Half in the Bag Episode 36: The Dark Knight Rises (1 of 2)

half in the bag isn't it about time they end this show oh my god holy [ __ ] oh my god I can't believe that comic book nerd was in on the conspiracy to kill us J everyone's involved in a conspiracy to kill us man we should make some phone calls to other VCR repair men hmm that's a good idea see if they know anything about what's going on yeah I'll [ __ ] my phone's about to die huh huh I must have misplaced my phone oh maybe we can get one call out I'll call your phone and see if it's around here okay yeah maybe I dropped it right nearby what oh I ate it I guess I thought it was food damn it my phone just died who around here as a phone we could use you realize whose house we're nearby don't you something's different in here oh my god you're right plink it got rid of this little rug what are you talking about look around new furniture HGTV blu-ray player instead of Roku Hey look there's a note on the back of the door now let's open up the note and read it to find out what it says okay dear Harry I must say I am so proud that you got rid of your old VCR and crappy television and made the big leap into HD TVs and blu-ray we had some great times together Harry especially all the awkward and terrible sex unfortunately I don't think things will work out between us and I need to move on to the next phase of my life I wish you the best love Sheila Sheila there's something suspicious about all this you're right J there is but we came here to use the phone and that's what we got to do right let's start by calling Phil from Phil's electronics on Broadway that's a great idea you know Phil's a nice guy I'd hate to see anything bad happen to him yeah oh the phone just started ringing huh should I answer it yeah answer the phone okay hello hey mr. Harry yes pluggin uh pretend to be blinking oh um yeah this is her a springer who is this that's the worst plinking impression I've ever heard he's gonna think you're a fake shut up well mr. plugin this is jabber from jabber the man WB BL morning radio congratulations you and your lovely girlfriend Sheila have won tickets to an advanced screening of The Dark Knight Rises oh thank you Jay find a wig I'll explain on the way there's storm coming you sound like you're looking forward to it I'm adaptable hello and welcome to half in the bag I'm Mike and I'm Jay and on this episode we'll be talking about the Dark Knight Rises which is the third and final film in the very popular series directed by Christopher Nolan the movie is about Batman and the villainous bane endlessly punching each other in the face but it's also about Heath Ledger's dead and is not in the movie so Jay what did you think of the Dark Knight Rises I you know I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie i odd are you looking at no oh this TV feels weird I guess that's kind of in the way I always have this weird feeling like whenever we talk about movies someone's watching us yeah I know what you me and I get the same feeling but it's a little bit different this time it's like this TV is is yeah it's just it's a really ominous presence yeah shall we change our setup maybe yeah let's move seats okay let's talk over here so you were saying uh well to briefly sort of establish my relationship with the series of movies I am NOT the biggest fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies going into this why not and I'm also not the biggest fan really of Christopher Nolan why not we'll get into this later I'm sure but the the passionates love for him or the the completes hate for him there's both ends of the spectrum I guess you could say I fall somewhere in the middle so going into this movie I didn't have really any expectations I assumed it would be decent but nothing beyond that that being said I thought this movie [ __ ] ruled well that's high praise on a pure just sort of visceral level on just a spectacle level I I was thoroughly entertained well my general reaction is and I agree with you visceral and spectacle are good words to describe this movie I really like the movie as well I would say almost as much as the Dark Knight maybe a teensy bit more I would say that the Dark Knight is probably a better movie it's a better film yeah this one I found more entertaining yeah The Dark Knight of course everyone just goes straight to Heath Ledger it's the Heath Ledger movie yeah and and then you have this situation where it's like well okay Heath Ledger is dead now what do you do like how do you top that The Joker's plan wasn't as grandiose or is destructive as Bane's plan so it's like well this movie the the plot is bigger and more bigger things happen and and it had the the potential of really just turning into a [ __ ] or blowing up in their face and I think it managed to rein it in and hold on the whole way through I like that they didn't try and top it in that respect like a lot of people are saying you know even people that seem to like this movie or say and well it's really good but it doesn't have a strong of a villain right and I think Bane is a fine villain in this movie it's not trying to outdo he Dodger it's not trying to to recapture that sort of spirit it's a completely different animal altogether this one kind of pulls the villain out a little and brings up all the other parts just to stronger levels that were sort of lacking in the Dark Knight it's the first Batman movie not just in the Nolan movies but in any Batman movie where I think I actually gave a [ __ ] about Batman yeah that's the conundrum of all the Batman movies is that he's always the least interesting thing about them he's broken in the beginning he's kind of crippled he's it seven eight years since the last movie he's sort of out of the game and um and he really has like a arc in this one that he really didn't except for the first movie and it's it's really the Dark Knight Rises it's that's what the movies about so it does focus more on Batman as a Batman movie should I'm Gotham's reckoning I would like to see a superhero movie with a smaller story I would like to see a Batman takes out this crime syndicate kind of story but with this they took it to the nth degree which which made it also work yeah because I was sort of like I was a little disappointed in the the MacGuffin bomb the we have a whacky device that didn't buy this it bothered me slightly but all the other elements out outshined it which was which was what made it work if it was just that now Bane wants to take the bomb and put it up on top of the Statue of Liberty or this whatever statue of Gotham and and blow it up and turn everyone into people with things on their mouths you know like it was something like that oh it a good like is this what Spiderman was yeah I'm like I'm so sick of this but they took it to such a level where where it becomes that des it's like a pock elliptic event where the whole city is under siege and their way of life changes the police are like this underground force and it takes it out of control and that's why for me it's more entertaining them than The Dark Knight is just because for me personally that's the kind of thing that I think is interesting that cool is just scene I did compared to escape from New York or the cities blocked off and just seen the scene a society just completely collapse yes and that's one of the reasons I'm interested in certain zombie movies to just see in the society completely in ruins and how people deal with it and survive and and yeah it's it's it's epic in this movie which is is the only way you can go with the previous Nolan movies they've been constantly ramping up there's nowhere to go with this so I guess they have to reboot it at this point because you can't get me Batman in space maybe maybe they'll shoot Batman into space it's the true completion a bump barrier bird enough members of the Wayne family and takes everything to another level what was neat to see in this one too was that because the first two just sort of feel like two separate Batman stories and this one sort of takes elements from each of those two earlier movies and and adds to it it combines us to the whole series of three movies sort of gets wrapped up in a nice little bow it all sort of ties together well overall I think it's safe to say we both really liked Batman Forever what is this movie home it's a quality production it's it's sort of just like this big clunky loud awesome thing I think that's the best way to describe it's not it's not perfectly beveled on all the corners it's not shiny it's not flawless it's a movie that is really eager to please it made me think of like the old like Golden Age of Hollywood movies like the big musicals and the big spectacle films with hundreds of extras and dance numbers and it's like we're trying really we're trying so hard to entertain you when I'm on the opposite end of that spider-man feels like a cheaply made piece of crap well and that's the thing is like you know Dark Knight Rises it's not perfect movie it has problems I would say the biggest one for me is that it starts off a little clunky the first actor so if the movie is it takes you a while to kind of get into what's going on because there's a lot of characters and there's a lot of things in the air as a little jumbled but once all those pieces are in place I say it's smooth sailing everybody has their assignments everybody has things to do there's nice little revelations throughout the story to keep you engaged some of them are predictable some not so much but at least they're there it's not the lizard wants to turn people in the lizard people spider-man has to stop them and then that's it well I will acknowledge your point but I don't agree with it that the beginning was clunky I thought it was fine like as far if the pacing was fine it's just it was so long since the last film and not in our terms but in the movie terms it's been eight years so there was all these scenes and things and you're sort of have to get re-acclimated to what's going on like Bruce Wayne is a shut-in and you know this person is in charge of the Harvey Dent has died and all this stuff you have to kind of get into and and that was fine and it's so long until you see the Batman come back and that's what was great the rest of time is focused on Bruce Wayne it's focused on you know bein all these other characters uh-huh Bruce Payne don't forget about him Brisbane I don't remember this he was a character in there and it got confusing after a while cuz they didn't know if they're talking about Bruce Wayne or Bane there's a guy named Bruce Bane in the movie it's like [ __ ] idea was that seems like a horrible decision yeah yeah that Christopher Nolan's overrated heck he is he is and there's another character named Bruce Banner which is like it was unrelated spelled differently and then the part of the movie where they all traveled to Brisbane yeah oh my gosh bein in Brisbane with Bruce Wayne and Bruce Banner and they're all watching basketball so let's talk about the actors briefly okay before we get into the meat of this review and [ __ ] about plot holes um when I first heard that Anne Hathaway was cast in the movie I had the same reaction when I heard that Heath Ledger was cast at the movie it's like Heath Ledger as the Joker what now and then he turned out to be brilliant and then Anne Hathaway turns out to be brilliant as well that's why I wasn't concerned about her being Catwoman yes like you know what at this point he's earned my trust great I got to give him the benefit of the doubt I was like Anne Hathaway the girl that ruined the Oscars the only one I didn't like was that guy that played the other the police commissioner the other police commissioner Oh Matthew Modine he was just like shouting his lines and it's like bad well he's just sort of there I mean that whole character was kind of pointless and that'll be one complaint I have is that there's just probably too many characters I didn't think it was pretty cool to see Tom Lennon show up for oh yeah and I also like that he played a doctor because I'm in my brain I like to imagine that even though in what's your number he was a gynecologist I still like to pretend that same character and that what's your number exists in the same universe as Batman Tom Lennon just goes it's like the weirdos I see at my hospital carry it Sally well we dated for like three months scar tissue on your kidneys I cannot recommend you go hello spoon and then of course Tom Hardy as the bane and we all know Tom Hardy who got his acting career started in Star Trek nemesis as The Shins on oceans on good old Shinzon can t be seen on that ship who sounded like dr. evil in that movie and and Bane sounds like dr. evil to where our girl-talk removal and psycho no say to me he it's not like his accent kept changing throughout this movie yeah and it's some parts he sounded like Sean Connery talking through a tin can and then there were other parts or I had no idea what the [ __ ] he was saying I really liked the vane voice III see I thought it was came off comical and a lot of scenes but well you know hey it sounded like a prank phone call voice to me like when you get a prank phone call with someone with a voice changer right sound like Earth got the money Wheatley at the corner of throw whatever Street and if you want to see your daughter alive like and anyway it's it's not just like a movie voice like a typical movie would be like he needs to sound like a like a really evil monster run big but it's it was so strange that it made it creepy yeah yeah that's just my personal I would say to me what made it more off-putting was the fact that it was so like forefront and the soundtrack it wasn't like mixed in a way where it matched other the volume of other characters it was just it was distorted but it was very clean yeah and that was off-putting to me it was a commanding voice I think the reason why it was so loud and it wasn't like mixed into the soundtrack in the background like it veins far away it's quieter you know I think it's just like whenever he spoke it's like you knew he was the guy like I'm bait and he's the guy in charge and I think that was a stylistic choice you know my favorite line of dialogue by bein in this movie was low so when he said that was my favorite line - yeah a close second was when he said good did you say sit on my face well that's what he said oh I think there was an Hathaways of that oh he sure wasn't the the homeless guy that was sitting behind you in the theater huh I didn't she just tell me your punishment must be more severe so Bane came from the same place that shins on did jazz laughing I was like Bane was born and like a hellish prison world underground and there's like the big tunnel to escape from and it's the same thing in Star Trek Emma says do you think Christopher Nolan was influenced by Star Trek nemesis I think I think he watched it and said that's my Bane that's the new that's the next Adam Sandler film that's my Bane that's my vein starring Adam Sandler and Tom Hardy is Bane dirt could I borrow the core Selina Kyle has her own code of ethics it sometimes involves doing things that other people might consider questionable yeah I love the Catwoman in this movie she's really good yeah really good he's really good and they didn't overdo her they never even collared Catwoman and I like the fact that her little goggles are what make her a little catty yeah yeah look visually goggles make sense in the Christopher Nolan more real version of Beth yes yeah she has a cat burglar outfit but they don't like you know kind of they've one shot where she walks around the bat motorcycle and you see kind of her doing a little sexy walk but they don't over exploit her know her figure show her ass all the time or anything like to goofy like that and you barely see her in the cat suit it's more about her character and the same with all the other characters in this movie it's the that and that's what makes the costumes and the superheroism and all that goofy stuffing at work is yeah because it's supplemental it's not primary yeah unlike the spider-man movie well and there's they tried it with the spider-man movies yeah it was like they fell on their [ __ ] face well and there's no no show off II moments in this now like everything feels very natural and it's all in service of the story right like the first time Batman does show up after whatever 45 minutes or an hour into the movie there's not that like hero shot you just sort of you see him the back of his vehicle and then he's just standing there holding his gun you're like there's Batman mm-hmm and it's it's it's almost more exciting than if they did the because that's the thing another you know we both I think like the Avengers but that's a movie there's nothing but like nerdgasm shots the the famous one were it's going around all the characters everything in that is a big like look at this these guys are awesome and this is much more subdued and natural yeah yeah it's good to bring up the Avengers because when you're talking about this movie versus that movie they're two movies that work in their own style um but they're in such opposite ends of the spectrum yeah what you can do with this comic-book superhero movie and then right in the middle you have the amazing spider-man so you have got you have the Avengers which is goofy colorful unrealistic showoff II and then you have Batman which is a little more darker realistic and then in the middle they tried to do a spider-man that was closer to Dark Knight but but you still have a giant lizard moms but you still have those goofy elements that you have like Joss Whedon knew exactly what to do with that material Christopher Nolan knows exactly what to do with his material and then they picked you know the best guy possible Marc Webb to handle that material I the only one that could have done a better job would have been Brett Ratner yeah if you're looking for total mediocrity and someone they'll just be subservient to the studio like he's the guy you go to I think he called Brett Ratner for advice like on the big night before shoots yeah Brett Brett how do I make this as bad as I can ed Brett Ratner's like let me just tell you I got all sorts of tricks do whatever they tell you to do make it look like the other movie and then just cash that paycheck Webb do you think it's coming back I don't know continued in part two

Channel: RedLetterMedia

Views: 1,014,980

Keywords: redlettermedia, red, letter, media, mr., plinkett, half, in, the, bag, dark, knight, rises, christopher, nolan

Id: L5hSwnZ7FyY

Length: 19min 53sec (1193 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 25 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/leXus30]

I found myself in almost complete agreement with everything they said. It is funny though because they say they aren't Nolan fans per se but in the end they sounded like Nolan apologists saying plot holes are forgivable because this is an artsy movie not a technical one, where as the review they gave for Prometheus was just brutal with its plot holes in the form of character making stupid decisions.