thestray

It's a comedy though, so I don't feel like it's that out of the ordinary that they tried to play absurdity with a straight face. I chalk that up to them trying to ape the tone of the type of wold they're satirizing, because that's sorta the joke, it's an absurd take on superheroes. I can see how tonally it wasn't working consistently, but that seems a little too nuanced of a critique for the movie to be begging for a HDTGM episode. I'm more of a fan of them doing films that are unintentionally crazy/bad by a large margin. This film just seems like a mediocre comedy to me, it's not remarkably awful, it's not so bad it's good, it's not taking itself seriously yet being absurd, it's just kinda okay to me. I don't know, what makes a good HDTGM is so subjective. Not trying to be argumentative, movies are fun to talk about!

I'm not really sold on this one because there doesn't seem to be much to talk about besides all the crazy things that are meant to be crazy. I don't know what makes it an HDTGM movie any more than any other comedy that also has lots of crazy things happening in it. Like, lots of crazy nonsensical things happen in Zoolander, or Dumb & Dumber, or Wayne's World, etc etc. Is it just that Mystery Men wasn't a hit? Or that you felt the comedy fell a little flat? I thought it was an okay movie. But not horrible. And not any more absurd than comedies that have been successful. I'm not dismissing it as a nomination, I just think comedies are kind of a harder sell, to me they kind of have to be flagrantly awful and unfunny (The Love Guru), otherwise why not just nominate every comedy that's not been great?

Adomian would kill it. It's so obvious.

Is it just me or does Scott Aukerman have a cameo as a zombie?

Great episode! Everyone was great. I'm still hoping for a founding UCB members episode of Improv4humans.

Well, this is the only thing in this thread I'll differ on, banging an an alien would've probably been top priority for me.

Yyyyeeaaah. This is one of those movies where it's not so much that I hate the movie, but just that I'm baffled at how crazy people are for it. I had a bunch of friends who kept referring to it as a "game changer" and treating it like one of the greatest films of all time and the best movie of the year, and I was like... what? The only thing it has going for it is the CGI, that's it, it's not remarkable in any other way.

Hm. I feel like this one is a little too self-aware to pick apart. It knows it's being crazy the whole time. I tend to feel that way about most comedy suggestions though, so I don't know.

Maybe they can pull an Independence Day and get in their ship, enter the larger ship, upload a virus than escape in the nick of time?

Legit one of my favorite movies ever. So many of my peers have NO idea what the hell I'm talking about when I bring this movie up. I'd totally be down for them to do this movie, as much as I love it it's crazy, but definitely still entertaining to watch.

I think even if you hold the greatest sci-fi movies of all time up to scientific scrutiny there's bound to be a bunch of nonsensical stuff going on, because the "fi" part of "sci-fi" means fiction, so it's just a bunch of made up impossible shit. There's no way the Back to the Future movies make any sense scientifically, but that's because the stuff they're doing isn't possible, and being written by a bunch of non-scientists. But you just suspend your disbelief and enjoy yourself.

I can't tell if that's supposed be a sincere question or not. If it is sincere though, a comedian doing a bit that doesn't revolve around 100% fact is not selling out, that's just... comedy.

I liked this movie too. But I'd love them to do it if only Paul F Tompkins came on to play Werner Herzog, haha.

Anyway, I think judged Case Closed segments would be cool. There's already a great model for this in the Judge John Hodgman podcast, which is another favorite of mine. 2 disputants, a judge, and sometimes an expert witness, and the loser has to abide by the judge's verdict. His topics have ranged from absurd (is a machine gun a robot?) to more serious things like religious expression (an atheist objecting to his wife displaying religious objects in his home). In fact I think it would be kinda cool to bring Hodgman himself on to judge a Case Closed, he'd add more levity to the segment.

"I couldn't care less about your opinion"... I don't see how tone could've made that sound any less dickish. It's just not a thing you'd say to someone you're trying to be civil to. I don't know why people think on the internet it's just okay to talk to anyone however you want, and are shocked when it rubs someone the wrong way. I don't think that just because Matt wants to have fair debates on his show means he has to treat anyone on the internet being a dick to him with kid gloves. People are acting like Matt lost his shit at someone being completely courteous with him. One of the great things about podcasts is that they're free and the hosts have the freedom to do virtually whatever the hell they want, which is not to say that it's wrong to give feedback, but the level of snarkyness in some people's criticism is a bit uncalled for.

One thing I find kinda fun about watching iconic films I've missed out on is retroactively understanding references in other things I've seen. Pretty much any time I watch some old movie I've never seen I understand a joke on an old Simpsons episode that had flown over my head, haha.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I liked this movie, but I wasn't bored watching either? I kinda liked the moments when he'd visualize different possibilities.

I've never seen this movie. It came out the year before I was born, is super long, stars Al Pacino (who I don't really care for), is about subject matter that I don't find all that appealing, and most of the big moments in it have been spoiled for me since it's such a part of popular culture, so I've never got around to it. I plan to though. Anybody else have big classic movies that they've just never got around to seeing?

"I hate when people laugh too much" sounds like such a curmudgeonly complaint to me, haha. "Goddam kids enjoying themselves too much! Who wants to hear people actually genuinely having a fun and being themselves? Bah!" Throughout the history of Comedy Bang Bang I know I've had fits of weeping uncontrollable laughter at sometimes the dumbest subtle throwaway lines, so I can't fault Chelsea. And for me in general the more fun the guests are having the more fun I'm having.

Wien - I did not champion this film to be included on the show. I don't think it's a good suggestion for HDTGM at all, I don't really think it would make for a good episode. I never argued that it would make a good HDTGM episode. I only made the point that this movie exists as part of a pattern in Hollywood to frame white people as agents of change in movies about racism. If you still think no such pattern exists and that this isn't an example of it... maybe it's just something you're never going to see because you don't want to see it. But thank you for taking the time to make every classic argument white people make in an effort to downplay the latent racism that permeates our media and culture. "The intention wasn't to be racist! Therefore it's not racist! The message was not racism sheesh!" It doesn't matter. You and every other apologist for racism like to think that only willful conscious intentional racism is the only kind of racism that matters. That nothing can be called racist unless you can "prove" that someone was trying to be racist on purpose. It doesn't matter if it was on purpose. It doesn't matter what the intent was. People not knowing they're doing something racist doesn't change the impact of their racism. But I think you're a little naive if you think there's not a deliberate effort within Hollywood to make sure a white person is front and center of any movie they want white audiences to see. "Oh yeah? What about all these other examples that AREN'T like what you're complaining about?!" It doesn't matter. You and every other apologist for racism like to think that a racist pattern can only be established if it happens 100% of the time. Any time someone points out a problematic pattern someone is quick to point out all the times it doesn't happen. That's like saying the police predominantly pulling over minorities can't be racist because white people get pulled over too. No man. If something happens frequently enough to be a noticeable pattern, it's a pattern. It doesn't have to happen all of the time, it doesn't even have to happen most of the time. It just has to happen enough times to realize that it's not coincidence. And you're depressingly naive if you think the many occurrences in film of white people being the hero in films about the struggles of people of color is just some innocent coincidence. "Sometimes I think that people look at the wrong things when trying to find a target for their rage. I mean seriously, a property's propensity to sell is what drives how things are made more than some perceived nefarious plot to "get the black man!" blah blah blah list of good black movies." NICE! Again, you and every other apologist likes to frame any black person who so much as hints at the possibility that there is any racism or imbalance in how people of color are portrayed, as just some angry irrational black person mad for no reason just LOOKING for something to direct their anger at. You're mind numbingly naive if you think 42 and Precious and any other example you want to throw out just cancels out anything else that's dubious. Of course you have a hard time recognizing racism if you're still operating under that super lenient definition of it that clueless white people use. Racism isn't just Klan members burning crosses and using slurs, racism largely isn't that overt anymore. If you think that I think The Help or movies that follow the same pattern are part of a conscious effort to "Get the black man!" then you understand so little of what I'm saying and what racism is. I'm not saying you can't like The Help. I'm not saying it's a terrible movie in it's own right. But I'd be blind to see that it's not part of a tradition of how people of color's struggles are depicted in mainstream movies. I'd recommend reading Reel Racism by Vincent Rocchio, and Reel to Real by Bell Hooks if you're still having trouble understanding that there are still very problematic tropes in American cinema. Read those books, then get back to me. Or not. This has turned out way more contentious then I thought it would. I'll peace out now.

If you "hate to say it", wouldn't it have been easier to just not say it?

I never believe people on the internet when they say they "hate to say it", do you REALLY hate to say it? Kinda feel like you maybe might like saying it a little bit.

The idea of your lifespan being currency is so crazy I don't get how something like that could ever be popular enough to be implemented. Seems like even a bad deal for rich people... no more money, now your lifespan is your money and you drop dead when you run out of it, so in practice buying expensive things and living luxuriously is shortening your lifespan.

When they do movies that are still in theaters I really prefer it to be something I'd actually want to go pay to see.