Episode 43 — Wild Wild West

[choochoo_the_wonder_slut 740]

I think the best thing about this episode are the two pictures in the gallery where Jason stays absolutely still in his best "no fly list" stance while the other 3 change poses.

 

[khthibault 25]

How did you guys not mention that when Kenneth Branagh kills Ted Levine, a dog goes up to Levine's hearing aid and does the RCA Logo?

[JBasilio 4]

I don't mind Kevin Smith and have enjoyed his movies. As for him being on the show, I found it a bit frustrating. I liked the stories he told, but this isn't the format I want to hear it in. I'm usually rolling in laughter, but I was disappointed this time around because they only talked about Wild Wild West for maybe 15 minutes out of the hour timeframe.

 

I don't listen to How Did This Get Made to listen to Kevin Smith ramble on about his life, I listen to it be entertained at poking fun at the questionable choices movies make. Although the spider story was relevant, Kevin could've just started with him at the hairdresser's house. If I want the whole story I'll seek it out myself or listen to an outlet where Kevin Smith talks about his life.

 

If he does come back as a guest again, please keep the stories short.

[WolfIsDead 32]

I don't mind Kevin Smith as a person. That being said, he really sucked away time on this podcast which could have been spent talking about the movie. His long winded story about having some small insight to why there was a spider, wasn't nearly as interesting as everyone Else's thoughts about every other part of this, which they barely got to touch on. I love listening to this HDTGM because they focus on, and dissect a movie's bad qualities, costumes, dialog etc. and this was a goldmine. This was the first time I watched the movie in preparation for the podcast, and I laughed and I was like, oh man I can't wait to hear this one... then this happened. I got nothing but love for you guys, I was just disappointed, and hope the next one is better.

[hornacek 43]

In The Dark Knight Rises, when Batman says "So that's what that feels like", that's a quote from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

[hornacek 43]

I don't mind Kevin Smith as a person. That being said, he really sucked away time on this podcast which could have been spent talking about the movie. His long winded story about having some small insight to why there was a spider, wasn't nearly as interesting as everyone Else's thoughts about every other part of this, which they barely got to touch on. I love listening to this HDTGM because they focus on, and dissect a movie's bad qualities, costumes, dialog etc. and this was a goldmine. This was the first time I watched the movie in preparation for the podcast, and I laughed and I was like, oh man I can't wait to hear this one... then this happened. I got nothing but love for you guys, I was just disappointed, and hope the next one is better.

 

They invited Kevin Smith specifically because of his Superman story and his interaction with Peters so it'd be stupid of them not to have him tell it. Why would they invite someone who has a connection to the movie and then never ask them to tell the story of how/why they are connection to the movie?

 

This wasn't an occurrence of Smith taking over the podcast - this was Smith being asked questions and responding. They kept asking him to tell them more about Peters and the script - if he had said "nah, let's just talk about this movie" everyone would have said "what a waste to have him on when he didn't talk about what he had to do with WWW".

 

Like him or not, but he did exactly what he was asked to do with this podcast - talk about his connection with this movie, and talk about this movie.

 

Should we have been equally upset when Non from Superman III talked so much about his background and life? Or when Punisher: War Zone director talked about her online Punisher research or dealings with the studio? Of course not.

[seanotron 2307]

Who cares that they didn't talk about the movie 'as much' this week? That happens with every director and actor they have as a guest. Smith's stories really added to this and I hope he comes back. The Bruce Willis tidbits I found particularly interesting. I never saw Cop Out, but I could see it definitely taking a hit in quality with someone half-assing it.

 

To be fair, I don't believe previous director/actor specials failed to engage with the movie nearly as much as this one. I kind of felt like this was a special Kevin Smith episode, where they occasionally referred to the Wild Wild West. Like I said, I don't mind so much because there was some great stuff in there, but i can understand why someone else might not have enjoyed it (especially if they aren't Smith fans).

[Mr Orangejuice 4]

As a long time fan of this show -- who watches it for the great dynamic between the hosts -- I have to admit I get restless when they just interview guests. For me the real point of How Did This Get Made is the great analysis of the movies in question. The story told in this episode's interview has been told many times before (just search of Kevin Smith on Youtube), so I found myself skipping ahead to the end. I come Earwolf exclusively for How Did This Get Made and watch it exclusively for the host's opinions, who have a very original (and hilarious) take on the process of filmmaking.

 

Thanks for prodiving this awesome podcast.

[Mike N 1]

For a film as terrible as WWW they hardly discussed it. Most of the podcast was just Kevin Smith re-telling his Jon Peters story. I'm a big fan of Smith but even by his own admission his Jon Peters story is only tangentially connected to WWW and it could be summarized in a nutshell as "Jon Peters really likes spiders".

 

I've enjoyed previous guests because they were either involved in the making of the film in question or were big fans of it. Smith's only connection with WWW is that he name-checked it as a punchline in one of his stories.

[JP12x 0]

Did anyone else notice the overuse of the theme? Over-and-over, action starts and the main theme jumps in. Highly repetitive.

[beerwolf 11]

I don't mind Kevin Smith and have enjoyed his movies. As for him being on the show, I found it a bit frustrating. I liked the stories he told, but this isn't the format I want to hear it in. I'm usually rolling in laughter, but I was disappointed this time around because they only talked about Wild Wild West for maybe 15 minutes out of the hour timeframe.

 

I don't listen to How Did This Get Made to listen to Kevin Smith ramble on about his life, I listen to it be entertained at poking fun at the questionable choices movies make. Although the spider story was relevant, Kevin could've just started with him at the hairdresser's house. If I want the whole story I'll seek it out myself or listen to an outlet where Kevin Smith talks about his life.

 

If he does come back as a guest again, please keep the stories short.

 

Exactly. Look, i like Kevin Smith. I've listened to his podcasts and i know what i'm going to get from him. That being said, this episode sucked. I've heard these stories before. You can't really say you did an episode on WWW because you said nothing of the actual movie. You mentioned the spider about 100 times but thats it. I mean come on. Please stop turning this into famous people and their stories. I get that everywhere else. I tune in to hear Jason say how bonkers or bat shit insane a movie is.

[Wien 401]

And for the record, yes. You do totally see Will Smith's balls in this movie.

 

NSFW, i guess. Unless your boss loves WSB.

 

 

[LawksO'Lordy 0]

I loved the gang talking about how racist this film is, whilst in the very same sentence unironically referring to Kenneth Branagh's character as a "cripple". Right on, guys!

[seanotron 2307]

And for the record, yes. You do totally see Will Smith's balls in this movie.

 

NSFW, i guess. Unless your boss loves WSB.

 

 

 

Thanks for the nightmares!

[Famous Mortimer 5]

First up, Kevin Smith puts June down for the mildest bit of industry insider speak, then spends the entire episode going way deeper into that same speak. Maybe he was joking, although it might be telling that he didn't cut off Jason or Paul in the same way.

 

I still love "Clerks", but I find Kevin Smith just...it's summed up for me in the credits to "Dogma", where he puts in a bit of text to the effect of "to all the people who gave "Mallrats" negative reviews...you're forgiven". I felt at the time "why not just make a better film, and not 'forgive' people who thought your shitty movie was shitty?"

 

Anyway, onto the film. I will try and give a sort-of defence of 'Wild Wild West'. First up, Branagh's overacting is on a level with someone like Alan Rickman in the Robin Hood movie - deliberate and entertaining. It seems odd that people wouldn't get that - although, whether you think it worked or not is an entirely different matter. Also, the mockery during the episode of how a black man could go undercover in that era...well, this is a film where someone can have a monstrous giant robot spider, but the historical inaccuracy you're most bothered about is a black man able to walk about without getting lynched?

 

I don't think all of it, or even most of it, worked, but it's nowhere near the disaster the popular wisdom would suggest. Smith and Sonnenfeld laughing about it since then are just them trying to be good sports - they wouldn't be saying how much it sucked if it had made $300 million, but been the exact same movie.

[Tron83 3]

He calls everyone man, even his own mother.

[Pizmeyre 12]

So, what did they mean by "two-fister"??? Looking for a SERIOUS answer, please.

 

 

[Johnny Unusual 525]

Well, I'm not sure of the context, but a two-fisted tale is like an action story. According to EC Comics.

 

[Hagbard Celine 290]

I was listening to this episode and I had some notes! In regards to the verbal sparring between Kenneth Branagh and Will Smith, I think it would have been better to describe it as "half a man vs. three fifths of a man".

 

/exeunt

 

Brilliant!

[Hagbard Celine 290]

 

 

I still love "Clerks", but I find Kevin Smith just...it's summed up for me in the credits to "Dogma", where he puts in a bit of text to the effect of "to all the people who gave "Mallrats" negative reviews...you're forgiven". I felt at the time "why not just make a better film, and not 'forgive' people who thought your shitty movie was shitty?"

 

 

I dunno, that coulda been in the same vein as accepting a Razzie. Like, acknowledging that people didn't like Mallrats in a way that's playfully in keeping with Dogma's idiom.

[Auden 1809]

Paul picked Wild Wild West for his HateSong.