EPISODE 350: with special guests WIL ANDERSON and ASTERIOS KOKKINOS
In this episode, Tyler and David are joined by comedians Wil Anderson and Asterios Kokkinos to celebrate 350 episodes of Battleship Pretension!
Recent Theatrical Reviews
Recent Home Video Reviews
COMMENTARIES
PREMIUM EPISODES
I predict hilarity.
This was hilarious. I love these 50 episodes. I haven’t seen Man of Steel, but I’ll probably have to since my Dad absolutely loved it.
The Australian film industry is, as Wil says, dying. As someone who wants to eventually work in the Australian film industry, I know that foraging for funding from the government is nearly impossible and raising money independently is the only way to do it. Consequently, it takes a lot of filmmakers in Australia ten years to make one film, and the majority of theatrical releases made in Australia are awful, run-of-the-mill ‘comedies’. Each year there seems to be one good Australian movie – Animal Kingdom in 2010, Burning Man in 2011, Wish You Were Here in 2012 – but one solid film per year is dismal for a country of such artistic talent (a lot of which gets exported) and a population of 23 million. Denmark has a population of 5 million and they’ve produced many more directors who got their start in their home country recently – von Trier, Vinterberg, Bier, Scherfig, August.
I think it is hyperbole to call either 300 or Man of Steel “the worst movie made in my lifetime.” They are big and spectacular in terms of visuals and mediocre in terms of narrative. But I think it takes much more than to just be flashy and stupid to qualify as being the worst movie.
Oddly enough in your discussion you did mention the movie that I do believe is the worst movie made in my lifetime, and that is Battle Royale. I do not know how this film gained such a following outside of its provocative premise. Unlike The Hunger Games, which builds an interesting world, multifaceted characters, a plausible premise for why a society would submit to sacrificing their children to be picked by lottery to battle to the death, Battle Royale is interested in only one thing and that is building a body-count.
I have watched the film several times over the past few years and still do not see why anyone finds it interesting. The characters are so numerous and dimensionless that I actually had trouble telling one from another. The locations are boring. The plot-twists are inexplicable. In your discussion of Man of Steel you mentioned how the flashback structure was misplaced in that film. Battle Royale incorporates a flashback structure for no other reason than to break up the monotony of the proceedings. They impart no actual information to the viewer and employ tricksy gimmicks (running the film in reverse, cutting out dialogue) for no other reason than to seem artful.
And at the end of all this the movie does not even have the guts to follow through with the logical outcome of its own premise. I’ve read a book or two of the manga and it actually is pretty decent. The characters are well rounded and you can actually tell them apart from one another. The filmmakers seemed to only be interested in showing painful and gruesome death and gore than actually telling a story. That may be because it is a story more appropriate for long-form episodic storytelling than a 2-hour feature presentation. But I’ve seen Kinji Fukusaku’s other “celebrated” film Battles Without Honor or Humanity and making displays of gruesome death seems to be the only thing the guy knows how to do.
But I don’t want to just harp on Battle Royale. This was a great episode! Wil and Asterios are two of the best, funniest, and entertaining guests that have been on the show! I’m with Wil TDKR was great! Keep up the great work!
What does it take to be the worst movie, then? Because I’ll accept incompetent craft any day over well-produced but dull and insulting dreck.
Battle Royale is by no means a perfect film but I feel like you’re overlooking the fact that it’s a satire, which – as I said in the episode – is the main reason comparisons to The Hunger Games are pointless. Inexplicable plot twists and exaggerated gruesomeness work in the context the film has provided.
– David
I think it’s funny how you find Man of Steel insulting but will defend Richard Donner’s Superman all day long even though the ending of that film is quite possibly the stupidest thing that has ever happened in a movie, ever.
I’d actually say that the ending of MAN OF STEEL is somehow dumber. SUPERMAN at least lays it all out there and is like, “yeah, he can turn back time by flying around the Earth – do something!” It’s a big, bold, dumb, awesome comic book idea. MAN OF STEEL has Superman kill thousands of people then show up to freaking ground zero of the disaster for his first day of work, and somehow everything’s totally intact, smiling faces all around, Lois giving him a look like “oh, glasses! That Clark, what a card!”
Fair enough, but I am not convinced.
Once again, I will direct you to the importance of context. Donner created a movie with a tone where that sort of thing can happen. Snyder couldn’t even manage a consistent tone at all in his movie, which is odd because that’s something he tends to do well even in his other bad films.
– David
I don’t feel like Donner’s tone is consistent, though. I actually really like the movie up until Clark Kent becomes Superman. The balance is just right: fun but not jokey, weighty but not heavy-handed, and rather poetic in a simple sort of way. Then we get to Metropolis and all of a sudden it’s all so fucking corny and poorly plotted. I love Gene Hackman, but he totally phones it in, while Ned Beatty’s Otis is just plain annoying and too dumb to live. Then Lois Lane goes flying with Superman and recites a poem or something. Ugh. So yes, I suppose Donner did eventually strike the right tone for that ending, and it’s a tone I simply can’t abide.
Congrats on your milestone episode, your podcast is the best bit of my week, that’s how crap my life is 😉
My, my Brad ‘n’ Laremy must be jealous.
Gotta keep them boys on their toes.
Great episode! It was so much fun to hear Asterios yelling, it made me laugh out loud in my cubicle like a weirdo!
in regards to asterios kokkinos…i have never heard a more annoying human being ever in my life. please, stop.
congrats on the engagement~
Asterios is awesome. Especially when he starts talking Star Trek.
Well, I misread the description of the episode and though Wes Anderson was going to be on the show. I was thinking “Wow! They really went all out for this one!”
I loved listening to Wil and Asterios though. Two funny guys. Felt like the episode went by too quickly.