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Hops and Box Office Flops: GREEN LANTERN – Shallow Hal Jordan
Green Lantern is a mess—an expensive one, at that. Its horrid CGI suit tells all the tales one needs to know about how misguided the project was. And it was a misfire that had serious ramifications. In 2011, Green Lantern was meant to serve as the kickoff to a new DC movie universe. That notion was immediately squashed. On a budget over $200 million, it grossed just $219.9 million worldwide. Worse, critics (26% on Rotten Tomatoes with 246 reviews) and audiences (45%) reviled it. There would be no sequel, and there certainly would not be an integrated universe with Ryan Reynold’s Hal Jordan at its center. When you watch it, none of the numbers…
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THE FANBOY: “Talking Zack Snyder’s Justice League w/ Batman-on-Film’s Bill Ramey, Superman and Lois Soars, Marvel’s Multiverse Amazes, and Latinos Take Over DC!”
On this week’s stacked edition of The Fanboy Podcast, host Mario-Francisco Robles welcomes Batman-on-Film’s Bill Ramey back to the show for an in-depth chat about Zack Snyder’s Justice League. From the project’s inception, to breaking the story that it was about to be entirely overhauled, the fallout from the theatrical cut, and the impending arrival of The Snyder Cut, the two share their unique perspectives on what a strange trip its been. MFR also speaks candidly with Bill about their differing approaches when it comes to dealing with the more toxic corners of Snyder’s fandom, and anyone who’s had an issue with him (or any of the BOF crew) are…
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“Snyder’s F**kin’ JUSTICE LEAGUE Growing in Significance? Fisher and Warner Make Nice, Marvel’s Phase of Crossovers, THE MANDALORIAN Finale Freakout”
Hops and Box Office Flops: GREEN LANTERN – Shallow Hal Jordan
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Hops and Box Office Flops: BALLISTIC ECKS VS SEVER – Moaning Techno and Explosions
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever is bad. Like truly awful. Its plot is convoluted; its action is often nonsensical and unimaginative; and it does little to capitalize on its star power. Antonio Banderas literally has nothing to do. This guy was El Mariachi in Desperado, for Pete’s sake. Let him do more than smoke cigarettes and drink. Anyway, there is a boat load of slow motion, if you’re into that. Most of it is wholly unnecessary, but it’s there; and it probably adds 10 minutes to the runtime—a portion of your life you will never get back. There’s also a lot of sulking and staring. There’s an abundance of Ray Park in a…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: TOP SECRET! – We Know a Little German
Top Secret! was the team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker’s follow up to their incredibly successful Airplane! It, like its predecessor, is an indescribably goofy movie—full of off the wall gags, jokes, and non-sequiturs. If you have seen Airplane!, you will understand what kind of humor it is. These guys were the kings of this style of comedy, and Top Secret! certainly lives up to that pedigree. It also introduced moviegoers to Val Kilmer. This was his big screen debut, and it’s clear why he went on to become a household name. Where this movie suffers is a lack of clear narrative focus and a truly defined world. It is set in immediate…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: IF LOOKS COULD KILL – Grieco: Far from Home
If Looks Could Kill is a piece of vintage 90s cinema. It takes a young star—presumably on the rise—and tasks them with elevating a sub-par film. It’s a challenge many budding leading men have been burdened with. Richard Grieco—most famously Dennis Booker from the 21 Jump Street TV show and its spin-off Booker—is not quite up to the task. His big screen woes mirror that of his small screen ones. Like Booker, audiences did not flock to If Looks Could Kill. His suave appearance and brash attitude were not accompanied by the requisite charm. Grossing just $7.8 million on a budget as high as $12 million, it served as evidence that Grieco may not be the next big…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT – This Movie is Pain
The Long Kiss Goodnight is obnoxious, loud, and dumb. In other words, most action movies of the 80s and 90s. It’s also hopelessly convoluted and botches its central premise—that of an amnesic suburban housewife who has forgotten that she used to be an assassin. Starring Geena Davis—in her second collaboration with former husband Renny Harlin—as Samantha Caine (the innocent)/Charly Baltimore (the no-so-innocent), The Long Kiss Goodnight just isn’t equal to the sum of its parts. The supporting cast is great—boasting Samuel L. Jackson, Brian Cox, Craig Bierko, and David Morse, amongst others—and it was written by Shane Black, the literal master of this conceit (i.e. the mismatched action duo). Even with those elements, it…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: ‘BLUES BROTHERS 2000 – We’re on a Mission from Pod’
“Snyder’s F**kin’ JUSTICE LEAGUE Growing in Significance? Fisher and Warner Make Nice, Marvel’s Phase of Crossovers, THE MANDALORIAN Finale Freakout”
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THE FANBOY: “DC United Under One Vision? WandaVision Lays Exciting Groundwork for Marvel, Maguire and Leto Return, and More From Zack Snyder’s Justice League!”
This week’s episode of The Fanboy Podcast begins with an examination of quotes from HBO Max’s Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys on the interconnectivity of the DC universe, going forward. He paints a picture of an Arrowverse, Snyderverse, Titansverse, and Films universe that all work together in a logical way, and MFR reacts. Things then shift into thoughts on Marvel’s WandaVision, where things have finally kicked into a gear where MFR had to delve in and see what all the hype was about. What he found was the promising start of the next chapter in the Marvel saga. He also touches on the rumor that Tobey Maguire has officially signed on…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: WAYNE’S WORLD 2 – We’re Putting on a Podcast … Oh Yes
Wayne’s World 2 came hot off the heels of its smash hit predecessor. The first—which remains the most successful Saturday Night Live-inspired film—grossed over $180 million worldwide. Suffice to say, Wayne’s World 2 could not replicate that success. Earning just $48 million on double the budget ($40 million), its returns were a disappointment. Some would say they, “licked the cat’s butt.” The dismal gross would also suggest that Wayne’s World 2 is demonstrably worse than the first. That’s simply not true. Is it derivative? Sure. But it’s also consistently funny, generating enough new gags to keep the most cynical of us entertained—even if just moderately. Anyway, if you’ve got a fine eye for details, perhaps some of the…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: TOP SECRET! – We Know a Little German
“Talking The RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT Book w/ Sean O’Connell, KONG Roars, JUSTICE LEAGUE Gets A Release Date, SUPERMAN & LOIS, More!”
THE FANBOY: “Cavill’s Superman in SHAZAM! 2? Of Course The Snyder Cut is Rated R! DC Films Are Filmmaker-Driven At Last, THOR, GUARDIANS, More!”
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THE FANBOY: “Cavill’s Superman in SHAZAM! 2? Of Course The Snyder Cut is Rated R! DC Films Are Filmmaker-Driven At Last, THOR, GUARDIANS, More!”
This week’s show, as always, covers a smattering of geeky film topics. Host Mario-Francisco Robles starts things off by poking fun at an absurd rumor about DC’s BLACK ADAM, before diving into That Hashtag Show’s scoop that Henry Cavill’s Superman is set for SHAZAM! Fury of The Gods. Steven Spielberg is featured next, for his comments about audiences returning to movie theater, and how they mirror MFR’s feelings on the matter. Up next, The Fanboy host delves into how to split up DC’s multiverse across several mediums. From there, there’s chatter about The Suicide Squad (NEW SYNOPSIS!), Thor: Love and Thunder (STARTED FILMING), and Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 3…
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Hops and Box Office Flops: THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT – This Movie is Pain
THE FANBOY: “DC United Under One Vision? WandaVision Lays Exciting Groundwork for Marvel, Maguire and Leto Return, and More From Zack Snyder’s Justice League!”
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Hops and Box Office Flops: STUART SAVES HIS FAMILY – In Need of an Intervention
Stuart Saves His Family is a textbook example of how not all sketches are meant to be made into films. If it’s not the worst Saturday Night Live adaptation, it’s certainly close. Based on Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley, as well as an in-character novel by Al Franken (the movie’s star), the film never seems to understand what made Smalley work in the first place. Worse, it’s not at all funny. It wraps him in a realistic world, full of realistic and often depressing family problems. Couple that with a plot that meanders between his home life and his struggling work life and none of it equates to comedy gold. So, though Stuart Smalley may…
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“Marvel/Star Wars News Explosion, Nolan and Jenkins Differ on WB, Deathstroke/Batman, Doc Ock Returns For Spidey 3, More!”
“Snyder’s F**kin’ JUSTICE LEAGUE Growing in Significance? Fisher and Warner Make Nice, Marvel’s Phase of Crossovers, THE MANDALORIAN Finale Freakout”
“Talking The RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT Book w/ Sean O’Connell, KONG Roars, JUSTICE LEAGUE Gets A Release Date, SUPERMAN & LOIS, More!”
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