I’ll put in a vote for Gambit, the Michael Caine/Shirley MacLaine heist movie. I’m not very optimistic about the upcoming Coen Brothers remake, but hopefully it’ll get people to watch the original.

I need to watch those movies again.

Oh, ewww… I just had a brainstorm for a future EHG Mini: recast a classic movie (like The Sting) but as if your worst Hollywood nightmare had come true. (“The Sting! Featuring Shia LaBeouf, Ricky Martin, and Megan Fox!)

Tara and Dave–did you not like the first Kill Bill? I actually didn’t like that one nearly as much as I liked the second, but liked it a lot more after the second. Also, if you’ve never seen the Go Go fight overdubbed with the Super Mario sound effects, Youtube it, it’s awesome.

Has anyone else reported this? Am I The Singularity?

I’m not going to see “Dark Shadows” (obviously) but I do enjoy picturing that scene with Depp, Bonham-Carter and Pfeiffer.
“Action! And I mean circus grade action!”

Definitely worth checking out.

Oh. “Biggest Release.” I didn’t get it until just now…

I agreed with everything you guys said in this mini, and if I had to watch one of these, Spiderman would be the only palatable choice.

Also, congratulations on your 200th show! (I’m counting both flagship and minis combined)

I’d also bring forward Bing Crosby. He had such a great presence and commanded so much respect. He’d be a great father figure in all of these disney tween movies.

But then my college roommate was friends with the kid who played the lead. Who was also in Bingo!, which was not mentioned on this podcast.

In one of the Mad Men DVD commentaries Matt Weiner talks about how hard it is to cast actors today who look like they could actually come from the ’60s (i.e. haven’t plastic surgeried themselves into unrecognizability) . It’s one of those things I can’t get out of my head because even though I’ve always noticed the really scary-obvious cases, now even the minor ones, like a nose job that just doesn’t quite work, bug the hell out of me. For me that’s one of the major defining differences, not just the mannerisms of old Hollywood, but the visual. You just didn’t see the old stars going around with noses that didn’t match the rest of their face.

I suppose I can look it up on IMDB…

Personally, I always thought that Angelina Jolie had a very 1930s (Pre-Code) quality about her. I don’t know who I’d bring into the present. Some witty leading man probably, like William Holden or William Powell. Oh, and speaking of William Powell, Myrna Loy!

Honorable Mention goes to Brain Candy (“Hello doctor… I’m Cancer Boy!”)

Dishonorable mention goes to The Last Airbender. Penis hair.

(Or Republic City from Legend of Korra, but that’s mostly because of the hybrid animals and all-night noodle shops.)

To me Burton hasn’t made a better movie than Ed Wood, that movie is so funny and touching that I can’t understand how hes making the films he makes now.

Think about it…. Law& Order meets Dark Shadows!

Also, werewolf?!

However, for my money the most useless or at least most bizarre bordering on uselessly powered X-man was Longshot. For whatever reason this was my guy when I was a kid. His mutant super power is his “ability to defy probability”. In other words, he’s really, really lucky.

Now, granted, he is technically an alien who has two hearts, extreme healing capabilities and enough acrobatic skill that he was able to best Spiderman, but at the end of the day, “the ability to defy probability” is really scraping the bottom of the barrel or super powers in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longshot

Hey, I mentioned it was a pooperpower, right?

Kind of reminds me of :

“…it’s that thing of when you’re on the train and sit between two guys in FUBU jackets…”

“SHUT UP! That’s why!”

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/05/the-hulk-on-mark-ruffalos-hulk.html

Almost all Cougar Town episodes are names after Tom Petty songs.

1) Awesome use of Daft Punk’s score in a way that added to the excitement rather than drained tension.

2) Was exciting with just the right amount of exposition.

3) Used 3D in an immersive and unexpected way.

4) Was good.

You never know….

Other shows with naming conventions that prevented their inclusion in this game:
Amazing Race (Uses episode quotes)
America’s Next Top Model (Started with “The Girl Who ____ ____…” as their naming convention and now has episode titles of the guest judge)
The Big Bang Theory (Uses faux scientific theorems as titles)
Friends (“The One with _____”)
American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance?, Dancing With the Stars, etc. (Uses generic “___ contestants ____” types of titles)
West Wing, Studio 60, Parks and Rec, and Pushing Daisies just didn’t have anything appropriate
Community only broke from their course title episode title convention a few times, happily enough to provide a question. Same with Survivor and their episode quote convention.
Some other show I can’t remember right now had a “____ and ____” title format that I couldn’t use.
On the other hand, there could probably have been two dozen Simpsons clues and another dozen Futuramas.

also, there actually was a mutant named Shard (Bishop’s sister I think…?) but your pottery boy version is clearly superior. Gosh, if I had a nickle for every time I was walking down the street and had a sudden need for ceramics…

I’m totally with all of you on what to expect, though. everytime I see the trailer I want to throw up a little. honestly, i’m still puking based on the clip you played, even though Frankie Goes To Hollywood usually just makes me want to dance.

also, I totally think Coulson is still alive.

also, if there’s anybody I can help petition to bring back Two A-Holes – MORE than happy to do so!! stalk lorne michaels? flood Seth Meyers’ Twitter account?

- Tears of the Sun
- Perfect Stranger
- Hollywoodland
- A Man Apart
- Stop-Loss
- Woman on Top
- Dragonfly

So great.

One of the rare times I’ve gone to a theater and felt actually cheated out of my 10 bucks. So incredibly boring.

That won’t happen. Fox, not Marvel studios, owns the movie rights to the X-Men and Spider-Man. Unless Fox lets the rights lapse (which they definitely won’t anytime soon) or Disney buys them out (also fairly unlikely) there’s no way for those characters to show up in an Avengers movie.

I’ve been told I expect too much from actors, but I don’t think a reasonably convincing performance is too demanding. That said, I am unwilling to completely write of almost anyone. I admit when I am wrong on either side of the equation. A good performance from a mediocre (or worse) actor can only blind me so long, and I love to be surprised by hidden talent.

I’m into this: Seeking A Friend for the End of the World
I really like everyone associated with this movie. I though Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist was cute without being inconsequential. Keira Knightly and Steve Carell seem like they would have good chemistry especially at their sad sack-iest. Also, it’s comedy Melencholia (my favorite movie of last year).

I should be into this: The Dictator
I was in total agreement with Joe until I saw the trailer and saw that it’s got Anna Faris with a pixie cut and Jason Mantzoukas in it. That’s enough to bump it up for me. (P.S. I am not a Crackpot: More women in movies should have short hair.)

Who’s into this? : Rock of Ages
Here’s how you fuck me over… oh wait.
I love every song I saw on the poster and at least 50 percent of the actors, but I hate Adam Shankman and I feel like he’s going to take a big shit over everything I like. I hope the amazing director behind the Rocky Horror episode of Glee does the music justice…

The main roster of the Legion includes such luminaries as Matter Eater Lad (able to eat any matter in existence) and Bouncing Boy (superbouncing and yes, you read that right).

As you can imagine, the powers that don’t get you over that incredibly low bar must be pretty lame. The Subs were pretty lame, but two of them stand out. Arm Fall Off Boy is pretty self explanatory. He could detatch his limbs and use them to bludgeon enemies. But at least that has a marginal, if self-bruising, utility. How about Color Kid? His power was the ability to change the color of things. Silver Age comics, everybody!

There is a hero named Maggott. His power is that he can produce two giant worms (named Eany and Meany) from his stomach that eat things. He also speaks in ridiculously exaggerated slang and turns blue.

There is also a hero named Squirrel Girl. She can talk to squirrels. She can’t telepathically communicate with them (ala Aquaman), she can talk to them. That’s her superpower, she can speak Squirrel.

“Lamprey Ballerina” == “Sugarplum Fairy”?
“Guy with Circular Saws in his Head holding the Orb of Isis” == “Jack o’ Lantern”?

Where’s the continuity, people???

Hillbilly zombies are so passe

Chuck had a naming convention. Every episode was “Chuck vs. Something or Other.”

Chuck vs. the Colonel or Chuck vs. the Gravitron etc. etc. etc.

You know, if y’all ever play this exact same game again.

What I’m Into: The Dark Knight Rises – I’ve been seeing a lot of, not exactly backlash, but expectation-diminishing going on lately as we get nearer to the premier, but I don’t really get it. While I like it when superhero movies embrace their cartoony sides, if they don’t go whole escapist (ala my favorite comic book movie, The Rocketeer) I’d prefer if they make a world and characters that are dark and fascinating. Batman Begins was a little too blah for me, but Dark Knight was great and this one has my JGL, so I’m just all kinds of pumped.

What I Should Be Into, But Aint: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – I haven’t read the book, but I love goofy-stupid movies and this sounded like their pinnacle…I’m just pretty sure the entire movie experience peaked at watching his axe turn into a gun, in the trailer. Maybe a matinee?

Who Is Into That: Ted – Seriously, who is that into Seth McFarland that they’ll pay a amount of money to see him do a slight variation of one of his voices and engage in two hours of “Raunchy words in a cute package” (which, at most, is one step above rapping grannies)?

Also, in regards to the hosts’s lists, did you guys know That’s My Boy was written by the Happy Endings showrunner? I have to hope that it started off decent before being Happy Madison-ized.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/bandersnatch-cummerbund-washington-post-benedict-cumberbatch_n_1500399.html

its fans, like firefly fans before them, are, in general, super annoying.

Also, I feel like there’s an “Aaron Sorkin on TVWoP” type story about why Tara and Dave dislike Doctor Who. I don’t really like it myself (the episodes I did like had more to do with my love of Steven Moffet than anything else) but it sounds like you were accosted by the headcases who make up a majority of that fanbase.

Though the shots of the landscape are freakishly beautiful.

In the movie, the scene meant to imply some of this is the one between the naked Bruce after the airship scene, and the old guy who walks in on him. The guy tells him that he landed in this building and that there is no one around for miles, implying that The Hulk actually used some self control in not harming anyone with his crash landing, and that maybe The Hulk isn’t so bad after all.

I only know Thanos from more recent Marvel cosmic stuff, but I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with him though.

I’d never seen that Broken Bells video before, but it’s great.

The show was far from perfect, but I really did like it and wish it would have had a couple more seasons.

As I understand it, the reason Hulk can’t control himself the first time he hulks out is a) Loki’s staff is affecting the heroes’ minds and b) his transformation was involuntary. We know Loki’s staff is doing some mystical mumbo-jumbo because of that scene where Banner all of a sudden ends up with it in his hands as they’re arguing. When he transforms in battle, he does it voluntarily (with the badass line: “I’m always angry”), so he can control himself. It’s not explicitly stated, but I thing it’s there if you think through it.

Though probably 80% of the audience won’t be excited by it, the Thanos reveal at the end made every comic book geek completely lose their mind. He’s a crazy character who is involved in one of the all-time great Avengers storylines, just the kind of guy who makes us nerds go all hot and sweaty.

Hulk stole the show, but I don’t think that character does very well in solo form. That said, I’d watch RDJ and Ruffalo together on screen pretty much endlessly.

By the way, as much as I am fond of Whedon, I really am tired of his reliance on killing off beloved characters (I might still be mad about him killing off Tudyk, though).

Jay McCarroll
Christian Siriano (I recognize that he’s talented and the only one to reach post PR superstardom, but meh in my personal book)
> Mondo from All-Stars, mostly due to leftover goodwill
> Seth Aaron (Pretty cool on the show even though he hasn’t been heard from since)
Chloe Dao
Leanne Marshall (My personal 2nd favorite winner of all time)
> Irina (honestly forgot she existed)
> Gretchen (First indication that the judges had lost it)
Jeffrey Sibelia
> Anya whatshername from last regular season. Nice lady, completely undeserving winner.

Project Runway: My personal “Against the Grain” pick.

By the way, I’m dying for an in-depth report from Tara about season 7 of America’s Best Dance Crew.

That was my first time ever cussing, and it felt GREAT.

And while Iike the sound of Mayor Goldie Wilson and believe in President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho’s three point plan, my vote has to go to President David Palmer from 24. Dennis Haysbert was one of my favorite parts of that show and the first person I think of when I think TV president.

*drops the mic*

Ok, you have to ignore the overwrought “GUNS ARE BAD, MMMKAY!?” Sorkiny hyperbole throughout the movie, but other than that the final speech in that movie was kick ass.

If it is too early: Jed Bartlet, Sorkin pretensions and all.

Cabin in the Woods was actually kind of boring. It just felt way too much like other Whedon things for me. The fact that the Topher guy from Dollhouse was basically playing Topher was endlessly irritating to me. The magic gas was way too magical. It would have been much better if changing the kid’s opinions were more subtle.

It has such a ridiculously good cast (in the grand tradition of the incestuousness British TV, everybody was in something). Tamsin Greig (Black Books), Mark Heap (Spaced and many, many other things), Sarah Alexander (coupling), Michelle Gomez (the Book Club, one of my favourite comedy actresses of all time, also married to Jack Davenport), Pippa Haywood (The Brittas Empire, britcom of my childhood), Stephen Mangan of course, Olivia Coleman, Paterson Joseph, Sally Phillips… it’s like someone went through a list of comedies or TV shows I loved and just scooped a list.

Now I’ll just go sit in the corner with my cherished childhood memories.

And for me Stephen Mangan will always be Guy from Green Wing, which if you haven’t seen, you really should try– it’s one of my favourite comedies, ever, and I’d try to describe it, but words really can’t.

(And even more randomly, if you like radio comedy, you can normally get BBC iPlayer radio wherever you are, in which case you might also like to try some of the things on there– specifically Cabin Pressure, which is lightweight but entertaining (also stars Benedict Cumberbatch, if that’s your thing) and Warhorses of Letters, which is an epistolary romance between two horses, set during the Napoleonic War, with Steohen Fry as Marengo (Napoleon’s horse) and Daniel Rigby as Copenhagen (Wellington’s horse).

Also, can anybody tell me which episode it was where Top Shot was discussed? I’ve been watching it on Netflix recently and wanted to revisit it.

I do have The Day Today though, so I might rewatch some of his early stuff from that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gHorOt6KKw

First up, I would like to Eternal Sunshine both “The Sixth Sense” and the idiot guest reviewer on “Siskel & Ebert” who inadvertently spoiled the “twist” by saying that Bruce Willis’s character reminded him of the angels in “Wings of Desire.” Um….Spoilers A-ho, anyone? WoD was a movie from a year earlier that both Siskel & Ebert had highly praised, and so I went to see it at the local art house theatre. (It was remade into that piece of dreck “City of Angels” with Meg Ryan and Nicholas Cage, aka “The Creepiest Angel in the History of EVER.”)

Second, I would like to Eternal Sunshine “The Truman Show” and the mega-spoilery ad campaign that came out right before the movie’s release. The initial campaign was brilliant, setting up the movie as one where Truman (Jim Carrey) is noticing things that seem to indicate that he is the object of some sort of conspiracy, or is being spied on, etc. (I believe they used Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” as the music for that trailer.) The 2nd ad campaign just flat-out let you know that the movie was about the world’s most intricate reality tv show, the ‘twist’ being that the ‘star’ was the only person who didn’t know it. There was even an ad on MTV that showed a few seconds from the FINAL SCENE OF THE MOVIE! (“Who are you?” “I am your Creator.”) GAH! The advertising was so pervasive that I just couldn’t get away from it and/or get to my remote fast enough to change the channel.

I still enjoyed both movies immensely, but while watching couldn’t help but wonder how much more I would have enjoyed both if I hadn’t known the “twist”.

I heard the same sentiment from LOTR fans who envied those of us who had not read the books and so didn’t know how ROTK was going to end. When the ‘infamous’ 7-second fade-to-black happened at the end of the Mount Doom sequence, I thought that it was a very bitter-sweet ending to the trilogy, and that Sam and Frodo did not survive. And frankly, I would have loved it if indeed that’s how the saga had ended. Afterwards, it made me very happy with my decision not to read the book until after I saw the 3rd movie. (Also helped to avoid the “but, that’s not how it happened in the book!” sturm und drang that a lot of the book’s fanboys got into.)

Oh wait, one more: I’d like to banish from history, “Eternal Sunshine”, nuclear blast, etc etc the Star Wars “Prequels”. ‘Nuff said.

I even convinced a friend who’d been out of the country and knew absolutely nothing about the show to marathon the first season DVDs with me, just to see how she’d react. In the beginning, she was highly skeptical about watching “some teen show,” but by the time we had two or three episodes left, she was ready to start throwing things at me because I refused to tell her who the killer was. I can’t help but wish I’d gotten to have the same kind of nail biting, can’t-take-the-suspense experience.

That said, Veronica Mars seasons two and three are my entry for the diminishing returns category. Season two was mostly okay, but season three was just dull. Neither came near the first season’s heights for me.

Still a fantastic movie, and a great Simpsons episode, but I wish I had seen it fresh.

And Kit can suck it. I love that movie, but screw Dottie for dropping that damn ball.

I still love that movie.

Just for the record, Paul Rudd’s character is Alicia Silverstone’s father’s ex-wife’s son.

The red stapler still holds up, too. I teach elementary school and my kids all want to use my stapler just because it’s red. They have absolutely no connection to the movie which came out before any of them were born (God, I’m old), but every now and then a parent or teacher will see it and laugh.

Do you guys get Law & Order UK in the US? It’s always weird watching episodes that are remakes of US scripts.

(However, I cannot agree with an earlier poster that Criminal Intent is bad. It’s not as good as Original Flavor, but I think the crimes are interesting and the interplay of the characters is enjoyable to watch.)

Great Game Time as usual. Your podcast really gives me such joy.

We have a printer in my office that you literally have to toggle on and off to get it to print. Print job at desktop, walk over to printer, turn off, turn on. Get your document.

BTW, it doesn’t help that Girls comes on after Veep, which is a brilliant, brilliant show.

Anyways, Cabin in the Woods was awesome, so glad you guys reviewed it! It was my first writing assignment to review it and boy was that a challenge!

(Yes, I’m that person)

Thus ends my dispatch from Flyover Country.

Again, I didn’t watch Girls, but the EHG discussion of it immediately called to mind the pilot of Friends, in which Rachel Green is in basically the exact same situation. Her parents have cut her off and she’s left her meal-ticket fiance. (“They can’t support you forever!” “I know, that’s why I was getting married.”) Instead of letting her lay around and whine about it, her friends chant supportively while she cuts up all her credit cards and then she gets a sucky job as a waitress. Remember “Welcome to the Real World! It sucks. You’re gonna love it.” ? That is just so much more my philosophy.

Final word: no readable memoir has ever been written by a 24-year-old.

I’m a 24 year old (gay male) who went to a mid-level private New England liberal arts school and most of my classmates defected to Brooklyn promptly after graduation where they seem to get by on their parents’ money. I agree that the Hannah character is slightly more insufferable than my classmates, but damned if she (and those around her) aren’t pretty accurate. From the casual privilege-denial of the Adam character to the wishy-washy, fairly trivial, but TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE feelings Marnie has towards her boyfriend, the show generally hits a pretty fucking accurate nail on the head of how folks my age interact and the problems that a subsection (key word there) of my generation find themselves surrounded by. What’s bothered me about the response to Girls is that no critical voice over 30 is willing to accept Hannah’s reliance on her parents’ money as fairly typical amongst a lot of kids my age. What once were “entry level jobs” are being scooped up by people who have Masters degrees, and the general expectation of employers especially in arts and humanities related fields is now that you need internships to qualify you for jobs that literally oftentimes announce how UNQUALIFIED you can to be to get them; on top of that, these same internships are increasingly offered only to current college students so that previously paid positions can be replaced with college credit, and a character like Hannah who has the resources of her parents available is able to take the few internships still offered to non-students.

Regardless, I liked but didn’t love the show- I feel like I’ve Marnie’s complaints about her boyfriend are ripped from complaints my friends have had about their significant others. Oh, and because Sex and the City aired when someone Shoshanna’s age was in middle/high school (I take it she’s still a college student), I don’t find it remotely unreasonable that she’d still be fixated on it, especially as internet streaming has made shows like Twin Peaks, Mary Tyler Moore (namechecked in the pilot!), Roseanne, Daria, Buffy, and Veronica Mars active talking points as they cycle around groups of friends who weren’t cognizant of them the first time around.

Cabin of the Woods was pretty bad, though- I saw the last five minutes of Angel in 2004, Joss, I didn’t need to see it again.

However, for as much of an asshole as that character is, she got exactly the guy she deserves. That guy is a) super ugly b) just as delusional is she is. I hope we never see them in any state of undress again.

Extreme opinions on You’ve Got Mail, though–that I get. Yes, it’s Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in a typical, American, 90s romantic comedy; but, no, this is Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. I mean, count ‘em, at least 15 unique, nonverbalized emotions in under a minute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPA8v06EsIY

Dear Mahershala Ali: Thank you, first of all, for recently shortening your name from Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, as you were previously credited. Adorable that you tried to get by with that something that can be pronounced correctly only while in a fugue state, but good that you moved on. However. You’re still making (white) America do too much work. We hate that. You’re a good actor, and I’d like to see you in more stuff. So from now on, you will be… Mitch Albertson. You are welcome.

I’d also like to say that Criminal Intent is just as bad, if not even worse. The characters are so bland that they actually distinguish themselves with their blandness.