Newcomers: Scorsese, with Nicole Byer and Lauren Lapkus - The Dark Knight Rises (w/ Jason Mantzoukas)

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Lauren and Nicole take on the third Christopher Nolan installment covering The Dark Knight Rises (2012) with very special guest Jason Mantzoukas (How Did This Get Made? The League, Big Mouth,... Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and discuss very important subjects such as the musical relationship between Batman and Prince, the intricacies of Bane’s voice, and (unrelated) the wonder of the television show Alone.Next week's movie: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Extended Version) (2016)Like the show? Rate Newcomers 5 stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Nicole and Lauren to read on the pod!Follow the podcast on Letterboxd.Advertise on Newcomers via Gumball.fmSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is a HeadGum Original. You are as precious to me as you were to your own mother and father. I swore to them that I would protect you, and I haven't. The mayor's going to dump him in the spring. Really? Mm-hmm. But he's a hero.
Starting point is 00:00:38 A war hero. This is peacetime. You think this can last? There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us. You could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us. What does that mean? Rise.
Starting point is 00:02:01 When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die. The Dark Knight Rises. I'm Lauren Lapkus. And I'm insane. I'm Lauren Lapkus. And I'm insane. I'm Nicole Byer. And this season of Newcomers, we're covering the Batman movies. We sure are. This is going to be 14 episodes culminating in a very exciting, explosive live stream episode. And we don't know what's going to happen.
Starting point is 00:02:22 Also, we're not going to be able to cover as much as, or no, we're going to cover as much as we can to get an overview of the franchise, but there's so much shit, we're not going to get to everything. No, and this is the ninth episode of the sixth season, so we're working our way through the movies with fellow newcomers, super fans, sometimes even people who've contributed to the films, and today we are discussing the third Christopher Nolan Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, also starring Christian Bale. Now, for all intents and purposes, I should be happy about that. Should be. Because I like him and I liked...
Starting point is 00:02:54 But he was a little prune in the beginning of the movie, a little raisin. We gotta get into it. Well, okay, if you want to watch this movie, it's on Max. It's on Prime Video. You can watch it for a fee on Apple TV+, Google Play, and Vudu. And we are so excited for our guest today. Ooh, he's an actor, writer, comedian, and
Starting point is 00:03:11 podcaster that you know from The League, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place, Big Mouth, and he's one of the hosts of How Did This Get Made? And of course, you know him as the voice of Scarecrow. Oh! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! know him as the voice of Scarecrow. Oh! In the Lego Batman movie, which we're going to watch in a few weeks, it's Jason Mantzoukas!
Starting point is 00:03:33 Okay, well, we're like, of course you know, but we don't. We don't. Never seen it. I love it. That was the most genuine and wonderful reaction I've ever seen. You play Scarecrow? That's really fun. That's a fun character.
Starting point is 00:03:44 I do play Scarecrow in the Lego Batman movie. That's a fun character. I do play Scarecrow in the Lego Batman movie. I will say it is very few lines. It is very few lines, but they were a blast. I actually play a couple of different voices in that movie.
Starting point is 00:03:52 Fun. That's fun. It was a blast. It was a blast. And that movie, you haven't seen yet, right? No, not at all. I mean, it's wonderful.
Starting point is 00:04:00 Like, truly wonderful. The Lego movie. I saw the Lego movie. I saw the Lego movie. That's cute and funny. Yes, and it's that Batman. The Batman that's in that. Yes. The Lego movie. I saw the Lego movie. I saw the Lego movie. That's cute and funny. Yes. And it's that Batman, the Batman that's in that. Yes.
Starting point is 00:04:08 Oh, okay. It's a Batman story that is just for, in his kind of, all of his rogues gallery of bad guys, everybody, Batman related. That's fun. Wow. And there's a rob in it. Guys, you're going to like it. I'm excited.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Do they do his parents' death in Lego? Oh, yes. Okay. Well, that's fun. That's fun. And there's a rob in it. Guys, you're going to like it. I'm excited. Do they do his parents deaf in Lego? Oh, yes. Okay. Well, that's fun. That's fun. And it's somehow even more bloody than the Nolan movies. Really? No, it's not.
Starting point is 00:04:34 Oh, I was like, cool. I was like, wow. Little red circles. Little red circles. Well, okay. What is your relationship to the character of Batman? Are you particularly invested? well okay what is your what is your relationship to the character of Batman do you are you particularly
Starting point is 00:04:46 okay invested so not unlike our time together in the MCU I was reminiscing about that because you actually
Starting point is 00:04:54 which episode did you do I don't remember me neither but I was reminiscing about how maybe Winter Soldier it was one of the or Civil War
Starting point is 00:05:01 Winter Soldier or Civil War I think it was one of the two movies but I was just thinking about how you helped us like it more and I was wondering if that's going to happen here today so I similarly
Starting point is 00:05:12 have a very long standing history with Batman as truly first and foremost a comic book character I read Batman I still read Batman comics I still get Batman comics delivered to me every you me every couple of weeks. I've seen all the movies.
Starting point is 00:05:30 But Batman is a character that is beloved to me. So I'm thrilled to be here talking about Batman. So did you like Batman when he was just a detective? I love Batman as a detective. I love Batman as the world's greatest detective. I just learned he was a detective. Before he had anything. I love Batman as world's greatest detective. Wow. I just learned he was a detective. We recently learned that.
Starting point is 00:05:48 Yeah. Well, I mean, what they're saying about him, like, isn't that he, like, spent time, like, you know, like a hat, like an old school detective. But that's his skill set. Ah. Is as a detective. You can't pull one over on Batman because he's such a good detective that he figures everything out. And that's how Batman, who has no superpowers or anything, can outsmart all the time. And in certain instances, beat people who have, like people like Superman or Wonder Woman, people who have enormous capabilities. And in the face of his just cleverness and ability to figure out what's going on.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Yeah, Greg. What's your favorite Batman movie? I would have loved to come in for The Mask of the Phantasm. Everyone likes that one. We were so thrown. How is it great? I love it. I love it.
Starting point is 00:06:38 Did you not like it? No. I had to restart it eight times. No, it was really slow. Because I kept falling asleep and it was slow. Oh, that's too bad. I wonder if Mask of the Phantasm works better if you're a Batman fan. I wonder if that's partially why I like it so much.
Starting point is 00:06:52 It feels like everyone who likes it is a fan. Do you find animated movies in general not to your liking? Like, was any part of your dislike partially because you're like, I don't like no and i like the anime i like how it looks stylistically yeah i just the story and it felt really slow yeah yeah and the time jumps were a little like not confusing no i get all of that um tim burton's batman the first batman is the batman, as a kid, waited online to see to a degree that was like the hype was you can't even understand what it was to to go see Batman and the Prince soundtrack. And, you know, waiting online around the movie. Like, I remember the line went around the movie theater. Wow.
Starting point is 00:07:40 Like it was. That's exciting. You waited for hours to get access to see this movie. Like it was, you waited for hours to get access to see this movie. Yeah. And it was really the first superhero movie in my lifetime that was realized. The first comic book character, rather, who was brought to life in live action. That's cool. Which was cool.
Starting point is 00:07:56 And it must have been exciting to see Jack Nicholson's face. Incredible. Nicholson as the Joker was incredible. Keaton's Batman was great. Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was absolutely iconic. I really liked the back end of Batman Returns. I liked Batman Returns more. But yeah, we liked Michael Keaton.
Starting point is 00:08:14 Yes. But I did appreciate them more when we got to Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, which I loved. But they were unhinged. Well, then you're getting into Joel Schumacher territory, and it's straight up bananas. I didn't like those. Yeah, Lauren, you know them.
Starting point is 00:08:33 I was like, you gotta watch Batman and Robin. It's unintelligible. No, it really is. I thought I meant that in a bad way, but I guffawed the Iceman comic. I have used some gifs of that recently, because I'm like, I don't even know if people know what I'm talking about when I send them, but I'm just like,
Starting point is 00:08:47 he's so dumb. Oh, it's crazy. And everybody's miserable too. In those old movies, everybody's so unhappy because it's all practical. It's all, like Michael Keaton couldn't turn his head
Starting point is 00:09:00 in any way, shape, or form. That's why Batman, if you watch him, is just like full torso movements in order to just see. Well, there's a joke in Batman Begins where he says to Morgan Freeman, he's like, I'd like to turn my head.
Starting point is 00:09:16 And that made me chuckle. That was one of the best ones so far. I loved, we loved Batman Begins. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was so good yeah and then dark night rise or no dark night yes we liked but we thought batman begins was better than dark night yeah although heath's performance is incredible yeah takes it over the top yeah that's what was
Starting point is 00:09:36 special about it but this movie i didn't have i didn't i didn't find let's get into it okay so let's take a quick break we'll be back back with more. We're already taking a break. We take a break here, but then we don't take a break for a long time. If you're wondering what a NordVPN is, I'll tell you. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, a service that protects your internet connection and online privacy. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel for your data, protect your online identity by hiding your IP address,
Starting point is 00:10:16 and allow you to use public Wi-Fi hotspots safely. I'm using a Nord VPN myself. And honestly, it's very easy to use. You connect with one click to enable auto-connect for zero-click protection. It has amazing speed. Nord VPN is one of the fastest VPNs out there, and it supports every major platform. Windows, Android, iOS, Linux, even Android TV. You can switch your virtual location to access apps and websites in other
Starting point is 00:10:45 countries get an exclusive nord vpn deal here at nordvpn.com slash newcomers n-o-r-d vpn.com slash newcomers it's risk-free with nord's 30-day money-back guarantee link is in the episode description and we're back. So Dark Knight Rises was released July 16th, not June. Oh, wait, were they all released in July? I think they were July. Was it July or June? I don't remember. Anyway, 2012.
Starting point is 00:11:15 Written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, It's a family affair, and David S. Goyer. And it was directed by Christopher Nolan. And, of course, we want, oh, you know what? We're not thanking the Batman fandom. No. We're thanking IMDb.com and Wikipedia for helping putting this summary together.
Starting point is 00:11:31 So thank you, IMDb. I love that you are going to attempt to summarize this movie, which is Byzantine in its structure and actually pointless to, I think, try and explain. That's great. That's a good, honestly, it's a good start. Very complicated and lots of twists and turns. That's a good word. I took a Byzantine art class in college.
Starting point is 00:11:53 Oh, a busy art class. Busy art class. They gave me crayons. What do you got? I got busy. I got busy all night. I got busy art. I got to do busy art.
Starting point is 00:12:02 And they never let me stop. Okay. We got to jump let me stop. Okay. We gotta jump in. Of course, chime in whenever you want. Yes, whenever. Do you think that people tune in to the show to hear plot descriptions? Some people do.
Starting point is 00:12:17 Because what, they don't watch the movies? They just want to hear the chat. Okay, got it. And then we explain our opinions and thoughts as we're going through. So it's more than just a summary opinions and thoughts as we're going through. Sure, sure, sure. It's more than just a summary. Oh, it's so much more.
Starting point is 00:12:28 I say this because I'm looking at what looks to me, I'm going to say 30 pages of plot description. It's big fun. I can't believe Jason's giving us notes. No, no, no. We're six seasons in. It's too late. Yeah, they got to do it this way.
Starting point is 00:12:42 You put me on a podcast, I'm gonna give notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fair. So just to let you know what happened, eight years after the death of Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent,
Starting point is 00:12:53 who, by the way, who, by the way, I don't like that they think he's good. I don't like that. I don't like it either. I don't like that it's been eight years
Starting point is 00:12:59 of thinking he's a good person. I've read half a sentence, so we have to. A CIA plane extracts nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel from Uzbekistan. During the flight, the CIA agents are attacked by prisoners on board, led by Bane, Tom Hardy, an intimidating figure who talks through a breathing apparatus that covers his mouth. Welcome!
Starting point is 00:13:16 It's so funny. Bane crashes the plane in the mountains, staging Dr. Pavel's death in the process. The first time he speaks, I was aghast. Because I actually thought, I think I saw this movie, I think, when it came out, and I remembered his voice totally different. I remember it being like, I don't remember him having, I thought it was lower, more like that. No.
Starting point is 00:13:37 It was so high pitched. And it is, it's very, it is very specific and drew a tremendous amount of criticism. Okay. Was this the first time it was heard? It was basically, when the movie came out, are you guys aware that Christopher Nolan movies have very insane sound mixing and editing? I don't think. Okay.
Starting point is 00:13:58 I'm like, no. Yeah, we did. We did learn this. Okay, okay. And one of the huge criticisms leveled against this movie when it came out in theaters was, we can't understand what Bane is saying. I did not have that problem watching it this time because I had closed captioning on. Me too.
Starting point is 00:14:15 As I have for the last 10 years. Yeah. And it was great. But in the movie theaters, everybody was like, wait, what? And you go like, oh, hey, okay. And everybody was like, what the fuck? And he got like, oh, hey, okay. If you want to know, you're not going to believe it. And everybody was like, what the fuck? It's all ADR.
Starting point is 00:14:30 Every single Tom Hardy line is ADR'd. What a weird job for him. What a crazy performance. That's so weird. None of it is captured live, I believe. I'm almost positive
Starting point is 00:14:40 all of it is. Wait, what's he doing? Yeah, what is he doing? Just like silently like staring at people? I'm sure he's saying it. He's saying it. Oh, yes, but then they just fill it in later. But what we're hearing is ripped.
Starting point is 00:14:48 Which is then even weirder that it's unintelligible. Yeah. I had only seen a clip of the stadium scene, and I thought it was a bit. Like I thought someone like redid his voice, and I was like, that's funny. But then in that plane, he was like, and I was like, oh, no, that's it, man. Everybody for years everybody was doing in comedy shows
Starting point is 00:15:08 in improv shows everybody was doing Bane as if it was can you believe that this is what they did you know what we probably were in so many shows
Starting point is 00:15:16 where that was happening around us what a fun voice you chose and you're like oh starting a scene like oh so this is your place I really like it oh welcome
Starting point is 00:15:24 welcome to Suna Rose it gets a huge laugh we're like, oh, starting a scene. Like, oh, so this is your place? I really like it. Oh, welcome. Come and pursue the rosé. Gets a huge laugh. We're like, what? Yeah, take that rosé. I think it's Darth Vader. Okay. We are one paragraph in.
Starting point is 00:15:38 Let's just do it, baby. Meanwhile, in Gotham, the city has been in a state of peace for the last eight years. Batman Christian Bale has disappeared and Commissioner Gordon Gary Oldman has nearly... I know that's not how you say it, but I prefer to say it like that. I love it. By the way, watch Slow Horses if you're not watching Slow Horses. What's that? It's an Apple TV spy show that Gary Oldman
Starting point is 00:15:58 is the star of as like an old, over-the-hill, like, failed British spy. Do you think Apple TV Plus is just a tax write-off? They don't advertise... I know, I never know what's on there. Me either.
Starting point is 00:16:11 I just started watching The Changeling. It's great. It's what it feels like. It truly feels as though it's a hobby. Because they're e-commerce. They sell things, and then they're like, let's do, like, a little TV.
Starting point is 00:16:20 Primarily, yeah. No, no, this feels like... Hey, wouldn't it be funny? Yeah. Wouldn't it be funny if we just't it be funny? Yeah. Wouldn't it be funny if we just made Prestige TV? A whole show.
Starting point is 00:16:28 What if we made multiple seasons of a whole show in which everybody in the world, including Momoa, is blind? Real show.
Starting point is 00:16:37 Don't know about that one. I heard about it recently. You know what I started watching that you recommended alone? Oh, yeah. I'm so fucking in. Get into it. I'm so fucking in. Get into it. No, no.
Starting point is 00:16:46 We started watching season six. We just started season six because people said it was good. It's people surviving in the Arctic in this season. Oh, I just started Survivor. Oh, that's fun, too. I'm not a big Survivor person, but I'm so glad. Oh, I'm glad you're liking it. Oh, good.
Starting point is 00:17:00 It's so great. You gotta watch it. Okay, so that wraps up our discussion of Batman or Dark Knight Rises. Nope. Okay. So Gary Oldman has nearly eradicated all violent organized crime. At a Wayne Manor charity event hosted by Bruce Wayne, Gordon prepares to deliver a speech revealing the truth about debt and the murders for which Batman has taken the fall for, but
Starting point is 00:17:19 changes his mind, puts the speech in his pocket. I wanted him to do it. Me too. Then Miranda Tate, Marianne Cotillard, a wealthy investor, and John, we don't see enough of her, I feel like.
Starting point is 00:17:28 Nope. That's why the twist doesn't do anything. I just mean now. I'm like, where is she now? I'm sure she's in many things I don't watch, but yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:35 Bless you. How darling was that? Wow. Bless you, certainly. The most delicate. If I let them go, it really hurts my nose
Starting point is 00:17:44 for a very long time. So that's what it sounds like. It's pretty great. You're like Minnie Mouse. Minnie Mouse. So a wealthy investor, Marion Coldhear, and then John Daggett, Ben Mendelsohn, a businessman, What a cast. tries to meet.
Starting point is 00:17:56 Yes, that's amazing. Everybody in this movie is a fucking heavy hit. Everyone's a star. Great actor. They try to meet the reclusive Bruce to get him to invest in Tate's clean energy project but are unable to do so. Meanwhile, now I was still surprised
Starting point is 00:18:08 by this even though I do believe I've seen the film. One of the maids of the event, Selina Kyle, Anne Hathaway, breaks into his room on the pretense
Starting point is 00:18:15 of delivering dinner. She cracks his safe, stealing his mother's pearl necklace but when Bruce catches her she kicks this cane out from under him spilling him to the floor.
Starting point is 00:18:22 I know. Then escapes by doing a backflip out of the window which was very graceful. She changes out of her disguise., spilling him to the floor. I know. Then escapes by doing a backflip out of the window, which was very graceful. She changes out of her disguise. She makes her way to the congressman's car and asks for a ride. And after she leaves, Bruce finds print dust and realizes she took a copy of his fingerprints. Which is, the whole scene was really wild to me.
Starting point is 00:18:37 And then I was like, wait, why is Bruce Wayne, why is he having a cane? Eight years? He looked horrible. He looked like a little raisin. What's he been fucking doing? Sleeping? He looked horrible. He looked like a little raisin. What's he been fucking doing? Sleeping? He doesn't move? He had a goatee that I did not approve of.
Starting point is 00:18:53 He was living in a dark room. And his hair looked like a mushroom. He looked awful. I'm like, you still have a billion dollars, right? Or no, does he not? No, he does. Okay, so at this point he does have a billion dollars. At this point he still has his money. He's just in, he's becoming incredibly reclusive because in many, he's broken, you know, by
Starting point is 00:19:09 the events of the last movie. Broken in a lot of ways. I mean, the Joker did too much. And thinks, yeah, the Joker, I mean, it is a great performance. I was exhausted by the end. It was more. Something I saw, I'm not going to remember who it was. Somebody was talking about, maybe it was Michael Jai White, who's in the Joker movie, as one of the crime bosses, said that he showed up to work one day.
Starting point is 00:19:35 This was like some interview he did. He shows up to work one day, and it's the scene where the Joker, Eric Roberts, collects all the bad guys, right, in that room. Heath Ledger goes through all of hair and makeup, gets totally done up into the Joker, is the Joker all the time. And midway through the day, Michael J. White asks, you know, like the first AD or something like, what do we got left to shoot? And he was like, oh, we're just going to keep doing this for the rest of the day. And that's when he realized no coverage was going to be on Heath Ledger all day. He had done that. All the makeup gone through, hours of makeup was in character for them because it was their
Starting point is 00:20:16 coverage. Wow. That is. And so he could be as much the Joker for them as possible. He did the whole thing. That's amazing. That's incredible because there's so many actors who will
Starting point is 00:20:27 let a tennis ball do it. Truly. I'm not going to be saying it at all. You're grateful for the tennis ball. Is all I'll say. I have a friend who worked on a show with a very famous person who fell asleep during their coverage. Oh my god. That's so rude. That's very funny to me.
Starting point is 00:20:43 So it's really impressive that he makes that extra effort. We should unlike them. Oh my God. Now they're sitting down. Or when they have a stand and do it for them and they're just, it's just another person
Starting point is 00:20:57 but then you see the back of the stand and how that looks like that person. That's nice. That's really cool. Sorry. I know I'm making this
Starting point is 00:21:05 so so so much longer this is literally what it has to be so okay this is oh and also I think he also is broken
Starting point is 00:21:13 and because Gotham is in peacetime he feels like he's not needed anymore so he's like fading away but where do you think
Starting point is 00:21:21 he like fell down and needed the cane cause like he's running at the end of the other movie he's just trying to I don't think he really needed it I think he's trying to do you think he like fell down and needed the cane? Cause like he's running at the end of the other movie. He's just trying to, he's, I don't think he really needed it.
Starting point is 00:21:27 I think he's trying to make her think he's feeble for some, right? I think he's a little bit like battered and broken from. Cause later at the doctor, they're like, you have no cartilage in your knees. Oh, that's true.
Starting point is 00:21:37 And he falls out the window. Yeah. And that's part of the mythology of Batman is, and it's harder to do in this, in these movies because Christian Bale, they are, even if they jump ahead eight years, it's not eight actual years. They didn't wait for Christian Bale to get older. Yeah. And part of the thing is, in long-term Batman stories, you watch him get older and more feeble and more decrepit.
Starting point is 00:22:00 There's an incredible Batman comic written and drawn by Paul Pope called Batman Year 100. Because Batman Year 1 is a story that is the inspiration for Batman Begins, the movie you guys love, which is the beginnings of what it is to be Batman. Then there's Batman Year 100, which is he's like Clint Eastwood now. It's like a man who looks like Clint Eastwood now. So he's talking to chairs, fighting crime. Yeah. Has to get into the suit and do it and is just destroyed. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:22:31 Okay. Later that night. And by the way, I like how Catwoman just jumps out with no tools. Yeah. But okay. Later that night on the police station's roof, Commissioner Gordon is approached by rookie police officer John Blake, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who informs him that the congressman has disappeared after the Wayne Foundation event.
Starting point is 00:22:48 Blake reveals that he has suspicions about Dent's death and the last confirmed Batman sighting, but Gordon dismisses him. So the next morning, Bruce is at work figuring out Selena's identity using the tracking device on the pearls she had stolen.
Starting point is 00:23:00 How did he know to put a tracking device on those pearls? I guess because they were special. They were his mummies. So then he learns that Selena is a master jewel thief nicknamed The Cat. And then Alfred suggests that Bruce go out with Selena to move on from his grief. Did you see that he's got his mother's pearls in that safe? And the only other thing that's in there is a jar of his mother's breast milk.
Starting point is 00:23:24 That is a callback to a conversation we had before the mic. So very satisfying for us. I like that no one will have any idea because it's so specific. Sorry about it. But yeah, good thing he had that. Yeah. Oh yeah, gives him superpowers. And it soothes his little soul.
Starting point is 00:23:44 And really makes his hair strong take some biotin Batman chill on your mom's titty juice Alfred tells him that he used to wish that Bruce never returned to Gotham to become Batman he dreamed about running into him in a cafe in Italy where they look at each other
Starting point is 00:24:01 but they say no no I do love Michael Kane. I'm paraphrasing to make it go faster. I saw a thing on Instagram. I'm slowing it down so hard. I love Michael Kane, how he met his wife. He saw her in a toothpaste commercial and he was like, she's mine. They've been together for 50 years.
Starting point is 00:24:18 A toothpaste commercial? In the 70s, he saw her on TV. She's a tube of toothpaste. He's fucking insane. I love Crest. I love my beautiful wife. Ooh, she was the sixth out of ten doctors. Dentists, rather.
Starting point is 00:24:35 That's like Jeff Bridges. He saw a waitress, liked her, and then married her, and they've been together for a long, long time. Wow. Instagram taught me. First attraction. We're learning so much from social media. Wow. It's so good
Starting point is 00:24:47 that I'm on there all day. It's so great. Wow. Wonderful. You pop into my head often when I waste time on there and go, he doesn't even have
Starting point is 00:24:53 to think about this. It's lovely. You're not on anything. He doesn't even have to. Smart. What a delight. What a delight. It's really fucking hard.
Starting point is 00:25:00 Although I will say I have succumbed to watching YouTube. That still seems fine. Yeah, that's fine. That's controllable. I think that's fine. Yeah, that's like a nice night.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Because mostly I'm watching like a 25-minute documentary about the making of a Steely Dan record. That's like basically TV. Or like Joni Mitchell on the Dick Cavett Show. That's nice. You know what I mean? In 1969. I support you. You live a nice life.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Yeah. Thank you. Does your brain feel calm? Yeah. Do you feel good? No. I'm a comedian. Yeah, you are unwell. I support you. You live a nice life. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Does your brain feel calm? Yeah. Do you feel good? No. I'm a comedian. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:27 You are unwell. It's chaos. I think the other stuff just amplifies the chaos. It's true though. I'm just stuck with standard chaos. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:25:34 I think I'd be enough without what I have going on with Instagram in my brain all day. Yeah. Because I scroll. There's people you think about and you just go, I don't even think about this person. Exactly. Well, that was the thing about. Why am I here? I know.
Starting point is 00:25:44 When it started with MySpace and Facebook and stuff like that, the big sell people would be like, oh my God, it's great. I get to keep in touch with everybody I went to high school and college with. And I was like, why? The only people from then I want to be in touch with, I'm in touch with. You're friends with them.
Starting point is 00:25:59 You have money for them to find me. The two people. Huge problem. It is true. It's true. I don't have Facebook and it's lovely. Well, let's not get into this right now. I can talk this over. So Blake
Starting point is 00:26:10 and his partner find a body washed up That's what this podcast is about, right? I use it for my mommy groups. Okay, leave me alone. They find a body washed up out of the tunnels underneath Gotham. He recognizes it as that of a kid staying at the St.
Starting point is 00:26:26 Swithin's orphanage. We learned that until recently, the orphanage had been funded by the Wayne Foundation and that Blake himself had grown up there. This felt like, I don't care. The orphanage through line. Yeah. Wasn't doing it.
Starting point is 00:26:38 And it wasn't strong enough. Cause then by the end I was going, what? And then I'm now going, oh, okay. It's not, it's not in there very well.
Starting point is 00:26:44 You'll also notice an orphanage in the Lego Batman movie. One of the hallmarks of millionaire Bruce Wayne's kind of in the larger Batman stories is that he is like an orphan, obviously,
Starting point is 00:27:00 and very tied into the orphan population of Gotham. You know what I mean? He cares about the orphans. He cares about them. He supports them. That's a through line of Batman stories. They'll say there's a lot of orphans.
Starting point is 00:27:13 They make this a throwaway. Yeah, I agree. Considering it's just one place. Doesn't it feel like there's a lot of orphans? I mean, the whole population of Gotham is criminals and police officers. And then people who have passed and their children are... Yeah, from the criminals. The children of the criminals and the policemen.
Starting point is 00:27:27 Yeah. Because when they have that war later, I was like, what? There's nobody left. Nobody. Besides people in the war. How do they have this many? Okay. A few nights later, Selina walks into a bar with a drunk man whom she sits with at the
Starting point is 00:27:37 bar, prepared to hand over Bruce's fingerprints to Philip Stryver, dagger's right hand. When she tries to get something in return, Stryver holds her at gunpoint. How do you say that? Stryver daggers right hand when she tries to get something in return Stryver holds her at gunpoint how do you say that Stryver Stryver
Starting point is 00:27:50 oh that was easy holds her at gunpoint and threatens her Selina reveals that she has withheld the thumbprint but hands over her cell phone and tells Stryver
Starting point is 00:27:57 to hit send and then her friend Jen Juno Temple are they romantically involved because there's a scene later where Juno's kind of like
Starting point is 00:28:04 hugging her from behind and she's like it's everything I want yeah I couldn't tell and then I was like is she her like her Robin well I don't think so
Starting point is 00:28:14 I'm guessing and this is I'm not quite sure but there is a character in the Catwoman stories which is
Starting point is 00:28:22 a woman because Catwoman comes from like very hard life right she comes from very hard life, right? She comes from a brutal life on the streets. She is a criminal. We only know the Michelle Pfeiffer. Okay, so Catwoman is an awesome
Starting point is 00:28:34 character, and in comics has had huge arcs as both a brutal foe of Batman, and then also incredible arcs where they are in love. Oh.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Where they are in love and it is a problem because neither will give up their kind of I like that. dogged pursuit of what they believe. We saw that one image
Starting point is 00:28:57 of Batman going down on Catwoman. Yeah, we did see that. What movie was that from? Oh, no, no, no. I think it was just a fan art. It was fan art that No, but who that from? Oh, no, no. I think it was just a fan art. It was fan art that...
Starting point is 00:29:06 No, but who... Oh, was it? Oh, it wasn't from... It was an outtake. It was in the Christopher Nolan one. It was a deleted thing. They're dark and gritty. But it was somebody...
Starting point is 00:29:15 It was Adam West. It was somebody famous who requested it be made. Wait, have you watched any of Adam West's... We watched one. Okay, great. Yeah, from watching the 1966 one or whatever. It wasn't for me. Yeah, no, it's wild. That was the first
Starting point is 00:29:28 Batman I saw. It was silly. That was on reruns after school when I was a kid was the old Batman. Anyway. So I believe, so Selina Kyle, Catwoman, frequently has another woman who she has kind of saved from the streets
Starting point is 00:29:43 who is her kind of, she kind of is always helping her. And I'm assuming Juno Temple is playing that character, whose name I'm spacing right now. But that's my guess. And that woman doesn't always know Selina is Catwoman. Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. That's the thing is like the stories can always change. So in this one, everybody knows Bruce Wayne is
Starting point is 00:30:06 Batman at a certain point. Yeah. That's sometimes the case in comic stories. Sometimes not at all. I feel like in all of the movies his identity is revealed. Yeah. Anyway so Stryver decides to shoot Selina anyway but then she reveals
Starting point is 00:30:22 that the drunk at the bar is actually the missing congressman and that Stryver has just unknowingly used the congressman's cell phone to send a message to the police which was wild and then the police
Starting point is 00:30:32 and the SWAT team they come and then Selena wow the acting in this was pretty good she was like running running running and then she was like
Starting point is 00:30:37 oh help me help me I loved that when she was like great scream they come in and she goes and then she's like hey hey I'm fine
Starting point is 00:30:44 and then Selena just slinks out the front It was fun. Great scream. They come in and she goes, ah! And then she's like, hey, I'm fine. And then Selena just slinks out the front door. Yeah, and then Blake working fully right with backup. And you follow Frenchman down into the sewers to search the tunnels. Now, we get a lot of sewer play in this game. If you don't mind me interrupting for just one moment, just because we've just talked about the introduction or not the introduction but a great selena kyle kind of moment there are incredible catwoman stories that are comic stories written by ed brubaker drawn by darwin cook that are some of the best just because she doesn't have superpowers they're just straight crime stories they're like film noir for jewel thieves because it's always that's her whole thing and she's not just jewels but you know
Starting point is 00:31:23 she's stealing big stuff. And it's just crime stories. And they're so beautifully drawn by Darwin Cook that if anybody is curious about looking into Batman comics or stuff like that, I'm happy to recommend stuff. But in specific, those comics from recent years are great. Cool. Did you watch the Halle Berry Catwoman? I did, yeah. How did this get made, actually?
Starting point is 00:31:44 Oh, no. It's bad? No good. It's a movie just about catwomen. It's deeply bad. Ite Berry Catwoman? I did. Yeah. How did this get made, actually? Oh, no. Because it's bad. No good. It's a movie just about cat. It's deeply bad. It's called Catwoman? It's a catwoman. It's a standalone catwoman movie.
Starting point is 00:31:52 But what you just described sounds like a good movie. It could have been. Like a film noir, jewel-themed heist movie. Oh, it would be great if someone would do that. It would be awesome if someone would do that. Who's your ideal catwoman to play? Sorry. It's interesting.
Starting point is 00:32:07 So Zoe Kravitz plays Catwoman in the Rob Pattinson, Matt Reeves' recent The Batman movie. The most recent incarnation of Batman. And I thought she was really good. I don't know. I'm trying to think. One of the things that is so compelling about Catwoman
Starting point is 00:32:22 is that she is morally so gray. Well, I like that she was like, I like guns or whatever. She kills without remorse. She does not share Batman's code at all. She is ruthless. In these streets. And that was kind of fun in some of these fights.
Starting point is 00:32:39 I thought Anne Hathaway did a very good job with the fighting and all the stuff. It was really smooth looking. She was believable to me me and i also thought she was sultry enough like who was it that we had where i was like it wasn't i can't think um as cat woman i think i had a cat woman maybe i just was like wanting to tell fifer yeah but then was there another one good um i don't think so i think no from the oh the old old one Oh, yeah. Who was Julie something? Oh, you had Julie... Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:08 Who was very pretty, but she didn't... Oh, no, I'm even thinking about Poison Ivy. I wanted her to be sexier and bring it more in that. Yeah, where I thought that... She loved it. I thought that Anne Hathaway brought that more in this. I guess I just didn't like all the jokes the men made about her like heels
Starting point is 00:33:27 and outfit. I didn't like that either but then I liked her comebacks. I guess because the more I think about it I'm like no no she did do a good job. I just felt like the people
Starting point is 00:33:35 in the movie were like too hot. They were disrespecting her a lot. And I was like stop it. Like can you walk in those heels? Yeah I was like she's walking just fine. Yeah I know.
Starting point is 00:33:42 She's like kicking your ass and then you fucking bitch. We still have so much more to get through. So we haven't even gotten to fucking Bane's whole life. Oh, man. So they're suddenly ambushed in the sewers by thugs and Gordon ends up cornered alone by two of Bane's men. They knock him out, drag him deeper into the tunnel to a cavern with a waterfall where they deposit him in front of Bane. One of the thugs empties Gordon's pockets, taking Gordon's badge while at
Starting point is 00:34:05 pistol and Gordon's speech about Harvey Dent and Bane looks over Gordon's speech, deciding that it is useful to his plans. Gordon rolls off the platform and into the waterway and Bane's men open fire on Gordon as he floats away, hitting him several times. Bane shoots one of the thugs with Gordon's
Starting point is 00:34:21 gun and throws him in the river. Blake manages to find... Who's Blake? Joe Gordon-Levitt. Yeah. And see... No, no, I agree. We don't get enough. There's a lot of names.
Starting point is 00:34:32 We don't get enough about him, I felt. I felt he was kind of just thrown at us. And then at the end, there's that twist about him and I'm going, we'll get to that, but I'm just like... There are arguably too many characters in this movie. There's so many. And I was kind of like, why do I... The whole time I'm kind of going, why is he helping?
Starting point is 00:34:46 What's he doing? Yeah. Yeah. So Blake manages to find Gordon at the outlet of the sewers, soaked and barely clinging to life and rushes him to the hospital. Bruce tracks down Selena, follows her to a gala costume ball, which he loves to go to, where he uses a remote in his pocket to shut down the cameras of the paparazzi gathered outside.
Starting point is 00:35:03 He cuts in with Selena's dancing partner. They slowly waltz. She reveals her aim is to see the the cameras of the paparazzi gathered outside. He cuts in with Selena's dancing partner. They slowly waltz. She reveals her aim is to see the rich lose and the city burn. He takes back his mother's pearl necklace. Selena kisses him
Starting point is 00:35:12 in the process pickpocketing his valet ticket and takes off with his car. I don't want them to be romantic in this film. Not in this one. I'm not feeling it. This one feels wild.
Starting point is 00:35:21 It feels... This was not even... That was not a real kiss but when they do have a real kiss later I went, no. I just didn't want it. Yeah, I didn't feeling it. This one feels wild. It feels, this was not even like, that was like not a real kiss, but when they do have a real kiss later, I went, no. I just didn't want it. Yeah, I didn't want it either, but I got it because I think they were like, the world's going to end. Yeah, but it was just kind of like, they haven't had a vibe. I agree.
Starting point is 00:35:36 They haven't had a vibe because I do feel like this movie instead chooses to do the Bruce Wayne Batman, Marianne Cototillard who is playing Talia Al Ghul. Who is a huge character in the Batman mythology. Really? She's so teeny tiny in this movie. I know. So when you're watching it, you're going, I know where this is going? A little bit, yes. But in a way that I thought she was great.
Starting point is 00:36:03 Because I love Marianne Cotillard. Yeah. If you want to watch an incredible Marion Cotillard performance, the Jacques Odiard movie, Flesh and Bone. Oh, I've never seen that. Absolutely incredible. But she plays Talia al Ghul, who's Ra's al Ghul's daughter, who after Ra's al Ghul dies takes over what in the comics is called the League of Assassins, what's called the League of Shadows here, and is the mother of the current Robin, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, and Talia al Ghul's son, who is a child who is raised inside the League of Assassins.
Starting point is 00:36:39 So there's a version where they have a baby together. Correct. Okay. And that baby is Robin? And that baby is then Talia al Ghul becomes fed up with Damien and sends him to Bruce when he's like 12 years old. Bruce Wayne doesn't even know he has a son. What? And a trained murderous assassin son shows up at his doorstep and is like, I work for you now.
Starting point is 00:37:02 Oh. So it's kind of like the Robin from Batman and Robin where he's like, I'm staying around. Whatever Chris. Chris O'Donnell. Chris O'Donnell, yeah. Until I get to NCIS Miami, I'm staying right here. And you're my daddy.
Starting point is 00:37:19 Okay, well, the next day, Bruce goes to his company offices to meet with Lucius Fox, Morgan Freeman, who we love from the movies. We're very happy to see him. But I thought he left in the last one because of the phone screen thing. Wasn't he like, I will not do this? And then he's like, just enter your name at the end.
Starting point is 00:37:35 And he's like, OK. And then he did, and then he walked away. I thought he left. I love your Morgan Freeman impression. Yeah, it's really solid. Thank you. It's on my SNL reel. But I thought he quit, no's really solid. Thank you. It's on my SNL reel. But I thought he, like, quit, no?
Starting point is 00:37:48 I don't remember that. I don't remember exactly, but you're right. Yes, he was, like, very anti... Anti this, like, equipment. But I think that the greater good that this all turned into has... I don't know. But you're right. Well, Morgan tells him that his
Starting point is 00:38:04 majority ownership of Wayne Enter enterprises keeps daggett from taking over the company he also shows him a new project they're working on with a long name that fox simply nicknames the bat while doing martial arts in the bat cave to get back into shape he was like okay bruce learns from alfred about bane's past that he used to be a member of the league of shadows trained by raw ghoulould, Bruce's old mentor. Bane was excommunicated for the group for extreme behavior beyond the boundaries of even Raul Gould. Raz?
Starting point is 00:38:31 Raz Al Gould? People say Raz Al Gould, people say Raisha Gould. I don't know. There's a whole, in fandom, there's a lot of like, how do you pronounce this? I see. It's like, well, watch the movie. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:42 In the movie, they are saying Raz Al Gould. Raz Al Gould. Alfred tries to talk Bruce out of going back out as Batman to protect the city from Bane. That day, Bane and three of his men carry out an assault and robbery of the Gotham Stock Exchange. There was a lot of mass shooting in this film that made me feel sad. I will say. There's a lot of shooting in all of them. Watching.
Starting point is 00:38:59 The last time I saw this movie was a very long time ago. Yeah. The last time I saw this movie was a very long time ago. And so much of it in looking at it through the lens of today looked so much more like the January 6th insurrection. It feels like it happened. It looks so much like the civil unrest and increasing social violence that is happening in our world now in a way that was not present in the world. These movies were made during like peacetime. I googled when did mass shootings start really because
Starting point is 00:39:29 I remember of course like Columbine but like the chart if you google that the chart of like the growth of that is so crazy and this is a period where that was not it was like maybe one or two a year. Oh yeah. And you knew who the shooters were. You knew everything and now there is I believe a new mass shooting every four days. Oh I think it's like every day. Oh is. And you knew who the shooters were. You knew everything. And now there is, I believe, a new mass shooting
Starting point is 00:39:46 every four days. Oh, I think it's like every day. Oh, is it every single day? Maybe. Yes. Yeah, because it's like four people. Because sometimes it'll be like two a day. It's really wild. It's really crazy. And it changes how you, I mean, it changes our whole world, but just like watching something like this is like not as like light or anything. You know, back in the day, I feel like
Starting point is 00:40:02 it's sort of fun to watch a crazy scene. It's like, yeah, you could be at work and someone could come right in and shoot you. It's really scary. Right when you're in the stock exchange
Starting point is 00:40:10 and you're Glenn Powell. Right when you're young Glenn Powell. Oh, that was Glenn Powell? Yeah. Oh. Getting a shoe shine. Next thing you know,
Starting point is 00:40:18 goodbye. I honestly had to cut the part where I called that out because I was like, it's too long, but it is Glenn Powell. We have to get going. I will not let you cut it out.
Starting point is 00:40:28 It's important. He's important. So Bain and his crew are there to download information from one of the stockbroker's laptops and head for the exit, bursting out of the building, riding on motorcycles with a hostage strapped to each bike. Bain and his men weave through the police cars and over barricades to escape. Police pursue them in a tunnel, but they're ordered by Deputy Commissioner Foley to drop back to avoid endangering hostages.
Starting point is 00:40:48 Suddenly they notice the tunnel lights behind them going out by themselves and as the tunnel goes dark, Batman appears on a bat pod. That was cool. And then one of the hostages just flew up in the air and never came back down. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:03 Like Prince's guitar in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony to tribute to George Harrison. He just threw it up. Have you ever seen that? No. Can you pull it up right now? Prince, George Harrison, I think Tom Petty might also help you get there. This is
Starting point is 00:41:19 an incredible video. Okay. I'm so delighted that I'm getting to show you guys a thing that is like internet fame. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? In a way that I just
Starting point is 00:41:31 happen to have seen. So this is a tribute to George Harrison, the Beatle George Harrison who's passed away at this point. And so it's all the, it's the Rock and Roll
Starting point is 00:41:41 Hall of Fame ceremony. So there's an all-star cast of characters on stage. And then Prince comes in to do the guitar solo. So wait until you see Prince's red hat come in. Okay, so there he is. So Prince is not on stage for the majority of the song. So it's a whole cast of characters.
Starting point is 00:42:03 There's Jeff Lynne from ELO, Tom Petty. I know none of these people. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Great. Prince is literally on fire. The solo is incredible. And you can see it breathes life into everybody. It's awesome.
Starting point is 00:42:22 Complete genius. We're almost there. We're almost there. He's awesome. Complete genius. We're almost there. We're almost there. He's planning. He keeps lifting it up. Something's going to happen with that. Look at Danny Harrison. He's falling down.
Starting point is 00:42:36 It has to be pushed back up. He's falling off of the stage. He's so cool. It's actually kind of sickening. He's so cool. He's so confident and good. Tambourine guy in the back's going crazy. He's like, I want attention too.
Starting point is 00:42:55 Where does it go? Where did it go? He throws his guitar straight up and it does not come down. Where did it go? Where did it go? What was the plan? This episode is called Where Did It Go? What was the plan?
Starting point is 00:43:12 It's so funny. Is it attached to a string? It just goes, goodbye. Goodbye. That was dope. Don't you feel like Prince can just do that? Yeah, he can. And that's how that man left that motorcycle.
Starting point is 00:43:24 That was amazing boy i love that clip and it's related because prince did all the music for batman uh tim burton batman and boy was that an iconic bat dance was like we still haven't seen bat no no we don't really know ubiquitous in in the life it was on the radio. The video was huge. Everything. Wait, you've not seen Bat? No. Can you pull up the Bat dance video?
Starting point is 00:43:50 Yes. Yeah, we do need to know that. I guess we should. People have mentioned it and we just haven't seen it. This was, like, again, pre-internet and all that. The only access you had to stuff like this was MTV. Yeah. I'm going to scrub forward again just so we're in it.
Starting point is 00:44:07 Oh, yeah, that's fine. What? What is? Wait. Nothing could have prepared me for this. Why is he like Michael Jackson? This is wild. This is like.
Starting point is 00:44:20 I can't believe I've never seen this. This is fun. This is huge. This is like a seven minute video. This is fun. This is huge. This is like a seven minute video. This is like thriller. It is like thriller. First of all, why don't we do things like this anymore?
Starting point is 00:44:34 I don't know. This is a multi-million dollar music video. But I feel like if people did it, people would listen. Beyonce did the lemonade visuals and I think we all watched it. Yeah. Like it feels like silly things, like him doing Batman characters and stuff. Yes. Feels like it was exactly that moment in time and no one wants to do that now. Well, there was also, this is also a moment in time where doing little movies as videos
Starting point is 00:45:03 was massively impactful culturally. You know, like MTV was truly every young person was obsessed with MTV. So your taste was formed by these short form. You listen to the radio and you watched MTV. And so not just that there were videos, but that there were high-end videos that had cinematic qualities or whatever were super compelling. Yeah. I love it.
Starting point is 00:45:32 Thank you for that education, honestly. I hope I'm not once again coming in and mansplaining Batman or whatever as a real piece of shit. Literally learning. It's explaining it. It's not mansplaining. We don't know more than you. Great. I love it. I'm having the best time. I's explaining it. It's not mansplaining. We don't know more than you. Great.
Starting point is 00:45:46 I love it. I'm having the best time. I'm so glad. Good. You're the best guest. Where do we leave off in this? Jesus Christ. Okay.
Starting point is 00:45:54 So Batman comes back. One of the cops is like, oh, shit. Look at that. And then Foley is eager to take down Batman. So while the police focus on catching him Bane is able to make His escape back To his hideout In another sewer
Starting point is 00:46:09 Just as Foley Who is Foley Thinks he's gotten Batman cornered The bat emerges And Batman's able To get away Oh Foley is
Starting point is 00:46:15 Matthew Modine's character Who's now the commissioner Of police That Jim Gordon is off Yes I just learned from Instagram That Matthew Modine Is the girl from
Starting point is 00:46:24 Millie Bobby Brown's Godfather. What? What was that sentence? Matthew Modine is Millie Bobby Brown's Godfather. Oh, okay. From prior to Stranger Things or because of their relationship on Stranger Things he was made her Godfather? I don't know.
Starting point is 00:46:39 Probably because of Stranger Things. He's on Stranger Things? I would assume so, but that would be even weirder. Is he in season one? What's that? Is he in season one? Yeah. He's on Stranger Things? I would assume so, but that would be even weirder. Wait, is he in season one? He's like, what's that? Is he in season one? Yeah. He's the white haired guy who's in her institution. He plays her dad, right?
Starting point is 00:46:53 Or like the papa? He's like the father figure for the bad guy. Maybe they call him that and he's not literally her godfather from birth or something. I don't know. Yeah. They went on a road trip together. She was on Seth Meyers' podcast. These are the facts I know. Okay.
Starting point is 00:47:06 He ate a dog treat. Look, he ate a dog treat. He fell asleep. I don't know what's real. He fell asleep and ate a dog treat. I consumed this this morning while also doing 10,000 other things
Starting point is 00:47:17 and now I just gave it to you. You consumed the Millie Bobby Brown Seth Meyers podcast? No, I consumed a clip of it because I follow Seth Meyers on Instagram. And he posted this clip.
Starting point is 00:47:27 And then she's like, Matthew McDean's my godfather. And we went on a road trip. She's British? Yes. I'm sorry, was this whole story just so you could do a British accent? No. I will bring that out whenever next year. Well done.
Starting point is 00:47:41 Wow, I'm Bane, mommy. Interesting. Okay, so at his penthouse, Daggett is celebrating the successful operation at the stock exchange. Selina breaks in through a window, demands to know where the clean slate program is, which has the potential to expunge her criminal record. Which is wild. She fights all of Daggett's men and jumps out of the window, holding Daggett hostage, but is soon surrounded by Bane's men.
Starting point is 00:48:03 Batman soon appears and they fight Bane's men and escape together. So the thing they're trying to get off the computers all the time is like this clean slate program that erases your history from the world. Which is confusing. That's what she wants. That's what she wants.
Starting point is 00:48:19 As payment. That's not what they want. They don't want that program at all. What they want is the bomb thing. So it's going when it's like downloading. So they're saying to her, just for real basic plot stuff, go and get Bruce Wayne's fingerprints off of his safe, is how she does it, so that they can have his authorization via thumbprint to go to the stock exchange,
Starting point is 00:48:49 cripple Wayne Enterprises financially so that Marion Cotillard is put in charge of the company. And in doing so, they give her access to the device that is not a bomb but can be turned into a bomb using the scientists that they captured, kidnapped rather, in the first scene on the airplane. They took that guy, then they made it such that every domino fell into place so that they could get their hands on the thing, turn it into a bomb. Anne Hathaway's payment was this other thing.
Starting point is 00:49:20 Okay, okay. Wow. That's really important. That cleared up a lot. There's a lot of MacGuffins, there's a lot of characters, and there's a lot of contradictory wants from people. They don't all want
Starting point is 00:49:32 the same stuff. Right, because I kind of was thinking the computer, iPad, whatever they were looking at the whole time. I was like, that's all about this clean slate program. Okay, I see now. Thank you. So, Selina soon vanishes, but not before Batman learns that she sold Bruce's fingerprints to Daggett, and Daggett was behind the stock exchange robbery back at the Batcave.
Starting point is 00:49:49 Bruce and Fox decode the hard drive. He and Alfred argue about his decision to return as Batman. I loved this. And Alfred reveals the contents of Rachel's farewell letter to Bruce and decides to leave Wayne Manor for good. You like to call it Bruce Manor. I know. Bruce Manor.
Starting point is 00:50:04 Bruce Manor. Alfred is the like to call it Bruce Manor. I know. Bruce Manor. Alfred is the heart of this franchise. And honestly I do enjoy his arc in this where like the thing at the end where he sees him. It's very sweet. It's like he's a very lovable actor. Yes. Michael Caine is truly incredible.
Starting point is 00:50:22 And this is a very emotionally available Alfred which is not always the case. A lot of times Alfred is depicted as a kind of, you know, from obviously early on, like the uptight British butler, you know, kind of detached a little bit. But in stories now has become a father figure in a way that is. And I think Michael Caine does the best heartbreaking, the quivering voice. I was like, I failed you.
Starting point is 00:50:50 If you've ever, that sucked. I mean, it was like good. Yeah. Ever watched any of the trip movies? The Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon.
Starting point is 00:50:57 That's what I always think of because those are so funny. There are these movies that are these two guys, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon who are actual actors that you would recognize from a million things
Starting point is 00:51:08 and they are they are them going on a road trip one is in England where they're from one is in Italy and I think one I can't remember
Starting point is 00:51:16 is in Greece or something I can't remember anyway and all they do is go to beautiful fancy dinners and do bits it's so enjoyable
Starting point is 00:51:23 and one of the bits they continuously do is Who Does the Better Michael Caine. And they're both really good. Oh, incredible. And one of them, they do young Michael Caine
Starting point is 00:51:31 and then they specifically do these movies, Michael Caine, as he starts to slow down and get into like, that boy. You know, like it's very funny.
Starting point is 00:51:41 I got to work with Rob Brydon and he was really cool. Oh, that's cool. He does Man in a Box, which is, but I do this. I'm stuck in a closet and I can't get with Rob Brydon and he was really cool. Oh, that's cool. He does Man in a Box, which is, but I do this. I'm stuck in a closet and I can't get out of the closet.
Starting point is 00:51:49 I'm stuck inside. You have to let me out of the closet. I'm stuck. And so I got to do that with him, which was really cool. That's really good.
Starting point is 00:51:55 He throws his voice back and he's like, I'm a man in a box. I can't do it. He does a thing too. That's very funny. Bruce learns from Fox that in the course of the robbery,
Starting point is 00:52:06 Bane made stock trades to bankrupt Wayne Enterprises, meaning Wayne Enterprises is about to fall into Daggett's hands. Bruce and Fox show Miranda the fusion reactor who intends to use it to generate clean energy
Starting point is 00:52:16 for the entire city. Bruce worries someone could turn the reactor into a nuclear weapon. Not knowing Bane has in fact kidnapped Dr. Pavel for this purpose. Bruce wants Miranda
Starting point is 00:52:25 to become acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises to safeguard the reactor. Which is wild because he barely talked to her. She's like, I keep throwing these parties and you don't come.
Starting point is 00:52:32 He's like, I don't want to. Why would he give her the, I don't know. I think we're meant to believe that he trusts her due to like, they try and seed in
Starting point is 00:52:40 some sort of like, she's been working with them all along for clean energy and her clean energy initiative and it seems to be they're trying to tell us she is a trusted um ally of theirs um but they are telling us not showing us in any meaningful way so when i was watching it this time i was i also was like oh this isn't landing it doesn't make sense why he would trust her yeah anyway Daggett demands
Starting point is 00:53:06 to see Bane Daggett calls Bane pure evil but Bane replies that he is unnecessary evil and proceeds to break Daggett's neck
Starting point is 00:53:13 and throws his body into a dumpster in Gordon's hospital room Blake reports on the discovery of Daggett's body and his suspicion that he was associated
Starting point is 00:53:21 with Bane Foley still is skeptical of Bane's existence but Gordon impressed with Blake's hard work, promotes Blake to detective. Back home, Bruce finds Miranda waiting for him, and they're
Starting point is 00:53:30 like in the rain, and they spend, they fuck. They fuck in front of a fire. They fuck, they fuck, they fuck. And I was like, wait, what? Oh my god, they fuck. They just say fuck. Oh my god, they did it. They did. They just did. But I was like, why is he fucking this lady? He better fuck her if he's going to give away all his money and not have, I mean, it they should have a relationship i want to see what this love is but
Starting point is 00:53:48 it just it came out of nowhere no i mean i liked it it was pretty horny oh yeah but i was like this is so out of left field i would have loved a i would have loved what i believe they would maybe do now which was like an r-rated version of this movie where there is much more kind of overt sexual tension overt kind of a lot of the deaths are really robbed of impact because they're done
Starting point is 00:54:11 in big giant wide shots bloodless no like they oh there isn't any blood everything everything is for PG-13 in this movie
Starting point is 00:54:20 everything is to assure them that even though hundreds and hundreds of people are being killed throughout the movie, it is still for 13 year olds. Yeah. I would like to see the romance build for sure. Me too. I agree. Well, OK, let me see.
Starting point is 00:54:37 Where do we go? While Miranda was sleeping. Bruce sneaks out as Batman to meet Selina in a subway tunnel. Batman says he has her clean slate program but demands to see Bane. They fight a few of Bane's henchmen that they come up against. But soon, Batman finds himself trapped in the tunnel with Bane, realizing Selina has betrayed him to protect herself. And this is where I was like, surely this movie's wrapping up. And it doesn't.
Starting point is 00:54:58 Yeah, I think it doesn't for a while. No, we got another hour. No, Batman has to live in a cave for a while. But Batman's tactics prove useless against a trained League of Shadows member like Bane, who mocks him. While they fight, Bane reveals he knows Batman's real identity and that he is in Gotham to fulfill Ra's al Ghul's destiny of destroying the city. Bane beats Batman into submission. When he lifts him up and cracks him on his knee, I literally was like,
Starting point is 00:55:26 oh my God. Can you look up that panel of comics? This is an incredibly famous comic story from like my youth. It's wild. That's cool. Which is Bane breaking Batman's back. Which is what he does.
Starting point is 00:55:40 And it's brutal. And it was crazy in the comics. That's cool that they did an exact... And the thing about Bane is, that's not in this movie at all, but that is very much a part of the comics, is the mask... In the movie, it suggests he needs it to breathe or whatever,
Starting point is 00:55:57 but the mask and all the tubing around it give him something. I think it's called venom. It's not called venom it's called something it's like a juice he gets he gets so he hits a button
Starting point is 00:56:11 and like it's almost like steroids adrenaline steroids so Bane is capable of getting much much stronger during fights
Starting point is 00:56:19 he's an incredibly he's like almost like a Hulk type of character I wouldn't have minded seeing more of that. Yes. Because I feel like sort of what I was imagining was like something was really fucked up with his mouth.
Starting point is 00:56:31 And it was just like, I didn't really get what the thing was. Well, I looked it up. He like was broken, I guess, with the League of Shadows people. And then he's getting like anesthesia or something to like deaden the pain that he goes through. I don't think it helps him breathe. No, no, I think it makes it so that he cannot feel pain. Yes. So he feels no pain and is just
Starting point is 00:56:54 like a, just a brutal death machine. So when they like punch it or something, because there's a point where it gets kind of broken. Yeah. And then he stops getting it so then he like weakens. So now he can feel. It's not that he's breathing or you know not breathing well it's that he is yeah they they the in the pit they explain it i think it's in the pit they explain it like they you know he's in constant pain except for the breathing
Starting point is 00:57:16 yeah yeah it's like he's getting air percocets yeah okay right the mask is is is uh from the sackler family another michael keaton project so blake spots selena getting into a cab recognizes her from the shootout he tails her to the airport manages to apprehend and interrogate her learning that she's trying to escape from bane and she doesn't know if Batman's alive. He arrests her and throws her into Blackgate Prison where she gets to kick some prisoner's asses. They're like, want to hold your hand? That's another one of those things
Starting point is 00:57:54 where she's being sexualized all the time. And then does a cartwheel off his hand. And he's like, ouch! Ow, bitch! He doesn't call her a bitch because it's PG-13, I guess. He just was like, ow!
Starting point is 00:58:07 Bruce wakes up in a foreign prison, still in pain from the fight. The prison sits at the bottom of a deep circular shaft. The only way in or out is to climb the stone walls. When Bruce asks Bane why he did not just kill him, Bane taunts Bruce that he intends to kill his soul first, making him witness Gotham City's downfall. The prison is where Bane claims to have been born and is notorious as hell on earth from which nobody has managed to escape.
Starting point is 00:58:29 One of the prisoners tells Bruce that a child had once escaped, the offspring of a mercenary who'd fallen in love with a warlord's daughter. Bruce realized that the child must have been Bane. Bruce sees several prisoners attempt to escape by using a rope climbing up the shaft towards the light, but fail to clear the final jump onto the ledge and fall, hitting the walls of the shaft as they're suspended in midair. So when he's in that little hole, who's that man who's like taking care of him?
Starting point is 00:58:50 And he's like, get up and walk. Who's that man? Yeah. That's just another prisoner? These are just other prisoners, I believe. I'm not sure why they're there or what the... Yeah, and they all speak English. All speak English, which, you know,
Starting point is 00:59:03 this is very comics. This is, to me, very comics this is to me very comics it's like it doesn't matter you know like and maybe they're not speaking English but it's being translated
Starting point is 00:59:11 for us by the movie you know like that well in comics there are usually like brackets around things that are in a different language but we need you to understand it
Starting point is 00:59:20 or whatever so yeah this is these are just the other prisoners okay back in Gotham Miranda and Fox arrive at Wayne Enterprises for a board meeting or whatever. So, yeah, these are just the other prisoners. Okay. Back in Gotham, Miranda and Fox arrive at Wayne Enterprises for a board meeting on the reactor project,
Starting point is 00:59:30 but are met by Bane and his men holding the board of directors hostage. Bane and his men take Fox, Miranda, and Fredericks down into the tunnels. Inside, Bane orders Fox to turn the reactor on and forces Dr. Pavel to remove the reactor's core, which renders the bomb unstable and will cause it to melt down within five minutes. Five months. Excuse me. That's so funny.
Starting point is 00:59:49 So I was going to say, the longest five minutes of my life. Why hasn't the bomb gone off? There's snow on the ground. They said five minutes. They said five minutes, and it is winter. Oh, my God. So much has happened. So much has happened.
Starting point is 01:00:02 I think it just starts fully. We can speed through this. We gotta zip through some of this. Okay, so Bane's men arrive at Heinz Field. And I love that it's Heinz because get those. What is it? Pratt & Schoen Smith. Where a Gotham City football game is taking place.
Starting point is 01:00:21 A child is singing and Bane's like. Can I just say the child, while he was a beautiful singer, everyone was so happy to watch him sing. They were so polite. He was like... And I was like, this is kind of funny. You wouldn't cut to one person who's making a joke to their friend about how this little boy's like...
Starting point is 01:00:37 I was like, everyone's peaceful, happily watching him. I was like, this is the most polite audience. That is very funny. Anyone's ever. Beautiful voice. Even, I know he compliments the voice. Even Bane is a fan.
Starting point is 01:00:51 Yeah, he's like, I love him. Before he blows, this was a trailer scene, the blowing up of the football field. Gotta be. I mean, it is a great scene. Also, while this is happening, every single cop in Gotham is underground for some reason. They're being forced to go down there to do something.
Starting point is 01:01:07 Well, they think they're going to get Bane and all his men. Then Batman realizes that the whole thing is scheduled to blow up through the cement. Like they put the bombs in the cement. And so he puts a stop to it. I'm trying to jump a little bit. But Batman doesn't figure that out. I'm sorry. Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Starting point is 01:01:24 He finds it out when he meets those two people. And he's like, hey, this isn't a coincidence. I'm a cop. And I know that something's going on. There's no such thing as coincidences. Hey, I saw you at that other place. And the guy's like, what? He's just like driving around.
Starting point is 01:01:38 And he's like, hey, didn't I see you three scenes ago? He's the only cop above ground. Yeah. Yeah, so it's all up to him. And this guy's the only truck driver in town. Which is so wild. So Bane, okay, I'm just going to skip a little bit. Bane reads Gordon's speech revealing the truth about Harvey Dent
Starting point is 01:01:54 and declares the prisoners free as the man who drew up the Dent Act himself was a murderer and a madman. So this is, okay, this is, I think, when we're getting into the whole sewer? Or no, do we already get past that? Because I just feel like... Well, now we have a time jump. Now there's a time jump. Now it becomes winter.
Starting point is 01:02:09 84 days into the siege. The army slips an intelligence team into Gotham, disguised as relief workers, under the command of Captain Mark Jones. We see Cillian Murphy again. As a scarecrow. So brief. Who's now a judge. He's a judge. I love this.
Starting point is 01:02:22 And his suit has little things coming out. Because he's like, I'm becoming a scarecrow. They built all the desks up so that it's a gigantic desk. Yeah, which is very funny. And then there's lots of just papers and then he's like,
Starting point is 01:02:33 death or exile. So Fox, Miranda and Jones are meeting to talk about the bomb. Fox admits he could reconnect the core to the reactor to re-stabilize it. And then a bunch of Bane's henchmen ambush them and open fire.
Starting point is 01:02:49 And then Bruce is still in this prison. He's watching shit on TV. And then he breaks the TV and I was like, now you don't have the TV. You can't see. You broke it from that one thing you didn't like.
Starting point is 01:02:59 Just because you didn't like the news? Just wait a little bit and watch reruns of Gilmore Girls. Could be something good coming. Yeah, Rory and Lorelai are coming. Bruce is like, Stars Hollow needs a new town council. Taylor is corrupt. So Bruce's anger builds.
Starting point is 01:03:14 He starts rigorously training so he can escape, but he falls down and shit. And then he realizes the child escaped without the safety of the rope and chooses not to use the rope in the third attempt. Reaches a pivotal point requiring a jump and a stream of bats flow from the tunnel inside the rope and chooses not to use the rope in the third attempt, reaches a pivotal point requiring a jump, and a stream of bats flow from the tunnel inside the cave and startle him, but he jumps and he makes it out, throwing the rope down behind him so all the other prisoners can escape as well. He returns to Gotham as Batman. Yay!
Starting point is 01:03:36 He manages to gain trust from Selina and gets to Miranda and Fox by letting Bane's men capture him as Fox's access to Bruce's backup bat suit. This was wild. This was such an easy plan and it happened flawlessly. To escape, Selina comes in and declares to the mercenaries that Bane wants Bruce and Fox by themselves. She knocks out the mercenaries and undoes Bruce and Fox's handcuffs.
Starting point is 01:03:55 Batman saves Gordon and some of the surviving cops, simultaneously lighting a huge Batman symbol, letting everyone know Gotham and Gotham know that he's back. Seeing the symbol in the sky, Bane is shocked and tells his men to keep a closer eye on Miranda. So then Batman and Bane fight. He punches Bane's mask. Some of the tubes get all undone and he's like.
Starting point is 01:04:12 And then then we find out that Miranda is the child or whatever. She's Talia. Yeah. She escapes from the hell on earth prison. It was sort of like the doctor was a woman. Like he's like a child escaped through here. He's like must have been Bane. It's like, a child escaped through here. He's like, must have been Bane. It's like, childs can be girls.
Starting point is 01:04:27 Childs can be girls. Childs can be girls. Childs can be girls. Bane had been a prisoner there and was her protector. And then we get to see, what's the real actor's name? Tom Hardy. We get to see his actual face for god little seconds two seconds and then the prison doctors they repair the damage because uh he was like hurting stuff and then talia comes back and then she's like oh no and then bane's trained by
Starting point is 01:04:57 the league of shadows and then talia's intention is to take revenge on batman for killing her father as well as finishing the mission of destroying Gotham. So she's like worse than him. She's like more evil than him. Well, she like hated her father, but then she like liked him again after Batman killed him. Yeah. That's what she's, that's what the argument is, yes. Which is wild.
Starting point is 01:05:17 So Bane's about to execute Batman with a shotgun, which I've wondered why that didn't happen to every other movie. I'm like, he's got a mouth hole right there. Selena crashes into the lobby on the Batpod, mortally wounds Bane by blasting him with the pod's cannons. Talia and Barsad walk out to the tumblers where Foley shoots Barsad. Who's Barsad?
Starting point is 01:05:35 One of the henchmen. Yeah, he's the kind of main henchman who you see a couple of times. Okay. Soon he and several other officers are killed when Talia orders her tumbler's driver to gun them down. She takes control of the truck, goes off the road, and crashes. And she's fatally wounded because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt.
Starting point is 01:05:52 When her last one was alive, she explains how her access to the reactor chamber allowed her to set a timer to flood it, preventing the bomb from being returned there. She dies, believing she had finally completed her father's work and avenged his death. I will say, her death scene was a little lackluster. Agree. And I feel like she just kind of was like,
Starting point is 01:06:08 hey, tried, but it's gonna happen. And then she's just dead. And then she died kind of funny. Anyway, I'm talking. And then just closed her little eyes and said, I won't do the rest of these lines. And it's a bummer because that character is a badass. That character is incredible.
Starting point is 01:06:25 And so, what a missed opportunity. Unless maybe perhaps there was a plan to go forward with other movies that she would come back in. It's a misdirect or something like that. But as it is a finished story, this is disappointing for a truly iconic Batman villain. They introduced so much. I feel like it should have been a one and two. Yeah. Like, to just make it two movies.
Starting point is 01:06:49 It's three hours already. I think they were already in a position where Christian Bale was like, I don't want to do this anymore. Fair. And I think they were getting as much as they could. It's a lot for him. You'll notice he's not Batman a lot in this movie.
Starting point is 01:07:03 He is mostly, the trials and tribulations are him. He's in costume, only a few key set pieces. Interesting. So Batman explains the bat has no autopilot. He has to fly the bomb out of Gotham. And this is when Selina kisses him. I didn't think it was earned. Before revealing to Gordon his true identity, Batman tells him who he really is.
Starting point is 01:07:28 He tells Gordon what the commissioner said to him when he was first orphaned as a young boy. And so Gordon's like, I said that to Bruce Wayne. He's like, oh, that's Bruce Wayne. That means you are Bruce Wayne. That also makes no sense. Yeah. A, because too many people in the movie have known it's Bruce Wayne. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:07:46 First and foremost. And second, over the course of those 20 to 30 years, how many little boys has he put his coat around to give them terrible news? That's his job. Right, right. Like how – that's crazy. He says that shit all the time. He says that – Gotham City is 75 percent. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:06 Yeah. It's made up of a mostly orphan population. Yeah. And he's had to deal with all of them. I wish he got it wrong. He was like he was like John McCain. Tom Matheson. Just nobody.
Starting point is 01:08:22 We never heard of Tom Matheson the whole time. I didn't think it was Tom Matheson. Just nobody we've ever heard of. That's been Tom Matheson the whole time? I didn't think it was Tom Matheson. In this scene, I felt like Christian Bale was tired because his tongue was doing a lot of work. His tongue! Wait, no, it really was. I noticed this the whole movie. His mouth was doing different things. Because I think the cowl is pushing down on his.
Starting point is 01:08:45 Oh. And he's also doing a voice. But it was getting. They all do a Batman voice so that nobody will be like, hey, you sound like my friend Bruce Wayne. You know, so they all have to reflect their voices. He just really pushed his teeth. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:57 But there is something. Yeah. It's just like a juicy tongue hanging out. Yeah. And you can't see his teeth. Yeah. You only see tongue. It's like weird.
Starting point is 01:09:04 It's real wild. It is weird. We're almost through the movie. So with not much time left, Batman attaches the bomb to the bat and flies away from the city out into the bay.
Starting point is 01:09:14 The citizens of Gotham watch as the weapon detonates on the horizon. Also, there's a scene with children on a bus where Joseph Gordon-Levitt is with them. I think they're orphans.
Starting point is 01:09:23 He tries to walk across this bridge. They're like, no, get out of here. And they blow up the fucking bridge, which is just so rude. And then it doesn't fall on either side of where they blew it up. So everyone's fine on both sides. That made no sense. You should back away.
Starting point is 01:09:35 Everybody should be back. Everyone's standing right by that. It was so weird. And all of this is just to disillusion Joe Gordon-Levitt with the institutions of power. Just like Bruce Wayne told him at the beginning. Throws away his little badge. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:09:47 And so that now he can become Robin. Robin, which was a crazy reveal. Yeah. So a private funeral is held for Bruce. Everyone cries. I got a little weepy. It was sad and confusing to me that they would kill him off. And Gordon tells him that they will know that it was the Batman who saved them
Starting point is 01:10:06 and blah, blah, blah. So, okay, Bruce dies. Majority of the estate is sold with the money given to Alfred and the manor given to the city of Gotham as a place for orphaned boys to stay. Strangely, one of the Wayne family treasures, a string of pearls, cannot be located. And then Blake is given a duffel bag as a part of Bruce's will
Starting point is 01:10:21 when presenting his ID, a clerk. Do we see this line? Yeah, we do. But she goes, she's like, you should use your real name. Robin. Robin. Why should he use it?
Starting point is 01:10:32 She goes, I like that name. I like it. We, what? Who are you and why are you telling me what name to go by? When Blake later opens the duffel, he finds a spelunking rope and GPS coordinates that lead him
Starting point is 01:10:42 to the entrance of the Batcave where his light attracts a flurry of bats. Back in Applied Sciences, Fox struggles to figure out what he could have done to make the autopilot functional. He's surprised when the workers explain that the autopilot is functional. Oh, I really didn't understand this part. Bruce had gotten into work six months earlier. Yeah, I don't think I understood it either. So he left the Batplane.
Starting point is 01:11:03 That's how he sees Alfred later. That's how he's he sees uh alfred later that's how he like jumps he was able to figure out autopilot okay um so then in the final shot we see blake walking through a pool of water blake looks around as the floor starts to rise up oh and alfred sees him in it bruce and selena in italy and so bruce and selena are a couple now which i also like that's wait selena was in italy too yeah she's at the table with him I just was like why but at the end I was like can I have another another Batman
Starting point is 01:11:32 I really like that they set up for like Robin to appear these are crazy these go down pretty smooth I enjoy watching them this one was tougher for me the first two before this, I liked much more. Yeah, same.
Starting point is 01:11:45 And I will say, having now not watched this movie in many, many years, this was, I think, is the, I like this the least of the three. Yeah. But this time, maybe it's just because I've now seen so many more worse superhero movies. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it, maybe because I knew what was going to happen and I wasn't as disappointed with certain things
Starting point is 01:12:11 that went ways that I wasn't happy with or whatever. But watching this, I was like, oh, this is fun. This is good. Compared especially to true failures inside the DC and Marvel cinematic universes of truly letting massive characters down you know so I really enjoyed this even though to me
Starting point is 01:12:29 it's I agree the least yeah it's long when you explain a bunch of stuff I was like oh that could have been explored so much more just make this into two movies or it could have been simplified much more don't do all these things and tell a that's what they do I will say
Starting point is 01:12:45 that's what they try and do in the Matt Reeves the Pattinson movie okay the Pattinson movie is a pretty straight story you know
Starting point is 01:12:53 yes I've seen it oh yeah I loved it I don't remember anything yeah yeah sure I'm excited to watch it but that's
Starting point is 01:13:00 I will say that's a good comics movie to me yeah it doesn't have to stay with you like, oh, my God. Look at a comic book. It's like a floppy, colorful. It's supposed to be fun and ephemeral in a way.
Starting point is 01:13:13 It's not supposed to be like the best movie. The idea that they tried to make it so that like, oh, we now have 10 best picture nominations because The Dark Knight specifically was slighted from the Oscars. because The Dark Knight specifically was slighted from the Oscars. And so The Dark Knight is why they increased the Best Picture nominations from 5 to 10 so that it could include big popular hits like The Dark Knight inside of a nomination category that otherwise traditionally rewards arthouse, indie kind of smaller movies anyway let's talk about the awards that this film received and the reception the dark knight rises earned 1.081 billion dollars worldwide it became the seventh highest grossing film of all time critics gave the film generally
Starting point is 01:13:57 favorable reviews it holds 87 percent on rotten tomatoes it was however the first batman movie by christopher nolan that did not get any Academy Award nominations. Some critics saw the film as upholding a conservative agenda, especially in light of the Occupy Wall Street movement that was taking place at the time of its release. Nolan has denied the film criticizes the Occupy movement and insists that none of his Batman films are intended to be political. He said, I've done as many. I've had as many conversations with people who have seen the film the other way around. We throw a lot of things against the wall to see if it sticks. Time for some trivia.
Starting point is 01:14:28 No Wayne. Tom Hardy standing at 5'9". I love being privy to bits that have clearly been going on for months. That you guys are confidently just barreling through, but to me sound categorically insane. You're like, okay, turning the page, and no way. And I'm like, okay, I guess this is part of the show. It's our trivia portion. This is trivia.
Starting point is 01:14:58 It's Tom Hardy, he itty bitty, he fine nine. What? He had to wear three inch lifts to make his character Bane appear as tall or taller than co-stars Christian Bale, Morgan Friedman, and Sir Michael Caine. And again,
Starting point is 01:15:08 always shocked when I'm taller than someone. I'm like, I'm taller than Tom Hardy? Oh yeah. Well you're taller than I would say
Starting point is 01:15:13 98% of people in this town. I guess that's true but I just don't think of myself as being, I mean I think of myself as tall but I think of movie stars
Starting point is 01:15:21 as being taller than me. Yes. So that's the issue. But it's a population that is disproportionately shorter. I know. Why? You think of movie stars as being taller than me. Yes. So that's the issue. But it's a population that is disproportionately shorter. I know. Why? You think of them as these big totemic figures in our culture. So they must be big and towering.
Starting point is 01:15:35 And then you run into them or you see them out in the world or you work with them and you're like, oh, wait a minute. They just carried you to set in a backpack. Thomas said his Bane voice was inspired by a legendary British bare knuckle boxer named Bartley Gorman. It's like a tongue twister. Who called himself the king of the gypsies. Got a lot of problems there. We have a short video of that if we want to see. Do we want to see, Tom?
Starting point is 01:15:56 The Batman or the Bat-Suit Assistant of 110 separate pieces. And we know, you don't have to tell us. We certainly know we're not supposed to be saying gypsies. Yes. You don't need to tell us. we certainly know we're not supposed to be saying gypsies. Yes. You don't need to tell us. We can't say that. We absolutely know that was a quote from someone else. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:16:10 That was in quotation marks. Thank you for saying that, Jason. The bat suit consisted of 110 separate pieces. That's way too many. The cowl was sculpted from a cast of Christian Bale's face and head to become a perfect fit for Bale. And that seems like one. So where are the other 109 pieces? I don't know.
Starting point is 01:16:25 That's crazy. During production in Pittsburgh, a local man was arrested for attempting to steal an unmarked police car. He said he was an actor and that his crime was actually a scene for the movie. Okay. Around 10,000 extras were used to shoot the football scene in Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Some of the Pittsburgh Steelers played football players.
Starting point is 01:16:43 I wondered if they were real football players. That's fun. While former Steelers coach Bill Cowher appeared as the coach of Pittsburgh National. Oh, this is going to be fun. Luke R. Ravenstall played a kicker. Thomas Toole, CEO of the movie's production company, Legendary Pictures, is part
Starting point is 01:17:00 owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh, that's funny. Oh, wow. Okay, we're going to take a break, see how it was so far from the other break. Yeah, so's funny. Okay, we're going to take a break, see how it was so far from the other break. Yeah, so, so far. And we're going to be back with a little more Dark Knight Rises. Just a little. Just a little bit.
Starting point is 01:17:11 Just a little bit. All right. Holy Batman, Batman. This is a new segment where we rate Christian Bale on the definitive newcomer's Batman scale. We're going to use our phones to rank this Batman across five unique characteristics. Preparedness. How prepared is this Batman?
Starting point is 01:17:31 Does he use his gadgets and tools? What is this? This is part of the podcast? People listen to you do a visual bar graph? But then we talk about it. Okay. Detective ability. Does this Batman get to be a little detective?
Starting point is 01:17:46 Is he good at mystery solving? Voice gravelliness. How gravelly is this Batman's voice? Sadness. How lonely brooding emo is this Batman? And finally, hotness, horniness. How hot and how horny is this Batman? And there's the QR code.
Starting point is 01:17:59 What's the QR? Do I have to do it? Hell yeah, dude. Oh, God damn it. I pride myself in not doing QR codes. Yeah, this is really special for you. Somehow, I'm carrying this head gum, just getting access to my whole thing. Is that your fear with QR codes?
Starting point is 01:18:16 Yeah. I've never heard of this. Oh, yeah. You shouldn't be just clicking on QR codes. I walk around doing whatever. I never think twice. You're like, oh, QR code on a telephone pole? No, I don't do that. I never think twice. You're like, oh, a QR code on a telephone pole? No, I don't do that.
Starting point is 01:18:27 I do it on a menu. Wow, I'm taking this so seriously. That's good. That's good. Okay, I did it. Oh, yeah. I think I did it. Oh, nice.
Starting point is 01:18:39 Okay. Is that me or is that us? It's us together. It's us together. Okay, got it. Thank you. Preparedness, we gave him a 54.7%. I felt like he was fine.
Starting point is 01:18:49 I feel like he was prepared. I don't think he was super prepared. He was like a shut-in sad man. Well, that's true. The beginning, he's not. I think, yeah. I rated it low simply because I think most of the movie, he is behind on things. He's not ahead of the game because he's out of practice or out of shape.
Starting point is 01:19:05 I don't think he's... I think the point of the movie is that he's not prepared. I shouldn't change my score. He's not... And then that's what Alfred says to him. You can't fight Bane. You can't do this.
Starting point is 01:19:12 Bane's too dangerous. I'll have to bury another way. I regret everything. Okay. Detective ability, 78%. We're all in the same range here on this one. He's a little slow,
Starting point is 01:19:21 but he figures shit out. Yeah. He could have been better. He absolutely should have foreseen her flooding the tank. Yeah. That's an easy assumption. Go ahead. Voice gravelliness, 94.7%.
Starting point is 01:19:31 Yeah, pretty gravelly. He's gravelly as all hell. And that tongue was wagging. It was really in there. You gotta come with me, and you go over there. He sounds a lot like the Mel Gibson voicemails. Sadness. We gave him a 52.7%. Mel Gibson voicemails. Sadness.
Starting point is 01:19:46 We gave him a 52.7%. I thought he was generally just sad, but there are times where you've seen him be more like actually down. This was more just like his life is kind of sad. Yeah, I agree. And then he gets sadder after Alfred reveals that Rachel was like, I didn't choose you. Yeah. Yeah, and I think we're meant to be sad.
Starting point is 01:20:03 I think he's sad also partially because he couldn't save Rachel. You know what I mean? I think that's part of why he's languishing and letting himself go to shit. But that sadness isn't very well, like, seeded in the movie. No. Or it doesn't pay off. And then hotness, horniness, 38.7%. I mean, we're kind of all over the map here.
Starting point is 01:20:26 I gave him a really low score. I thought I was not. I think I gave him the highest because he looked like a shriveled mushroom. You did or you didn't? Because I gave him a high score or a medium or high two. I don't remember. Simply because there was sex in it. Yes.
Starting point is 01:20:38 So I was like, oh, okay. For the first time in eight years. Yeah. And I do think he gets hot when he becomes Batman again. Okay, I felt like this movie, I was just not feeling it for him at all. It's his horniness, not ours. It's ours.
Starting point is 01:20:54 Nicole seemed to be answering from the point of view of how horny she was in the movie, and I was like, uh-oh. That's how I made it? It's his hotness and my horniness. Got it. How horny am I for his hotness? And it's a six on this one for me.
Starting point is 01:21:07 A horny stew. He is, boy, just a fantastic actor. He's amazing. And a beautiful man. Oh, yeah. No complaints. I just think he's so compelling to watch do everything, including what is oftentimes in these movies boring.
Starting point is 01:21:22 Yeah. He's called upon to do very, he's not flashy. Yeah. He's movies boring. He's called upon to do very boring. He's not flashy. He's very boring. Everybody else gets to be these wild, eccentric, outrageous characters. He just is, as Bruce Wayne, kind of like, I don't know,
Starting point is 01:21:32 what do you think we should do? And then as Batman, he's like, I don't know, what do you think we should do? It's true, and he makes it interesting. He makes interesting choices.
Starting point is 01:21:40 We were talking about at the party in one of the other movies where he's like, I need to get all these people out so I'm just gonna pretend to be drunk and like the flip into it is so fucking good. Oh, I know. That was so great. We love him. Okay, time for five kapows. It's our reviews.
Starting point is 01:21:54 Once again. The way you said that. This season. It's our reviews. It's our reviews section. This season we'll be reading reviews from Letterboxd. We will be giving each film a one sentence review ourselves, including you Jason, and a star rating for anyone who doesn't know letterboxd is a social platform where people can write reviews of films and you can follow our show on letterboxd at newcomers so we got a three and a half stars from jay shmoney says i need all these guys to do the
Starting point is 01:22:20 dashi basara chant to me to get me out of bed every morning. Okay. Okay. Lauren, three and a half stars. The only thing that could possibly be better than Tom Brady. Tom Brady. QB. Tom Hardy as Bane. Is Tom Hardy in his MySpace era as Bane?
Starting point is 01:22:39 I'm not familiar with that. I'm not either. What does that mean? Yeah, I don't know what that means. I have to pull it. It's very quick. Oh, yeah? Great.
Starting point is 01:22:49 This is important for the culture so think for a second about what your one sentence review would be of the film and your star rating okay let's see what his my duck lips hats what is underwear this was his myspace page yeah and what this was like him, just young actor, Tom Hardy, just like. Yeah. And then he blew up and everyone was like, is this my face? Yeah. How depressing. This is why this is bad. Be a silly teen or in your 20s and post dumb shit because people just find it. I don't think he's embarrassed by it.
Starting point is 01:23:19 That ship has sailed for everybody. And I mean, I don't worry. I'm not worried about Tom Hardy, but like young people who came up in this. I mean, like he's an adult in these. But like for young people to like have like the all the nonsense that they put up as teenagers be like, you know, then searchable or whatever. It's scary. Yeah, that's awful. I think kids should be 18 before they get to be on social media.
Starting point is 01:23:41 Oh, yeah. We should write a letter. Yeah. We should. before they get to be on social media. Oh, yeah. We should write a letter. You should.
Starting point is 01:23:48 I do wonder, and I'm certain it's closer than I think, but I do wonder what generation of kids will be like, oh, no, I'll never do this. I feel like it started. There's like a Luddite generation or something. There's like a group of people who are completely opposed, young people who don't do any of that stuff and have dumb phones. Yeah, who look at what their parents are up to, obsessed with all the social media stuff.
Starting point is 01:24:07 I look at these kids who are being raised on their parents' YouTube channels and stuff. Which is so fucked up. And I'm like, this is dark. I don't like that. And so I think there is going to be a certain generation that is like, oh, no, I value my own privacy. And that would be cool. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:24:20 Yeah, my friend's 13-year-old doesn't, she has an Instagram and posts nothing. Yeah. And when that takes over, that's when I'm going to join social media. When there's nothing there. oh yeah my friend's 13 year old doesn't she has an instagram and posts nothing yeah yeah and when that takes over that's when i'm going to join social media when there's nothing there nobody's done a thing today um so does anyone have a review they want to give the film oh i forgot i would give it i'm gonna give this film two stars and i'm gonna say say pretty long and confusing. My favorite part was the cat. I did. That was my favorite part.
Starting point is 01:24:49 The cat? You know, Anne Hathaway. Oh. Isn't that what they called her? The bat and the cat. I thought I missed an actual meowing cat. My one sentence review is
Starting point is 01:25:02 too dang long. Should have been two films. Love that there was some fire sex while his electricity was out. I wish there was more Catwoman, Batman, interaction, love connection time. Three stars. That was more than a sentence. This is out of five? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:25:20 Okay. Out of five stars, I'm going to give it four stars. I really enjoyed it, especially this time around. A movie that I think initially when I saw it, I probably would have given it a lower rating. I remember not disappointed, but just didn't think it was as good as the previous two installments. But this time, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. So, and my one sentence review is understandably confusing, comma, too many characters, comma, but boy were they great, comma, especially being played by this many incredible actors.
Starting point is 01:25:59 Wow. Semicolon. We forgot to mention Aidan Gillenen Littlefinger from Game of Thrones Okay Tommy Carchetti From The Wire As well as Numerous other
Starting point is 01:26:11 Incredible character actors Inside of this movie So I had a great time Thank you for having me Period We also love to read Listener reviews
Starting point is 01:26:21 Of our own program This one's from Wendigo It's five stars. So in case you've listened to this whole show and thought it was bad, we'd love an opportunity to convince you differently. Honestly, this person gave it five stars,
Starting point is 01:26:35 so I think it's going really well. Without fail, this show makes me laugh until my face hurts. Thank you so much. Please, everyone, go write a review on Apple Podcasts because we pick one to read on every episode and you can rate us on Spotify. It just takes two seconds to click the stars. All five stars, please, everyone, go write a review on Apple Podcasts because we pick one to read on every episode. And you can rate us on Spotify. It just takes two seconds to click the stars.
Starting point is 01:26:47 All five stars, please. Do you have anything you want to plug? I'll plug the How Did This Get Made podcast. It's very funny. It's very funny. And also, if you haven't listened to it, if maybe you've just tuned into this podcast to listen to the Batman season, our discussion of the Marvel, your season on the Marvel movies, I thoroughly enjoyed.
Starting point is 01:27:07 It was really fun. So go back and listen to that. That was a blast. Thank you so much for doing this. We really appreciate that. We really do. Oh, an absolute pleasure. I really, I had a great time re-watching this movie
Starting point is 01:27:16 and getting to sit and chat with you both is an absolute treat. Thank you. It really is a nice treat. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me and letting me be nerdy and overly explainy about
Starting point is 01:27:29 Batman. You're not nerdy. You literally explained the plot. You literally helped us understand what we watched. If there are people who have been watching these or have enjoyed these and you want to read some comics that are Batman, I can't imagine you guys will want to. But, on the off chance, the Ed Brubaker, Darwin Cook, Catwoman stories I mentioned before
Starting point is 01:27:49 are fantastic. The Scott Snyder Batman run that includes the Court of Owls storyline is phenomenal. The recent Tom King Batman and Catwoman book that is a love story between Batman and Catwoman. That, I'm the most interested in that. And is absolutely dynamite. That's a fairly recent one. I think maybe Greg Smallwood did the art. Oh, that might be wrong.
Starting point is 01:28:15 But anyway, I think those are some very, as well as the iconic, The Dark Knight Rises, the movie, it references in title a very iconic Batman story written and drawn by Frank Miller called Dark Knight Returns, rather, is an iconic Batman, 1980s Batman story that is truly, it's one book that you can read and is incredible. You're very convincing, but I've been tricked before. I watched that last Guardians of the Galaxy movie and I was like, I don't give a shit. Why am I doing this to myself? Sometimes we get confused by this podcast and think we actually want to do more. I also think that once you start getting deep into things, that was three. That was Guardians three.
Starting point is 01:29:00 And also the Guardians themselves have now also been a part of the Thor story and the Avengers story. So I think it's very hard to jump into casually now the Marvel movies because you have to have watched so much stuff to feel like you are on the same page as the characters. Can I say, I think Marvel
Starting point is 01:29:23 and all these movies where you have to watch other stuff should do what my Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 did, which is explain what happened in the first two. I just re-watched the first two actually because I was excited to watch the new one. I think her name is Nia Vardalos. She comes on screen before
Starting point is 01:29:38 the movie and goes, if you don't remember what happened in my Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 and here's what happened in my Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. They should do that. Great. They should. Because in comics, I will say, to bring it back, in comics, when you open, in modern comics, if you open up a Batman book or if you open up a lot of books, there will be a page that catches you up to the story right now.
Starting point is 01:29:59 That's great. That's really smart. That is like, because a lot of times in comics, a storyline will unfold over 12 or 24, 36 issues, and then that writer and artist will move on to another book, and that story will be reduced to zero again, and a new story will emerge, if that makes sense. Sometimes they agree with each other. Sometimes they are drastically different. But they don't do that in the movies. Star Wars doesn't do it. Like the Ahsoka show that's on right now
Starting point is 01:30:27 I think would benefit greatly from an explainer video in front of it because it's a Star Wars show. Ahsoka? Ahsoka. It's a character that Rosario Dawson plays. It's based on... It's about Sammy Sosa?
Starting point is 01:30:37 It's Sammy Sosa. It's Ahsoka, Tano, and Sammy Sosa. And she's got her lightsabers, he's got his bat, and they, and Sammy Sosa. And she's got her lightsabers. He's got his bat. And they are going to town on the SIF. I didn't know Rosario Dawson was in Star Wars. Yes. Star Wars in the TV world.
Starting point is 01:30:54 In the series. But not in the movies I saw? Not yet in the movies that you've seen. Correct. Look, we could really do this all day. I could do this all day to quote Captain America. We are going to be back next week. She's crying because she remembers that.
Starting point is 01:31:08 Thank you also for indulging me and watching the Prince video. No, that was great. I'm going to go home and watch the rest of it. We're going to be watching Batman v Superman Extended Cut. Why are we doing that? I don't like when I see those parenthetical words. How long is that? It's so long that you're going to be upset.
Starting point is 01:31:27 Because this was like almost three hours. Here's what I'm going to say. It's going to be similar. Here's what I'm going to say. You're going, how many of the Snyder movies are you doing? Just that one. Just that one? Okay.
Starting point is 01:31:36 Is that the Snyder Cut? It is the Snyder Cut, but this is not the Snyder Cut. Okay. That's Justice League Dawn of Justice, right? Isn't it? Is Batman in that? Batman v Superman isn't the Snyder Cut, but this is not the Snyder Cut. Okay. That's Justice League Dawn of Justice, right? Isn't it? Is Batman in that? Batman v. Superman isn't the Snyder Cut. It's the next one, right?
Starting point is 01:31:51 I'm pretty sure. Maybe I'm wrong, actually. I'm pretty sure. Wait, are you guys going to watch the Snyder Cut? I thought that's what we were watching, but I've never seen it. Oh, zoinks. No, I think Snyder Cut is Justice League. I think so, too.
Starting point is 01:32:02 Yeah, that's the whole thing. So what's the Existence Cut? This is different. Because we did it on How Did This Get Made, and it's like over four hours long. Snyder Cut is just as sleek. I think so too. Yeah, that's the whole thing. So what's the extended cut? This is different. Because we did it on How Did This Get Made, and it's like over four hours long. The Snyder Cut. That's too long. That's upsetting. Oh, this one's only three hours long.
Starting point is 01:32:14 Only three hours. But that's still better than four. This is Ben Affleck as Batman. Okay. Henry Cavill as Superman. Oh. This is the modern DC movies that are Henry Cavill's Superman, Ben Affleck, Wonder Woman is Gal Gadot.
Starting point is 01:32:30 Yes. You know, there's a cyborg in Justice League. There's an Aquaman. There's a Flash. This is the beginning of what this series of stories has been. Okay. Modern DC movies. These were done in a vacuum.
Starting point is 01:32:50 The Batman movies were done at a time when no other DC movies were being made, really. So they exist alone. There is no Superman in Christian Bale's universe. And then there's no Batman in the Superman universe. There is. Ben Affleck's Batman. Oh, in which Superman? I'm sorry.
Starting point is 01:33:06 Who's that man? Christopher? Christopher Reeves? Christopher Reeves didn't have a Batman. I don't think Brandon Routh had a Batman either. But the Henry Cavill Superman has Ben Affleck as a Batman. Wish us luck.
Starting point is 01:33:21 It's exhausting. Oh my God. If you can imagine a movie that is going to feel more dark and dour than these movies, it is the Snyder movies. Dark? Yeah. I know. There is
Starting point is 01:33:37 there isn't the same kind of levity. And these didn't have, like, there's no that's what's missing in these. There's like five jokes in each movie. That's what I was just going to say. There's not enough jokes. Yeah. Not that they need joke jokes. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:33:49 But there can be quips. Quippy dialogue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that is very much more the hallmark of Marvel. Like Spider-Man quips. Like there are characters who quip and joke in those stories. And in DC, less so. Because all the heroes in the DC universe are gods
Starting point is 01:34:05 and aliens. That, that, that throws me off. And a lot of the Marvel universe is teenagers. Interesting.
Starting point is 01:34:13 So Marvel comic book stories are oftentimes coming of age stories. The X-Men, Spider-Man, a lot of them are coming of age stories versus a lot of
Starting point is 01:34:22 the DC stories are like gods and aliens come to Earth and you have to reckon with that. You know, what happens if there's an omnipotent character who arrives on Earth? It is funny that Superman arrives on Earth and is like, I'll defend it. I would just go back home. There's a great it's blown up.
Starting point is 01:34:39 He doesn't he can't go home. Is he when he's at home? Is he like a hot guy from Earth? Like he looks like that. What do you mean? He looks like he, when he's at home, is he like a hot guy from Earth? Like he looks like that? What do you mean? He looks like a human when he's here. Yeah. And that's just his shape that he's in?
Starting point is 01:34:52 Yeah. Is he human? On the alien planet? On Krypton. We're really getting off. Kryptonians, the people that are the species or the whatever, that occupy the planet of Krypton look human. They are human. He is, and they don't have superpowers.
Starting point is 01:35:09 Superman has superpowers on Earth because our sun is different than their sun. And our sun, the yellow sun, this is all, again, this was all made up in like the 30s and 40s. Our sun gives him superpowers on Earth. And sometimes if he goes elsewhere, that's not the case. Does he have superpowers at night? Yes.
Starting point is 01:35:30 Oh, okay. Yeah. So it's like a battery. It's like, I don't know if it's a battery or he can just, yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure. But there is a great comic, I will say, that is called Red Son,
Starting point is 01:35:41 that is what if Superman's pod as a baby landed in soviet russia and he and he became uh the superman of the communist like the communists and what does the world look like if superman was part of the wrong side of the cold war it's got a superman exactly that's not good it's he's called putty man he's called Pewdie Man. He's called Pewdie Man. Pewdie Tang? We're getting somewhere here. And it's called Pewdie Tang.
Starting point is 01:36:11 Are you guys doing the Pewdie Tang movies next? Well, we appreciate you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for letting me meander all over. Oh, it was the best. We will see you all next week with Batman v Superman. Bye. Bye! Bye!
Starting point is 01:36:40 Newcomers is a production of HeadGum Studios. Our producer is Ali Khan. Our executive producer is Anya Khanofskaya. The show is edited, mixed, and mastered by Faris Manji, who also composed our theme song.
Starting point is 01:36:52 Follow us on Letterboxd, at Newcomers, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We might just read it on the next show. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-bye! Bye! That was a Headidgum original

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