life. The
(27:54):
changing of the guard is something that happens. I respect that.
So all that was done before James gun was around,
So I do give some credit there that it takes
a lot to make a decision like that, But he
says that Superman is still around, and I've seen James
Gunn comment on Twitter that they're still gonna work with
Henry Cavill in some capacity to have them involved in
(28:15):
some kind of Superman project. It's just not a Superman movie.
And even before this, they made the announcement that wonder
Woman three is also no longer going to be a thing.
Director Patty Jenkins had to come out on Twitter and
said it really wasn't her decision and that she did
not walk away. She was open to any consideration of
(28:36):
what vision they had with a wonder Woman movie moving forward.
After wonder Woman didn't really get the best reviews, and
I don't think that was entirely her fault. She wrote
on Twitter, it was my understanding there was nothing I
could do to move anything forward at this time. D
C obviously is buried in changes they have to make,
so I understand these decisions are difficult right now. So
(28:59):
D see. It's also scrapped Wonder Woman three. They have
also canceled a Batman Beyond movie that was in development
with Michael Keaton, which a lot of hardcore DC fans
were excited about. And it seems to be that they
are entirely moving on from the Snyder verse with Zack Snyder,
which I actually think is a pretty good move. It's
(29:20):
not like they're taking away something that was so beloved.
And this also comes as they canceled the Batgirl movie,
which was completely done, it was ready to be put
out into the world, and that is just no longer
going to see the light of day. So as somebody
just watching on the outside, it just seems like everything
gets on fire and they're trying to reassure people that
(29:42):
we're gonna come back, We're gonna get things in order.
But they have said that a d C U slate
is coming early next year and they'll lay out their
entire plans of all the movies we can expect from
d C, and that leaves me with a couple of questions.
If they are moving on from the Snyder verse, they're
not having another Wonder Woman or Superman movie, what's going
(30:02):
to happen to Aquaman? Do they just completely scrap that
character give Jason Momoa a brand new character inside the
d C EU, because really he seems to be the
only one who is still around. Because the Flash movie
is also up in the air of all the problems
they've had surrounding that release, and now without Superman, without
(30:23):
Wonder Woman, does that movie even make sense anymore? When
it comes to what is working on the d C side,
is The Batman, which came out earlier this year. I
hope that keep that one completely separate, which I know
there were some rumors surrounding that James Gunn wanted to
bring in this new DC universe and bring it into
The Batman, and he's confirmed that is completely false. That's
(30:46):
entirely director Matt reeves thing. I hope that stays independent.
I hope the Joker sequel stays independent. I know it
probably has to play into it, but I kind of
hope that the Suicide Squad also stays independent because those
are also good on their own. They don't need to
build this entire universe like Marvel, and I know that
probably works better for their bottom line. It probably works
(31:06):
better for their business plan to have the same kind
of structure that Marvel has. But I'll go back to it.
I think they have such strong franchises, such strong characters,
that they could just make good independent movies and that
would have people carrying a lot more. I think they
have better characters than Marvel. But what Marvel does better
is creating stories that people care about, creating relatable things,
(31:29):
creating fun moments, and creating things that we want to
go see in theaters. Yes, there is excitement that all
the movies are connected and building towards something, but at
the end of the day, we just need a good movie.
We just need something to root for here. So with
everything I've read and everything I've seen, it almost seems
like they are expecting this new phoenix to rise from
the ashes. Well that phoenix rise, I really don't think so.
(31:52):
I think it will take a long time to get
this bad taste have everybody's mouth. And I'm not even
the biggest fan of Man of Steel that cameo in
Black Atom did kind of get me excited again. I
saw Henry Cavill's excitement to return to the role, and
I was ready for it. And it just feels like
every time I give DC the benefit of the doubt,
(32:12):
they do something like this. So it's hard for me
to root for them right now. And even though I
think they are finally making the necessary changes, I kind
of just find myself caring less and less. So the
question is will it pay off, will people care? Or
have DC fans had enough? We'll have to find out.
(32:34):
It's time to head down to movie trail. Paul. I
watched a lot of movie trailers and never in the
history of watching a movie trailer have I let out
an audible wow. But that happened while watching the Across
the Spider Verse trailer. I said wow to myself because
(32:56):
this movie looks to be so visually stunning, so many
boundaries seem to be pushed in animation while making this movie.
There are so many people just behind it, animating it,
writing it, so many voice actors in this movie. I
truly believe that the first one is a masterpiece. And
I have so many expectations going into the sequel, and
(33:19):
now that we have this first full look at it
in this trailer, I feel like they've done it. And
when it comes to animated movies, I feel like you
already have to have such a strong script, such a
strong story, in order to invest all of this time
on the animation. So I feel like that that's the
deal for any animated movie. That's why Pixar movies are
(33:40):
so good, because they focus so much on the story
that it's almost like a too big to fail situation
that I just give him the benefit of the doubt.
But before I get into more, here is just a
little bit of the across the Spider Verse trailer. I
can hear you being quiet. I am I hope I
didn't ice game. No one my age says those words
(34:03):
in that order. Who do you think you are? Really?
We are supposed to be the good guys we are
so Miles Morales returns. He is back with Gwen Stacy.
(34:24):
He is Brooklyn's friendly neighborhood Spider Man, but now he
is going into the multiverse, and in this multiverse he finds,
kind of like in the original, all these other Spider
people who exist and they are all supposed to be
the hero, but now there's this new villain and they
all have different ways on how to handle the situation,
(34:45):
and the movie focuses on redefining what a hero is
and how to save the people in your life. So
the villain this time around is Spot voiced by Jason Swartzman,
and this one seems to focus more on Miles and
his relationship with his mom. That's where the trailer opens
up him having this heart to heart conversation with her
and then leads into him and Gwen going into this
(35:06):
different Spider verse and seeing all these other Spider Man,
Spider Women, Spider Punk, and I think that is what
makes these movies so exciting, is seeing all of them
on screen and seeing all of the animation styles. You
have the comic book style, you have the classic Spider
Man look, but you have all of these weird, jittery,
neon things going on. So all of these different animation
(35:29):
styles and character designs is like candy for your rise
and great for somebody with a short attention span because
there's so many things going on and so many things
you can focus on on screen that you never really
get bored. And I love that Miles has aged in
this movie, and I can already see that this is
a birth of a great trilogy. Not only does the
(35:49):
animation look ten times better, which it looked amazing in
the first one, so that is saying a lot. It's
just seeing them home mixed and blended together. That's what
made me say, well, so I love at this entire
trilogy will take us with Miles as he gets older,
as he gets wiser. And I think that is why
Spider Man is my favorite character, is because him and
(36:10):
his problems are so relatable and the battle they face
in this movie is defining what it is and what
it means to do the right thing. And there's always
that struggle that Spider Man has with him being just
a normal kid, a normal teenager, but also being this
person with this duty and this responsibility to save the world.
(36:32):
And even though us as humans don't have superpowers, we
can identify with that. We can identify with wanting to
do what we want, sometimes selfishly, but also doing what
we need to do to be a good person, to
do the right thing and to do things because you
have the responsibility to do so. So I think that's
(36:52):
why we all root for spider Man, and we can
relate his story to us somewhere in our journey in life.
So this movie comes out on June two. Another sequel
is already in the works. There's a spinoff featuring Hayley Steinfeld.
So I see nothing but good things. The only thing
I hope is I'm still alive to see it all.
(37:14):
This makes edition of movie Bar and that's gonna do
it for another episode here of the podcast. But before
I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of
the week. This one is from my Instagram comments on
my Fableman's review and it is from Mary, So shout
out to Mary. Here is the question you wrote on Instagram.
What kind of Christmas gift do you recommend for a
(37:36):
movie goer like you. It's from my twenty one year
old son who loves to see all the new Marvel
and d C movies that come out. Great question, Mary,
and thank you for commenting and listening to the podcast
and what I recommended for anyone who is a Marvel fan. First,
there is a brand called Corksicle that makes tumblers, that
makes sports bottles, that makes all different kinds of insulated
(37:58):
cups that I have really growing to love. The first
one I got was given to me as a Christmas
gift because I do love Marvel movies. So I have
a Black Panther one that I used for my coffee
every day. I also have a spider Man one that
I used to keep my smoothie cold. And I have
this entire set of Spiderman tumblers that I drink fancy
drinks out of a k A sparkling waters. So as
(38:19):
a Marvel fan, I love getting those and collecting those.
I just think they have great designs and they're fun
to drink out of. The other one I recommend is
this brand called Roosevelts, and not only do they have
Marvel In d C shirts, but they also have just
a lot of movie collaborations and they have like fun
designs and they're really comfortable. So if you have a
(38:40):
movie fan in your life, I'm sure you can find
them something there. And then I think the easy one
is the fun go pops. I collect those. I have
a Batman one. I have a couple from one division,
so that is a fun gift. You have somebody who
likes to collect those, So that would be my recommendation
to marry Thank you for commenting, and thank you right
now for listening, for being a part of this podcast
(39:00):
this year. I'll talk to you again next week, and
until then, go out and watch good movies. Later m
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I want to share
with you my top five Christmas movie hot takes of
all time. We'll talk about Avatar the Way of the
Water in the movie review and whether or not it
was worth that three plus our run time, and then
I'm going to dedicate an entire segment this week to
why I think the d C universe is in shambles
(00:22):
after canceling Superman. And in the Trailer Park, we'll talk
about one of my most anticipated sequels, Spider Man Across
the Spider Verse. The trailer is out and it has
me forward, so shout out to the Monday Morning movie crew. Now,
let's talk movies. In a world where everyone and their
mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the
(00:43):
ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast,
a man with so much movie knowledge. He's basically like
a walking on MTV with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network.
Movie movie well, well, well, it is Christmas time, and
if you are a part of the movie crew and
(01:05):
a listener of this podcast, you know that it is
my least favorite genre. So I will probably be a
little bit overcritical here, but here are my top five
Christmas movie hot takes. At number five, The Santa Claus
with Tim Allen. I think that movie isn't even that
good of a Christmas movie because it's actually pretty depressing
(01:26):
and morbid. What The Santa Claus is about is Tim
Allen kills the real Santa Claus, like just kills him,
murders him. He is dead, and inside his Santa suit
discovers this note. The note reads that if anything happens
to Santa, all you have to do is put on
the Santa suit and the reindeer will know what to do,
(01:47):
so you in turn become the new Santa Claus. And
I always just found that kind of a bummer as
a kid, because even his son in the movie is like, dude,
you kill Santa. But nobody ever mourns Santa. In the
Santa Clause, like they go back to the North Pole
and all the elves are just cool with it. No
one goes to find his body or has a funeral
(02:10):
for Santa Claus. And I know you're like, it's a
Christmas kids movie, They're not going to make that big
a deal of his death. But that's what the entire
movie is about. I would question that in any other movie.
So at number five, my Christmas movie hot take is
that the Santa Claus isn't a good Christmas movie message
because it's depressing and morbid. Moving on at number four,
(02:31):
I believe that a Charlie Brown Christmas is the most
boring Christmas movie ever made, and I'm glad it is
no longer on TV. The film first came out in
nineteen and up to just a couple of years ago
in it was shown every single year at Christmas. The
movie is only thirty minutes, but it is thirty minutes
(02:53):
too long. I don't know why this became a tradition.
I get it, Charlie Brown is a classic cartoon une.
But when it comes to this and the Thanksgiving special,
we have a lot more options to be able to
pick from from other Christmas movies, from other holiday movies.
We don't need to show this movie anymore. I don't
even think kids need to discover Charlie Brown Christmas anymore.
(03:14):
I never liked this movie as a kid, I never
liked it as an adult, and I saw a lot
of people kind of go up in arms whenever Apple
TV Plus got the rights to it a couple of
years ago, and now that is the only place you
can watch it. But that's fine. That's where it belongs.
If you really want to watch it, we don't need
to put it on TV. Go to Apple tv plus
and watch it there. If somehow you've missed it for
(03:36):
so many years, there you go. I am glad that
that is no longer on TV, because whenever it would
come on, I would be so incredibly bored. So my
number four hot take on Christmas movie is that I
am glad that we have eliminated that tradition. Moving on
at number three, I have a couple that are a
little bit similar, so I decided to pair them at
(03:58):
number three because they both have to do with kids.
Will start first with Home Alone, which I actually love.
Home Alone. I think that is my favorite Christmas movie.
But the reason I love it so much is because
it kind of feels like a Looney Tunes cartoon come
to life, like live action. But I actually think at
the core of it, Kevin is actually a bad example
(04:18):
for kids and he really doesn't learn the true meaning
of Christmas. And Home Alone, we all know the story.
Kevin is not getting along with his family. He yells
at his mom, so that's why he gets sent up
to the attic to sleep, and they, in this bizarre
turn of events, end up for getting him up there.
So what does he do? He goes all out and
does all the things he wanted to do but couldn't
(04:39):
do because his family was always around. And then you
have these burglars who figure out he is home alone
and decided to rob the place anyway, and he fights back,
But nowhere along that process does he really feel and
he regret for what he did. I just think at
the core of it, he isn't a great example for kids,
and the story of Home Alone doesn't really bring along
(05:02):
that warm message that most Christmas movies deliver. And to
be honest, Kevin would probably get some kind of a
court date. I know the burglars are the real criminals here,
but he would probably have some kind of evaluation after this.
And the other more obvious hot take here is probably
that his parents would also be in trouble for being
pretty neglectful, like how could you really forget your kid?
(05:25):
And also this movie would have no way of happening
in two that'd be a simple text, a simple ring
cam Check and along those same lines, I believe that Jamie,
the kid in Jingle All the Way, didn't really deserve
the Turboman dol and I also think Jamie, like Kevin,
is a bad example for kids. And I love this
(05:45):
movie as a kid, one of my favorites, but watching
it as an adult, there are so many things that
don't add up, more so when it comes to Arnold
Schwarzenegger dressed as Turboman, like nobody realizes that is him
like that is really hard to believe that no one
puts those together, especially his wife Rita Wilson in the movie,
and even she has come out later and criticized that
(06:06):
part of Jingle All the Way. But back to Jamie
throughout the entire movie, He's a very moody kid, which
I know kids can be, But I feel like this
movie would have been a lot better and would have
held up over time if Jamie was a little bit
more hard up for Christmas, if his wish for getting
Turboman was his only chance at a Christmas, or maybe
(06:29):
even if the family wasn't as well off as they are.
I get that Arnold in the movie hasn't been the
most attentive father, especially around the holidays, and he's trying
to get this toy for his son. But I still
don't think that Jamie deserves it. I don't really feel
that gratifying feeling once he finally gets the doll, once
he realizes his dad is the real Turboman. It just
(06:50):
feels like another kid who would have been fine without
the toy getting his way. So I don't think he
deserves it. So when both Jingle all the way and
home alone, I don't think we have the best examples
for kids around Christmas time. That is my hot take
at number two. I believe that Bad Santa is the
true message of Christmas, and it is a top five
(07:12):
Christmas movie of all time. Yes, it is a rated
R movie, but I feel like that is necessary to
really depict what people are like around the holidays. Not
everything should be so cookie cutter and perfect in a
Christmas movie. That's not real life. And what you have
here is this miserable con man played by one of
(07:33):
the finest actors, Billy Bob Thornton, who plays Willie. And
Willie is a miserable guy. He's awful to his con
man partner, he's awful to all of the kids that
come to see him dressed as Santa. He's awful to
his bosses, he is just a miserable guy. But then
he meets this kid, this kid who is an outsider,
(07:54):
who is a nerd, who is bullied, who doesn't have
any friends, who lives with his grandma, who has no
idea what is going on, basically raising himself, and it
takes that kid to make him realize that he needs
to be a better person, and he truly learns the
meaning of Christmas. And yes, he goes through a lot
of hardships and a lot of things that no human
(08:14):
should do, but doing all those things, he actually changes.
In this movie. He cares about this kid more than
he does himself, gets shot in the process, goes to prison,
just to keep his promise to this kid and make
his Christmas wish come true. That is the true message
of Christmas. That is one that both kids and adults
could learn from. Yes there is naughty language, Yes there
(08:37):
are naughty things inside this movie, but I think you
actually have character development here. You have somebody going from
being awful to being somebody who can be an example
and step up for a kid in need. So I
think that is the true message of Christmas. And it
is a fantastic Christmas movie that I watch every single year,
and that is my Christmas movie. Hot take number two
(08:59):
and No. Or one. Let's talk about the Grinch and
how the Grinch stole Christmas. I actually think in that movie,
the Grinch was the victim. His only crime was that
he was different, and he was bullied for being different
because he is green and hairy. Everybody treats him so
terribly like that is awful. So to some degree, I
(09:21):
do think the people of who Will deserved it. All
he wanted to do as a kid was be accepted
and he was laughed at. So he went to live
and be isolated away from everybody. And I feel like
now as an adult, we can kind of relate to that.
Sometimes people are just awful for no reason, and sometimes,
like the Grinch, I find comfort and just doing my
(09:44):
own thing and being isolated because that's where nobody can
mess with you. And I think when you look at
the grinches story and what he has to go through,
it's a miracle that he didn't turn out worse because
this is a villain origin story. I think the story
of the Grinch parallels that of the Joker and his
descent into madness. But what you get in that R
(10:05):
rated movie is somebody going to a much darker place
and doing much more awful things, but also coming from
a place of being pushed to their edge. And in
this movie, the Grinch actually ends up having a change
of heart even after he tries to do an awful
thing of stealing everybody's presence. It takes him having to
learn a lesson about himself and return all the gifts
(10:27):
for them to accept him as the Grinch. And while
I'm on it, the Grinch was ridiculed for being green
and hairy and seen as being mean and being an
awful one, I feel like the same thing happens to
Oscar the Grouch. He's green and Harry lives in a
trash can, doesn't have the best circumstances and everybody yells
at him for being a grouch. So I think they
are both victims here. The Grinch deserves better and maybe
(10:50):
the people who will deserved a little worse. So those
are my top five Christmas movie hot takes. I also
asked on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook what were some of yours?
So I want to share those with you as well.
Mario on Instagram says Elf is not a classic Christmas
movie and doesn't deserve the love it receives. I love Elf.
It is one of my favorites. I would probably put
(11:11):
that in the top five. But I can kind of
see that Elf easily and quickly got goaded more than
other Christmas movies, and it is a pretty recent movie
coming out in the last twenty years. And even though
I do love that movie, I do feel like it
is a little bit overrated at times. So I can
see where you're coming from on that one, Mario. I
(11:33):
also had a lot of people sending hot takes on
Christmas Vacation. I Can Texas said Christmas Vacation just isn't
a good movie at all. Jillian said, no, Lie, Christmas
Vacation is just witnessing Clark get gaso lit for two hours,
and a lot of other people said that Clark is
just a jerk. And I think me watching that movie
back now and hearing how awful and how hard it
(11:57):
is to work with Chevy Chase makes me have a
little a bit of a different opinion on that movie.
And I almost see a lot of his like real
life personality come out in that role. And then as
a movie, I didn't watch a whole lot as a kid.
It was one that later in life I just saw
that a lot of people loved it, so I watched it.
So I kind of missed a boat on that one.
And that is a movie that I don't really care
to watch it around the holidays. It doesn't really make
(12:19):
me feel Christmas ee, And I kind of agree with
you guys. I think in that movie, Clark Griswold is
kind of a jerk, so great hot take. A lot
of other people said that a Christmas Story is in
a great movie. It's Cody for sixteen says a Christmas
movie is trash. Beefcake seven O two said A Christmas
Story is a terrible movie. Hated it as a kid,
(12:39):
and I still do when it comes to a Christmas story.
I love the warmth of that movie, but I can
also recognize I associate that movie a lot with it
just being on all the time. TBS would just play
it NonStop, so I almost feel like it's a promotion
thing when it comes to a Christmas story. I think
for me, I just want to go back to being
a kid watching that movie. That a care in the
(13:00):
world more so than I actually probably care about a
Christmas Story. But again, I just don't really like Christmas movies.
But another hot take on a Christmas Story is Lynn
said version is better than the O G Christmas Story.
I don't agree with that one at all. I felt
like that movie was terrible and it felt less like
a sequel and more like a reunion. So I don't
(13:22):
even think that movie needed to be made, but I
appreciate the hot take. Lens A couple more here, Stokey
Girl said that Polar Express is creepy and scary. I
agree with that one, and I think that came out
at a time when they were trying out all this
new computer animation technology trying to make it look realistic,
and it felt like a bad PlayStation game watching that movie.
(13:44):
So I love the story of Polar Express, do not
like that movie. And finally, Taylor on Twitter wrote in
and said, A Muppet Christmas Carol is the best version
of a Christmas Carol and by far the best Christmas
movie of all time. Taylor, I think I agree with you.
I saw a lot of love for A Muppet Christmas Carol,
and all of these comments and I think that's actually
(14:05):
an easy one because the story of a Christmas Carol
has been done so many times and it's so outplayed
in the story I don't really care about at this point,
but I love the Muppets, so of course they would
probably do the best job out of anybody and making
that story actually be fun. So a great hot take there.
If you have one you want to add into the mix,
(14:27):
comment on my socials at Mike Destro all across the board.
We'll come back and we'll talk about the new Avatar movie.
Let's get into it now. A spoiler free review of
Avatar The Way of Water, and I will be the
first to admit to you I had very low expectations
going into this movie. I'm not even the biggest fan
(14:48):
of the original Avatar, and thirteen years later, it was
hard for me to really have that much excitement going
into this movie. And I also think the trailer did
a pretty bad job at hyping you up. It almost
made it seem like it was going to be a
very boring movie. I didn't know what kind of action
to expect, and then you add in the three hour
and ten minute runtime. It felt daunting going into watching
(15:12):
this movie. It also felt like a hard sell and
a more casual Avatar fan to want to commit that
much time, because it is a big time investment, and
I have no problem watching a long movie, but it
has to be something that I'm really interested in. And
some people have asked me, do you need to watch
part one in order to get part two? I don't
really think you necessarily have to. It had been probably
(15:35):
a year now that I rewatched Avatar. I've forgotten some things,
but going into this one, there are so many new
characters and there's just so much more happening in this movie.
It feels a little bit self contained. Yes, because some
of the backstory of why they are fighting. Yes, having
the first one would clarify those things. But I don't
feel like you would be completely lost going into watching
(15:58):
the sequel without seeing the first one, because again, that's
a lot of time to commit. If you're gonna go
just watch the second one, then you got to watch
another almost three hour movie. But what this movie is about.
You have Jake from the original Avatar. He now has
a family, and after defeating all the sky people in
the original movie, now the sky people are coming back,
(16:19):
and you have that main villain from the first one back,
but now he is an Avatar. He is big and
blue and as an entire crew, as an entire army
going to find Jake and his family, and they just
want to kill him. So once Jake and his family
figure this out, they decide they need to go find
a new home, far far away, and they go and
(16:40):
find this other tribe and these very remote islands where
they start to live with them. And they are water people,
so it's them having to adapt to their culture, being
kind of picked on because they don't look like them,
they don't have the swimming abilities like they do, and
having to fit in here while just mainly keeping their
family safe. And then you have this big evil military
(17:04):
guy trying to find and kill them. And that's really
the entire movie. It's a very simple plot, and I
actually think the story of Avatar and the characters work
so much better in water. I like them in the Ocean.
I just feel like the visuals there and the action
just is a little bit more magical. And this movie
(17:25):
feels like an adventure. It feels like a journey, and
the visuals in this movie are unlike anything I've really seen,
and I know that was such a big deal with
the original one, and I didn't watch the sequel in
three D. I just couldn't put myself through three hours
of that, And really the three D only adds like
another layer of depths. I don't really think I needed that.
(17:48):
Plus I already wear glasses. I didn't want to wear
three D glasses over that. I felt like I would
be very uncomfortable. But I don't think I really missed
out on a whole lot just having this entire story
take place on the big screen. I felt like that
did the movie justice enough. I really can't compare the
look at this movie to anything I've ever seen, aside
from the original one. It kind of makes all the
(18:10):
visual effects in any superhero movie look very subpar. And
I have to say it genuinely felt like I was
a part of this world, like I was in the water,
like I was a part of the action. So that
is all credit to the cinematography here, So I'll say
it is probably an easy shoe in that this one
(18:31):
will win an Oscar for Cinematography for Art Design and
will more than likely get a nod at Best Picture.
I really felt like this was everything I look for
going into watching a movie. It just spoke to that experience.
And even though I'm not a fan of the franchise,
(18:52):
I've come to find there are a lot of people
who really love this movie. They're just not very vocal
about it, and that fans shows and the numbers the
movie has already done in its first weekend four hundred
and thirty four million dollars, and three million of that
is the international box office, and I really think that
(19:12):
is what James Cameron goes for in this movie, getting
get translated to all these languages, and because the movie
is pretty simple, because the plot line is very easy
to follow along with, I feel like that really translates
into an international audience. And at times I feel like
this movie is a little bit corny, But maybe when
(19:35):
you're translating this and trying to make sure that the
most people can watch and understand it, it's gonna feel
a little bit corny. So for me, that corniness did
take me out of it just a little bit, but
it wasn't anything super distracting that I thought that it
was ridiculous in any sense. Another question I got is
this movie appropriate for kids? I know a lot of
(19:55):
kids have watched the original one on Disney Plus, and
now one go see the second one, And I would say,
if they watched and enjoyed the first one, and you're
good with everything that that movie had, this movie is
much of the same when it comes to the violence.
When it comes to the language, there was an F
bomb in this one. So is The Way of the
(20:17):
Water appropriate for kids? I would say yes. One thing
I wasn't expecting is the Avatar people in this movie
to be a little bit more sexual, because they're basically
naked throughout this entire movie. Yes, they are blue fictional characters.
I am aware of that as a thirty one year
old man, But if instead of thirty one, I was
thirteen and saw these half naked blue people running across
(20:40):
the screen, I think I would feel a little bit differently.
They're oddly a little bit more sexual than I was expecting.
So there are a lot of perfectly sculpted humans and
blue people in this movie. And now, when it comes
to James Cameron, I don't think I'm as quick to
write him off anymore. He's proved it again and again,
and what I really just enjoy about his work is
(21:02):
the scale of all his movies I see glimpses of
all his other work in this movie, from Titanic to
True Lize Determinator. I think he just likes movies with
teasing them. And not only that, but this movie was
better than its predecessor, and I didn't see that coming,
one that I thought nobody was really asking for, one
that I thought I was going to go into and
(21:24):
come out ripping this movie. I ended up enjoying it
an awful lot. And I had been questioning his plans
to make Avatar three, four and five, thinking he was
setting himself up for failure and setting himself up for
a box office bomb, and knowing how much money this
movie has to make in order to be profitable, but
(21:45):
I already see it doing that. But hands down my
favorite part, and the first one, was the final battle scene.
James Cameron knows how to make a third act. This
one delivers even more so in that final battle scene.
All three acts are basically an hour, but that last
hour was very intense. I also just kind of have
(22:06):
an affinity with the ocean, Like my favorite animal of
all time are orca whales, So seeing all of the
underwater stuff and seeing all the battle scenes and combine
those two things like that was a lot of fun.
The hardest part of watching this movie is it becomes
kind of hard to feel empathetic towards these characters because
(22:28):
they are so cartoon like. There's also just not that
much dialogue, so it's really hard to flesh out some
of these characters to get to a point to make
you feel emotional throughout this movie, So it really only
has just a hint of emotion. Maybe I thought it
was going to take it up to another level there,
but at the core of this story, I don't feel
like it's entirely that original. The first one was very
(22:52):
dance as with wolves. This one is probably more pokehonist.
And I know the reason that James Cameron is so
passionate about making these movie is because of the overarching message.
The first one was more of saving the rainforest, saving
the jungles, that type of angle. This one moves it
over to a different environment and there's some overtones of
you know, wanting to conserve marine life and keeping that
(23:17):
entire ecosystem in balance. So you have the mean sky
people tearing that down and being the bad guys here.
So so that is his little message in this movie.
But after watching this one and feeling really good about it,
I'm in for Avatar three. Maybe they move that one
to an entirely different terrain, so I'm no longer going
(23:38):
to be ruling out James Cameron. I'm ready to paint
my face blue and head into Avatar three. But again,
because it's not completely original, I think there could have
been a little bit more to the story, which is
saying a lot because it is a three hour movie
and it feels like three hours. I took this movie
in chunks and I was like, all right, if I
can get through this hour, i'll be good. I took
(23:58):
one bathroom break throughout the entire thing, so I felt
pretty good about that. So I don't entirely see the
reason for making this movie three hours. I think it
could have easily been under two forty. And I will
say this if you are hesitant to watch it because
of the long runtime. Never go to a movie at
(24:19):
the time that it says it's going to start. That
is the time that the preview starts. So say you're
going to a seven o'clock showing, I usually don't show
up until seven eighteen, seven twenty. That's usually when the
movie is going to start, so save yourself. Those twenty
minutes do not add on more time if you're gonna
go watch Avatar. I went in it was daytime, it
came out, it was nighttime. It was a very weird feeling.
(24:40):
So it's a major time commitment for something you're not
super passionate about. That is really the only reason here.
I would feel like it would benefit more and get
more people inclined to go see it if it wasn't
over three hours. But hey, credit to him for sticking
to that run time. But when it comes to the score,
I would give Avatar The Way of Water four out
(25:00):
of five. Wooden spears, DCS and shambles. And let me
tell you why they have canceled the New Superman movie.
And there was such a big push around his cameo
and Black Adam and the Rock was so insistent on
having him a part of that movie, having him a
part of the storyline and making people care about d
(25:23):
C again. But now they have canceled him, so there
will be no new Man of Steel with Henry Cavill
reprising the role. And this all becomes newly appointed d
C Studios co CEO James Gunn is making big moves,
and I love James Gunn. I feel like he is
the best thing to happen for d C. But I
just feel as a whole tearing everything down is gonna
(25:45):
feel bad and it's gonna look like some bad moves.
And I trust him, but I still feel like it
is such a slap in the face to d C
fans to get everybody excited about his return, to get
everybody kind of hype on a new Man of Steel
movie and rip it away a just months later. I
felt like they should have at least given him a
one movie deal. I know he is trying to now
(26:06):
make this new Superman movie, and he is said to
be writing one focusing on Clark Kent as a Cub
reporter coming up in the ranks, so it's a younger Superman.
But I don't see why they could just make one
more Man of Steel movie to satisfy all those fans.
It just makes me feel like DC doesn't care about
the fans, they don't even pretend to. And coming from
(26:28):
a Marvel fan and feeling like there are so many
things put into place to just appease us as fans,
whether it be a part of their big plan and
whether they're pulling strings and messing with us, it at
least feels like they care about us, like they care
about our investment in these characters. And even though I
fully trust James Gunn of having this plan to really
restore DC and make a more competitive, it just feels
(26:50):
like a lot of work. And I love what he's
done with the Suicide Squad of bringing back a franchise
that got ripped to shreds and making it fun again.
So if there is anyone that can do it, it
is James Gunn. He has made the Guardians of the Galaxy,
has had people care about characters you never thought possible.
So he is both involved in Marvel and d C,
(27:12):
so he has the potential here. But d C has
just had so many bad moves. And I actually think
that they have the best superheroes when it comes to
just core superheroes Batman, Superman, Aquaman. They're just such iconic
characters wonder Woman, but they don't know what to do
with them, and they keep doing things like this to
(27:32):
make us care less and less. So let's run through
all these points. The biggest one is yes, Henry Cavill
will not return as Superman. He made this big post
on Instagram. He said, I will, after all, not be
returning as Superman after being told by the studio to
announce my return back in October prior to their higher
This news isn't the easiest, but that is life. The
(27:54):
changing of the guard is something that happens. I respect that.
So all that was done before James gun was around,
So I do give some credit there that it takes
a lot to make a decision like that, But he
says that Superman is still around, and I've seen James
Gunn comment on Twitter that they're still gonna work with
Henry Cavill in some capacity to have them involved in
(28:15):
some kind of Superman project. It's just not a Superman movie.
And even before this, they made the announcement that wonder
Woman three is also no longer going to be a thing.
Director Patty Jenkins had to come out on Twitter and
said it really wasn't her decision and that she did
not walk away. She was open to any consideration of
(28:36):
what vision they had with a wonder Woman movie moving forward.
After wonder Woman didn't really get the best reviews, and
I don't think that was entirely her fault. She wrote
on Twitter, it was my understanding there was nothing I
could do to move anything forward at this time. D
C obviously is buried in changes they have to make,
so I understand these decisions are difficult right now. So
(28:59):
D see. It's also scrapped Wonder Woman three. They have
also canceled a Batman Beyond movie that was in development
with Michael Keaton, which a lot of hardcore DC fans
were excited about. And it seems to be that they
are entirely moving on from the Snyder verse with Zack Snyder,
which I actually think is a pretty good move. It's
(29:20):
not like they're taking away something that was so beloved.
And this also comes as they canceled the Batgirl movie,
which was completely done, it was ready to be put
out into the world, and that is just no longer
going to see the light of day. So as somebody
just watching on the outside, it just seems like everything
gets on fire and they're trying to reassure people that
(29:42):
we're gonna come back, We're gonna get things in order.
But they have said that a d C U slate
is coming early next year and they'll lay out their
entire plans of all the movies we can expect from
d C, and that leaves me with a couple of questions.
If they are moving on from the Snyder verse, they're
not having another Wonder Woman or Superman movie, what's going
(30:02):
to happen to Aquaman? Do they just completely scrap that
character give Jason Momoa a brand new character inside the
d C EU, because really he seems to be the
only one who is still around. Because the Flash movie
is also up in the air of all the problems
they've had surrounding that release, and now without Superman, without
(30:23):
Wonder Woman, does that movie even make sense anymore? When
it comes to what is working on the d C side,
is The Batman, which came out earlier this year. I
hope that keep that one completely separate, which I know
there were some rumors surrounding that James Gunn wanted to
bring in this new DC universe and bring it into
The Batman, and he's confirmed that is completely false. That's
(30:46):
entirely director Matt reeves thing. I hope that stays independent.
I hope the Joker sequel stays independent. I know it
probably has to play into it, but I kind of
hope that the Suicide Squad also stays independent because those
are also good on their own. They don't need to
build this entire universe like Marvel, and I know that
probably works better for their bottom line. It probably works
(31:06):
better for their business plan to have the same kind
of structure that Marvel has. But I'll go back to it.
I think they have such strong franchises, such strong characters,
that they could just make good independent movies and that
would have people carrying a lot more. I think they
have better characters than Marvel. But what Marvel does better
is creating stories that people care about, creating relatable things,
(31:29):
creating fun moments, and creating things that we want to
go see in theaters. Yes, there is excitement that all
the movies are connected and building towards something, but at
the end of the day, we just need a good movie.
We just need something to root for here. So with
everything I've read and everything I've seen, it almost seems
like they are expecting this new phoenix to rise from
the ashes. Well that phoenix rise, I really don't think so.
(31:52):
I think it will take a long time to get
this bad taste have everybody's mouth. And I'm not even
the biggest fan of Man of Steel that cameo in
Black Atom did kind of get me excited again. I
saw Henry Cavill's excitement to return to the role, and
I was ready for it. And it just feels like
every time I give DC the benefit of the doubt,
(32:12):
they do something like this. So it's hard for me
to root for them right now. And even though I
think they are finally making the necessary changes, I kind
of just find myself caring less and less. So the
question is will it pay off, will people care? Or
have DC fans had enough? We'll have to find out.
(32:34):
It's time to head down to movie trail. Paul. I
watched a lot of movie trailers and never in the
history of watching a movie trailer have I let out
an audible wow. But that happened while watching the Across
the Spider Verse trailer. I said wow to myself because
(32:56):
this movie looks to be so visually stunning, so many
boundaries seem to be pushed in animation while making this movie.
There are so many people just behind it, animating it,
writing it, so many voice actors in this movie. I
truly believe that the first one is a masterpiece. And
I have so many expectations going into the sequel, and
(33:19):
now that we have this first full look at it
in this trailer, I feel like they've done it. And
when it comes to animated movies, I feel like you
already have to have such a strong script, such a
strong story, in order to invest all of this time
on the animation. So I feel like that that's the
deal for any animated movie. That's why Pixar movies are
(33:40):
so good, because they focus so much on the story
that it's almost like a too big to fail situation
that I just give him the benefit of the doubt.
But before I get into more, here is just a
little bit of the across the Spider Verse trailer. I
can hear you being quiet. I am I hope I
didn't ice game. No one my age says those words
(34:03):
in that order. Who do you think you are? Really?
We are supposed to be the good guys we are
so Miles Morales returns. He is back with Gwen Stacy.
(34:24):
He is Brooklyn's friendly neighborhood Spider Man, but now he
is going into the multiverse, and in this multiverse he finds,
kind of like in the original, all these other Spider
people who exist and they are all supposed to be
the hero, but now there's this new villain and they
all have different ways on how to handle the situation,
(34:45):
and the movie focuses on redefining what a hero is
and how to save the people in your life. So
the villain this time around is Spot voiced by Jason Swartzman,
and this one seems to focus more on Miles and
his relationship with his mom. That's where the trailer opens
up him having this heart to heart conversation with her
and then leads into him and Gwen going into this
(35:06):
different Spider verse and seeing all these other Spider Man,
Spider Women, Spider Punk, and I think that is what
makes these movies so exciting, is seeing all of them
on screen and seeing all of the animation styles. You
have the comic book style, you have the classic Spider
Man look, but you have all of these weird, jittery,
neon things going on. So all of these different animation
(35:29):
styles and character designs is like candy for your rise
and great for somebody with a short attention span because
there's so many things going on and so many things
you can focus on on screen that you never really
get bored. And I love that Miles has aged in
this movie, and I can already see that this is
a birth of a great trilogy. Not only does the
(35:49):
animation look ten times better, which it looked amazing in
the first one, so that is saying a lot. It's
just seeing them home mixed and blended together. That's what
made me say, well, so I love at this entire
trilogy will take us with Miles as he gets older,
as he gets wiser. And I think that is why
Spider Man is my favorite character, is because him and
(36:10):
his problems are so relatable and the battle they face
in this movie is defining what it is and what
it means to do the right thing. And there's always
that struggle that Spider Man has with him being just
a normal kid, a normal teenager, but also being this
person with this duty and this responsibility to save the world.
(36:32):
And even though us as humans don't have superpowers, we
can identify with that. We can identify with wanting to
do what we want, sometimes selfishly, but also doing what
we need to do to be a good person, to
do the right thing and to do things because you
have the responsibility to do so. So I think that's
(36:52):
why we all root for spider Man, and we can
relate his story to us somewhere in our journey in life.
So this movie comes out on June two. Another sequel
is already in the works. There's a spinoff featuring Hayley Steinfeld.
So I see nothing but good things. The only thing
I hope is I'm still alive to see it all.
(37:14):
This makes edition of movie Bar and that's gonna do
it for another episode here of the podcast. But before
I go, I gotta give my listeners shout out of
the week. This one is from my Instagram comments on
my Fableman's review and it is from Mary, So shout
out to Mary. Here is the question you wrote on Instagram.
What kind of Christmas gift do you recommend for a
(37:36):
movie goer like you. It's from my twenty one year
old son who loves to see all the new Marvel
and d C movies that come out. Great question, Mary,
and thank you for commenting and listening to the podcast
and what I recommended for anyone who is a Marvel fan. First,
there is a brand called Corksicle that makes tumblers, that
makes sports bottles, that makes all different kinds of insulated
(37:58):
cups that I have really growing to love. The first
one I got was given to me as a Christmas
gift because I do love Marvel movies. So I have
a Black Panther one that I used for my coffee
every day. I also have a spider Man one that
I used to keep my smoothie cold. And I have
this entire set of Spiderman tumblers that I drink fancy
drinks out of a k A sparkling waters. So as
(38:19):
a Marvel fan, I love getting those and collecting those.
I just think they have great designs and they're fun
to drink out of. The other one I recommend is
this brand called Roosevelts, and not only do they have
Marvel In d C shirts, but they also have just
a lot of movie collaborations and they have like fun
designs and they're really comfortable. So if you have a
(38:40):
movie fan in your life, I'm sure you can find
them something there. And then I think the easy one
is the fun go pops. I collect those. I have
a Batman one. I have a couple from one division,
so that is a fun gift. You have somebody who
likes to collect those, So that would be my recommendation
to marry Thank you for commenting, and thank you right
now for listening, for being a part of this podcast
(39:00):
this year. I'll talk to you again next week, and
until then, go out and watch good movies. Later m
Host
Mike D
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!